Ron DeSantis’ Florida

[dickson]

DeSantis signs bill banning heat protection laws for outdoor workers

Not going to bother pulling an excerpt out. Too depressing.

Is he actually trying to kill workers?

 

[Meg]

If you look carefully at the wording, it's not making it illegal to use heat safety measures. It's making it illegal to require businesses to use heat safety measures. This is about stripping all controls from capitalism.

Getting to watch some people die is a side benefit.

 

[Roxxsmom]

So is in-person bullying.

Our daughter was bullied in school. Being able to find online friends was a big deal for her.

I was bullied in high school. If I’d had the ability to find online friends, it would’ve made a huge, positive impact on my life at that age.

Cyber-bullying online is a problem. Conspiracy theories online are a problem. Fraud online is a problem. I don’t think DeSantis cares a bit about reducing any of that. He cares about LGBTQ kids finding others to talk about their challenges, because he (like most of the GOP) likes having a marginalized group to bully.

True, though cyber bullying continues after the kid is supposed to be "safe" at home, and the number of people who can pile on is overwhelming. A kid can indeed feel that everyone hates them and agrees with the sick little asshole who told them to go kill themselves. In the old days, at least my home provided a respite from the cruelty of schoolyard bullies, and I always had one or two friends I could play with after school, and we could escape into a world where the bullies didn't intrude.

But the answer to this issue with depression isn't just about social media. It's about parenting and about the shift in societal, and sometimes legal, expectations of what a normal, safe childhood should look like (for instance, parents who let their kids bike to the store or park a few blocks away having their kid brought home by a cop).

There's a strong case for the origin of the epidemic in childhood depression (and the way most kids and teens live their lives online): a world where it's now considered negligent parenting to allow a kid to walk to school or soccer practice on their own, or to run errands for their parents, or even to bike or walk around their neighborhoods without a parent hovering nearby. Of course kids will be online constantly if they are cooped up in their homes with their only way to explore the world or to interact with their peers being via the internet. There are solutions to the problem, and maybe it's finally starting to get some attention.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/14/1244000143/anxious-generation-kids-autonomy-freedom

 

[frimble3]

Back to an older topic for a minute, book-banning:
I just discovered that 'Harriet the Spy' was banned in some places because she was a bad kid!
The theory was that reading the book would teach children to "spy, lie, and swear".
Didn't these people consider that their kids were capable of learning these common skills on their own?

 

[Marian Perera]

Back to an older topic for a minute, book-banning:
I just discovered that 'Harriet the Spy' was banned in some places because she was a bad kid!
The theory was that reading the book would teach children to "spy, lie, and swear".
Didn't these people consider that their kids were capable of learning these common skills on their own?

Are the Little House books banned on that basis as well? Laura slaps her sister, disobeys her father, tricks her classmate into wading in a leech-filled pond, and worst of all, refuses to vow obedience to her husband when they're married. She makes Harriet look like a saint.

 

[RedRajah]

Are the Little House books banned on that basis as well? Laura slaps her sister, disobeys her father, tricks her classmate into wading in a leech-filled pond, and worst of all, refuses to vow obedience to her husband when they're married. She makes Harriet look like a saint.

If I remember correctly, they actually have been banned at times -- usually for the depiction of Native Americans and Blacks in the book.

 

[Sage]

Back to an older topic for a minute, book-banning:
I just discovered that 'Harriet the Spy' was banned in some places because she was a bad kid!
The theory was that reading the book would teach children to "spy, lie, and swear".
Didn't these people consider that their kids were capable of learning these common skills on their own?

Interestingly, the part that stuck with me about this story was when her friends discover the spying and hate her for it. I don’t remember any other detail about the book except that scene. Probably why I didn’t learn to spy, lie, and swear as a kid

 

[Meg]

Interestingly, the part that stuck with me about this story was when her friends discover the spying and hate her for it. I don’t remember any other detail about the book except that scene. Probably why I didn’t learn to spy, lie, and swear as a kid

Ironically, the whole point is that Harriet is not a liar. In order to get her friends to stop hating her, her trusted former nanny tells her, "You are going to have to do two things you hate. You are going to have to apologize. And you are going to have to lie." The nanny puts it bluntly because those are the terms that Harriet understands, but really it's about learning that common courtesy sometimes trumps absolute honesty.

 

[Roxxsmom]

Are the Little House books banned on that basis as well? Laura slaps her sister, disobeys her father, tricks her classmate into wading in a leech-filled pond, and worst of all, refuses to vow obedience to her husband when they're married. She makes Harriet look like a saint.

And you're forgetting the bit when she led a rebellion against their schoolteacher (who was, if I recall correctly, the sister to the man she eventually married).

If I remember correctly, they actually have been banned at times -- usually for the depiction of Native Americans and Blacks in the book.

This could well be true, and it's a reminder that book banning can come from the Left as well as from the Right. We're hearing a lot more about it from the Right these days, though, and for a good reason.

Back to Florida, this is the state with the highest number of book bans at present.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/16/1245037718/book-bans-2023-pen-america

Among the key takeaways:

• The vast majority of school book bans occurred in Florida, with 3,135 bans across 11 of the state's school districts. A spokesperson with Florida's Department of Education declined NPR's request for comment.
• Book bans are often instigated by a small number of people. Challenges from one parent lead to a temporary banning of 444 books in a school district in Wisconsin.
• Those who ban books often cite "obscenity law and hyperbolic rhetoric about 'porn in schools' to justify banning books about sexual violence and LGBTQ+ topics (and in particular, trans identities)," the report says.
• There is a similar surge in resistance against the bans, says the report. Authors, students and others are "fighting back in creative and powerful ways.

Another interesting point is that a very, very small number of people are responsible for the overwhelming majority of book bans in this country at present. It appears that Texas is next, followed by (surprisingly) Pennsylvania.

A study by The Washington Post found that in 2021-2022, "Just 11 people were responsible for filing 60 percent" of book challenges.

That such a small group of people can have such an outsized effect is sad but also encouraging. Getting involved in things makes a difference.

Though it's also important to note that it's always easier to destroy something than it is to create something, and these folks are all about destruction, taking away, and silencing. It's a modern tragedy that as society gets more and more complicated, and as change occurs faster and faster with each passing year, it's easier and easier for small numbers to ruin things.