So a quick note on the controversial comments:
They were reported and popped up on my moderation log.
I chose to leave the comments in place and instead reply to them rather than removing them simply because removing them wouldn't allow people to see the misinformation and a reasoned response to that misinformation.
It's clear the poster had no first hand knowledge of the book in question or the intent of placing it in schools (or not placing it in schools as was the case here).
In any regard, they chose to go through and delete all their comments. This was a decision made by the original author and not the moderators.
Bummer that it removes all the responses when they delete the top level comment. This person was a bigot and the comments did a good job rebutting their right wing propaganda.
Exactly why I didn't remove them. :(
Hey, this is good moderating.
Aww, you're just saying that because you didn't have to do it. LOL! ;)
Seriously, I banned someone in another group I moderate and they turned into a full bore stalker, multiple accounts, ban evasion, etc. etc. I had to get the site admins involved and everything.
It's kind of refreshing when someone sees the arguments and the downvotes and goes off to re-think their life choices.
I like your optimism assuming that's what happened.
Took me several removals to figure out I was removing a whole tree of comments. Always been a slow learner.
I didn't know about the book, but this article made me look for an example of what they are talking about. Here's one: https://alphanews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/genderqueer-1-1.jpg
I think it indeed went too far a middle school book and it could talk about gender without being graphic.
You would actually need to read the book to understand the context of that page and see that it is, in fact, not graphic. The blurring makes it look worse than it actually is. Kind of like when Jimmy Kimmell does "un-necessary censorship" for laughs.
The penis here is not actually a penis. The top blurred panel is captioned "this is the visual I'd been picturing", and in the 2nd panel it's clear that the couple is engaging in strap on play, with the caption "But I can't feel anything. This was much hotter when it was only in my imagination."
In the end, the book is a touching, 241 page book about what it's like to struggle with gender identity and some people want to get hung up on mis-representing 2 panels on page 168.
High school/middle school kids who struggle with their gender identity absolutely need exposure to this book.
People who lack empathy for what others are going through need to read it more.
Under what circumstances does a school's curriculum or materials become the ~~preview~~ purview of the cops?
I think most cops are MAGA supporters. Probably not too difficult to find one that would make such a thing their job.
Isn't middle school like 11-14ish?
Sure, but do schools carry such material even heterosexual? And no, this is not the same as learning anatomy.
Not sure if they do, but I don't think it would be inappropriate. They (hopefully) already had proper sex-ed at this point and any explicit image showing how consent and sex beyond penetration looks like are in my opinion very welcome.
Also, would you have less problem with it being heterosexual?
Stephen King’s IT was in my middleschool library, go fuck yourself.
I had READ a myriad of descriptions of hererosexual relationships by the time I was entering high school, it’s EVERYWHERE. Couple that with an overabundance of shitty people who think the sexuality of others is their business, and it was a REAL fucking struggle to figure out how/why I don’t fit into every single portrayal of a relationship I’ve ever seen.
Let's be honest here, most kids at that age have already seen porn. I saw porn as a kid far before I got a proper sex ed.
Not making sex out to be such a shameful thing to be hidden away would be very beneficial. It took me years to properly understand sex the way I do now, and in such a way for it to suit me. Before then I had a lot of weird preconceived notions that were not helpful at all.
Sex is natural and normal, what's the point of turning it into such a big thing that needs to be hidden away? Especially when most kids at that age start to have sexual feelings. It's better to provide them a safe and open environment, as well as making sex just be a normal thing, than basically force kids to get their information elsewhere and experiment without knowledge about consent etc.
Except per the article this book was not at the school
So they swatted a school. They took a picture of a random, inappropriate book, sent that picture to the cops, and the cops raided the school to show little queer kids that force and violence will meet them if they don't hide the fact that they're queer.
Fucking monsters.
THE POLICE PROBLEM
The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.
99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.
When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.
When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."
When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.
Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.
The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.
All this is a path to a police state.
In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.
Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.
That's the solution.
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Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.
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RULES
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.
Please also abide by the instance rules.
It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.
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ALLIES
• r/ACAB
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INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• Killings by law enforcement in Canada
• Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• Killings by law enforcement in the United States
• Know your rights: Filming the police
• Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)
• Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.
• Police lie under oath, a lot
• Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak
• Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street
• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
• When the police knock on your door
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ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration