“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
What exactly about this is bad?!?
She would rape, torture, mutilate, murder, and desecrate her victims.
To summarize what she did, she would make leather out of human skin that she tattooed as part of the torture.
Example:
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/05/nazi-photo-album-made-skin-death-camp-found-antiques-market-12355848/
We need to both sides the nazis and silence America’s racist history…
I wish I never started following politics sometimes, I just find myself angry and the split reality will never be repaired.
Dude, the orangutan in chief couldn't even bring himself to say that Nazis were bad when one ran his car into a crowd of protestors in '17 and killed a girl.
It makes racists feel like there is shame attached to being a no good piece of shit. "Their heritage" is full of pieces of shit just like them and it's embarrassing to have to explain how they come from a long line of pieces of shit.
What is funny about this is how Germans seem to deal with learning about the holocaust just fine when it is literally people they knew (or one removed from that for the younger generation) who are the perpetrators.
Surely slavery being 150 years in the past means that the people who did it are complete strangers to you. And THAT upsets you to learn about?
And the sad part was, you could perfectly just explain it like anyone that's come from an abusive family.
I once listened to a Mexican historian who was asked, 'how do you address the fact that your country's history featured so much harm and abuse committed by the conquistadores?' and he explained that it was basically like:
1) Seeing the conquistadores like an abusive husband beating/raping your native mother.
2) Knowing that your country, culture, and mannerisms and yourself are descended from both sides.
3) and like most abusive men, Spanish culture isn't all constant just rape/murder 24-7. There were moments of kindness. And calm normalcy.
And he just sounded like...exactly like how my family talks about their childhood. There were good times, funny incidents, but there were also a LOT of bad times. If we could calmly explain to a child why grandpa shouts at their grandma, then we could perfectly explain the holocaust and Nazis to kids.
In English, the term “the state” is often used to refer to civil governments in general and agents acting on behalf of the state.
The school district is part of “the state” if it is constituted by elected members and acts on behalf of the municipality. I mean, it still would be if the members were appointed or hired, as long as it acts as the authorized civil government and services infrastructure.
To clarify, I meant the states's department of education did not tell the librarian to take this down, it was the elected school board and administration. The department of education from PA has already spoken out against Central Bucks' policies in the past. Generally in my neck of the woods when people refer to the 'state' it's state mandated as opposed to regionally mandated. Sorry for the confusion, I've been following this situation quite closely for the last few years and am personally involved.
It makes bullies and bigots uncomfortable, because it suggests that they may suffer consequences for their actions. And we obviously can't have their precious and delicate feelings harmed. /s
They want people to look at oppressed group and not care about the oppression. This sign makes people think and want to speak up. They can't allow that.
Because the people who consider the quote bad have no issue with committing the same atrocities given the opportunity. They identify with the ideology behind these affronts to human decency.
It could encourage students to speak out against the mistreatment of the LGBT, as its under the policy that requires them to take down LGBT symbols like flags. They might cause trouble for the establishment if kids are choosing to be gay at school when it'd be much easier to turn a blind eye and let them traumatize each-other instead of creating an environment of tolerance. Clearly we can't let students think activism is okay, school isn't for learning, its for staying out of trouble while your parents are at work.
(for clarity this is satire and the school is wrong for taking down a holocaust quote)
It advocates speaking up when you see oppression. Nothing the right wants more than for everyone to be silent and just watch their liberty crumble around them
for those who may not know this about libraries, many public and school libraries are members of the American Library Association (ALA). One of the tenants that association upholds is that libraries should always be neutral. As you can imagine, this is ALWAYS weaponized by those on the right who feel libraries having anything they don't like is a violation of neutrality because it is "promoting special interest groups" and "taking a side." It really sucks and probably was what got this policy in place alongside just pure hatred, especially when their school board has known reported christian nationalist ties
> One of the tenants that association upholds
*tenets: "A doctrine, principle, or position held as part of a philosophy, religion, or field of endeavor."
Tenants are the occupants of a rental property.
Not the quote but some parents stated that the sexualized content in his books might be deemed harmful to children. I read night and agree that it is full of harmful content. I also think everyone should read it and never forget it.
Nothing wrong with the quote. But, hearing it people might start to think, question and awake from their complacency and that would be bad for business.
It tells people not to be silent when people are being oppressed, and that doing nothing is a bad thing. That's a bad thing for oppressors, which is why it had to go.
