Until recently, kids were thrilled when their parents said, “We’re going to Disney World!” But that was in the beforetimes, before Florida’s autocratic governor put Disney World under the control of his state’s thought police, turning it into “DeSantis World.”
Having made kid-friendly Disney kowtow to his own magic kingdom of rightwing ideological conformity, Governor Ron is now demanding that the entire Sunshine State convert to the darkness of DeSantis World. A major tactic in his push is to rewrite the state’s schoolbooks to “protect” young ones from having to learn that such historical unpleasantnesses as racism and anti-trans discrimination have shaped their society—and are still doing so.
To advance RonThink, he has rammed his “Stop WOKE Act” into law, requiring teachers to—Shhh—soften, or just eliminate, references to America’s racial problems. Pretend it never happened is the instruction from Professor DeSantis.
Indeed, one educational publisher obediently followed his dictate, rewriting the uplifting 1955 story of Rosa Parks confronting the flagrant, institutional racism of the public bus service in Montgomery, Alabama. Before DeSantis, the publisher told the story straight: “In her city, the law said African Americans had to give up their seats . . . if a white person wanted to sit down. [Parks] would not give up her seat. The police came and took her to jail.”
Now, after DeSantification, here’s the publisher’s rewrite: “One day, [Parks] rode the bus. She was told to move to a different seat. She did not. She did what she believed was right.”
Hmm. No reference to her even being African American or to the law requiring her to bow to any white person’s demand for her seat. And no mention of police hauling her to jail because of the color of her skin.
DeSantis World is where people’s dreams of social justice go to die.
Get Ready for Roving Bands of Book Banners Coming to Your Town
Not so long ago, book burnings were considered a festive group activity by assorted rightwing zealots. Today, though, burning seems so old-fashioned and, well, crude.
Yet the concept is burning hotter than ever among a gaggle of testosterone-driven Republican leaders eager to show voters that they will go to extreme lengths to incinerate progressive ideas and people’s personal liberties. Rather than lighting bonfires, though, the new fad for GOP politicians is to simply use government power to ban the offending books—thus saving the expense of matches and lighter fluid.
It might not surprise you to learn that the Lone Star State’s extremist political operatives are leading today’s book-banning frenzy. One Jonathan Mitchell, for example, is going from town to town pushing Texas Republican officeholders to pass local ordinances that he labels “Safe Library Patron Protection.” Yes, patrons, censoring what you can read is necessary to “protect” you.
The proposed GOP ban prohibits libraries from having books, videos, and other material that contain “immoral content,” which he defines as depictions of nudity, sexual behavior, mentions of masturbation, LGBTQ+ life, and more. It’s also autocratically homophobic and transphobic, making it illegal for librarians to display LGBTQ+ flags or even mention “LGBTQ+ Pride Month.”
This repressive monomania stabs even deeper into our freedom of expression by concocting a “right” of rightwing vigilantes to enforce the ordinances. Yes, self-appointed bands of bounty hunters would be authorized to roam the countryside, suing local libraries—and librarians—for having “banned” books on the shelves.
To spur this political malice, Mitchell’s scheme provides a $10,000 reward for every violation a vigilante finds (or fabricates). Well, you say, thank God I don’t live in Texas! But—hello—repression doesn’t recognize state borders, so the pernicious idea of paid library marauders is spreading across the country.
To help defend your freedom from them, go to the American Library Association at ala.org.