OKLAHOMA- January 5th, 2022– A new bill would allow parents to ban books from schools. Senate Bill 1142 would allow any parent to complain to the school district about a book. And upon such a complaint require the school library to remove the book promptly.
If even a single parent makes a complaint about a book, and the book is not removed within 30 days. That parent would be granted $10,000 a day.
But is it “book burning”?
Despite how other outlets are reporting on this bill. IIn fact the bill would only apply to books that are “sexual” in nature, not books about LGBT issues per se, though it would effectively ban any books relating to gender or sexual identity.
The bill explicitly applies to books that are that “make as their primary subject the study of sex, sexual preferences, sexual activity, sexual perversion, sex-based classification sexual identity, or gender identity or books that are of a sexual nature.”
The Double-edged Sword of Censorship
While it is easy to say that books with sexual ideologies should not be in school libraries. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If this bill should pass, it is likely a lawmaker in another state will ban religious texts from school under the same reasoning.
And in some ways, it can not be ignored that this bill would be reflective of Hitler’s ban on similar content in the 1930s.
However, we are talking about banning books from schools, not from bookstores or society altogether. Regardless, the approach must be carefully thought out. And carefully considered. There has rarely been a time in history, where more government was the answer.
My opinion? Don’t send your children to public schools.
And there can be no doubt about it, some books need to be removed from schools, after all, we don’t allow children to view “adult content.” And some of the books in schools now are already over the line, to begin with.
For the specific reasons why I say that. See this article by The Daily Wire. Be forewarned the content is graphic in nature.
Bills Allowing Parents To Sue Schools Are Nothing New
This bill in Oklahoma comes as other states push back against “critical race theory” and gender identity in public schools.
Florida recently passed the Stop W.O.K.E Act which allows parents to sue teachers who teach “critical race theory”. New Hampshire has already passed a similar bill that allows parents to sue schools that teach gender or race ideologies to students.
And Missouri, as well as Kentucky have proposed similar legislation.
Again, this type of legislation is often met by equal and opposite resistance, so it may come back to bite the proponents of them. However, perhaps this is the equal and opposite response to the extreme ideologies. Already being pushed in schools.