Phrases like “Family Friendly” were historically used to exclude. 

Not wanting to be seen for what it was, a ban on Gay people being somewhere because that could lead to litigation, playing off of stereotypes, this phrase meant that as Gay people had no self-control while lacking any idea of social skills, we would show up and camp the event up with weird sexualized behavior. It was to everyone’s benefit that we not attend.

Anyone who has ever had to fight for their rights with which they have been endowed by their creator, rights all people had because it was just so self-evident that we are all created equal, has had to face those euphemisms that bar the door, and prosecution because a law’s wording was carefully crafted to appear broad when the intent is to artfully target.

During the book banning attempt in Oklahoma City 20 years ago, the books to be banned were those with “Homosexual Themes”  which are whatever the banner defines that as. Sometimes the publicity for the attempt to ban a book was the actual object as it opens a door to ignite any number of conservative pontifications.

The chaos this approach would create was as self-evident as the truth about equality because all books could be reassessed and evaluated with a more jaundiced eye and many acceptable books could be shown to have “Homosexual Themes” by simply assigning symbolism to names, colors, places, actions, and then re-interpreting simple scenes as the veil that blurred what was actually there.

This was useful as the majority would have little interest in what others lost or never got, so with the us/them set up, they were content to be protected from us, and the system seemed to have the expected benefits.

But those who have had to fight for their rights are very aware of slippery slopes as recognizing  our rights, the rights the creator already gave us, was constantly referred to as the slippery slope that would end up having everyone’s rights recognized, not just those of those who benefit by the division.

Back when Ron DeSantis began his anti-Gay jag and knew he needed both the ostentatious, politicaly advantageous actions and the ones more subtle because, being broad, they would appear to be universally applicable, while they would only be applied to one group of people, Bill O’reilly, assuming he was still relevant, supported Florida’s book banning law because, 

“there was abuse going on in Florida. There were far-left progressive people trying to impose an agenda on children, there’s no doubt about it.”

Now, out of fear, school districts are erring on the side of caution, afraid some overlooked book will become someone’s major issue and way to Jesus. They are obviously casting a wide net that supporters of book bans did not realize could entangle them.

Bill O’Reilly, who accused school teachers and librarians of wanting  to “impose an agenda on children” while he wrote a series of book about the “Killing of” the witches, the Legends, the killers, the Mob, Crazy Horse, the SS, England, the Rising Sun, Reagan, Patton, Jesus, Kennedy, and Lincoln, showing an odd fascination with a negative, politically explained obsession and, perhaps finding beginning each book with the words “Killing” is somehow being poetic, has found he has been removed from a school district’s libraries perhaps, because of the killing thing or as part of removing indoctrination from the schools.

Years ago, Nancy Reagan opposed stem cell research to combat Altzheimers  supporting the idea it promoted abortion because the the stem cell supply used in research had originallycome from aborted fetuses. That was until such research might help Ronnie in his waning years and mental capacity.

It became okay of a sudden.

AIDS research was purposefully slow because others were dying. When it was found that it wasn’t limited just to them, things changed. 

And, now that Bill O’reilly has been swept up in what was supposed to be a cleverly disguised law targeting a specific group of people while appearing to be applicable to everyone, he wants specifics which he will not get because that would reveal the actual intent of the law and the specific segment of the population being targeted.

“Things are getting crazy with book banning in Florida. “Killing Jesus: A History” and “Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency” both were pulled pending a review to see whether they ran afoul of a new state law passed by the state’s Republican-led Legislature and signed by DeSantis.

Depending on how any action he might take turns out, O’Reilly may be showing other authors of banned books how to get their books put back on the shelves in Florida having declared.

“We are investigating and are seeking comment from (DeSantis). This will not stand.”

What bothers him the most and what is so objectionable to him is that while he supported DeSantis’s book ban laws when applied to others, not to those like him, he has realized that “The state has an obligation to protect children. But the wording of the law was far too nebulous in Tallahassee.”

The story is that Escambia County School District removed 1,500 books from it libraries pending review, a process which, while following the law, deprives students in the district access to all those books, even the ones that will eventually be returned to the shelves either before graduation when they would be useful or after when unneeded.

Tiffany Justice, a leading voice against “inappropriate” books in school and co-founder of Mom’s for Liberty, reeling itself at present because, while they were going after controlling what other people’s children could read, they were too distracted to notice one of the founders had taken too much liberty, complained about schools doing this because 

“They’ve got bloated administrative budgets, they’ve got people doing all kinds of things. If they don’t have the time to vet the books that are in the libraries then they have no business being in their jobs.”.

The two things she ignores are that this removal of books is not what schools want to be doing but the law she supports forces them to do, and that the books were vetted by professionals but it did not go the way she would have liked because it was done out of her control.

The cooler heads at the school district explained, 

“The 1,000+ books … have not been banned or removed from the school district; rather, they have simply been pulled for further review to ensure compliance with the new legislation. Our school district, and especially our dedicated media specialists, remain committed to adhering to all statutes and regulations, while also providing valuable and varied literacy opportunities for every student.”

The only viable solution to Bill’s problem according to his own charges would be for Florida to specifically list which citizens Florida is targeting.

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