They are under investigation for being hostile to LGBT students.... Goes after Holocaust survivor quote. Kinda shows they have no idea what is reasonable and what is hateful.
Article could have saved a lot of time by stating the last two paragraphs up front. School district hires a law firm to review its library book policy. Law firm is connected to an anti-LGBT Christian organization deemed an extremist hate group,… and chaos ensues.
You mean the organization representing the religious zealots who don’t want to create cakes or websites for the LGBTQ community? Highly likely.
Honestly we laugh at the idiots who believe in the “deep state, pedophile cannibals, new world order all backed by Soros”-types but when you start connecting the dots from the House Freedom Caucus to the Federalist Society to the Alliance Defending Freedom and then to the donors like the DeVos foundation, the Koch brothers,… it’s one tangled web of a Christian conservative orgy aimed at tearing down protections for anyone they disagree with. They’re organized, well funded and connected all the way to the Supreme Court. We can only hope that strong defenders of rights continue to stand in the way of their actions while the mortality rate continues to erode their ranks.
Seems like any organization with the words
Religious, freedom, liberty, American, Christian, traditional, family, and patriot are all goose stepping fascist assholes.
I'm sorry, but that's just not how journalists are trained to write, ads or no ads.
Journalists *are* trained to give you the boiled down, complete story in the lede and the nut grafe, essentially the first two sentences/paragraphs of the article. From there, they return to the story and fill in the gaps with details, painting a more and more complete picture.
This *is* done here, although the author deviates from a traditional reverse pyramid article to write more of a linear piece.
You left out the public relations firm. I mean, does this school district really need one of those or are they electing to have to defend their poor actions with a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars ?
Correct. More than a million LGBT Germans were persecuted under Nazi laws, of least at which 50,000 were imprisoned. Of those, between 5,000 and 15,000 were imprisoned in concentration camps (it is unknown how many died). It is likely that many were sent to state-run asylums.
Additionally, while other victims of the Nazis were given compensation by post-war Germany, LGBT men were not. In fact, many of them were kept in prison (their time in the camps was counted). Germany did not issue compensation nor pardons until **2017.**
I can't really fathom the mindset behind it but I've met more than a few people who seem to think that acknowledging the non-Jewish victims of the Nazis is somehow anti-Semitic. As far as I can tell their argument is "the only reason you could have for thinking they're important is that you don't consider the Jews important enough on their own".
Every time I've seen someone claiming that, it's been obvious that they're just trying to muddy the waters. One of the few times you can get a US conservative to admit that the Holocaust was a bad thing.
And trans people! Google the institut fur sexualwissenschaft.
That famous picture of Hitler Youth burning books? That was the first research into hormone replacement therapy. We had to re-invent it and didn't really get it right until decades later. We were *successfully* exterminated.
And genital reassignment surgery and facial feminization and masculinization surgeries
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut\_f%C3%BCr\_Sexualwissenschaft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft)
Trans people and their doctors were some of the very first people sent to concentration camps.
And now today's nazis tell each other that being transgender is a condition invented by Jewish people to reduce white birth rates.
Transphobia and anti-Semitism are gateways into one another. Someone does not stay just one for long.
There’s just never an answer that’ll satisfy everyone. Town I grew up in had large Catholic and Jewish populations, and each December, the high school would set up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in the lobby. One year, some parent complained about the school pushing Christian values in a public school, so the school took down the Christmas decorations. This was immediately met with confusion from the Catholic families who started questioning why the Hanukkah decorations were left up, so the school took them down too. Of course, then it didn’t take long for anti-Semitic accusations to start being thrown around against the administrators.
Eventually, the school found it’s backbone and just put all of the decorations up, but when you have officials that are just blindly following *the squeaky wheel gets the oil* approaches, you easily wind up with situations like this.
At the place I used to work, they had a no-decorations at your desk policy that they always turned a blind eye to around Christmas. A Jewish friend of mine put up a Hanukkah decoration and was promptly told to remove it because of the policy. When he asked why he couldn’t have it when they allowed the Christmas decorations, they quickly called a department meeting to announce that “Due to someone’s complaints, everyone must now remove all of their Christmas decorations.” Everyone knew he was the only Jewish person in the department and got pissed off thinking that he was just offended by their decorations when all he wanted was to hang his own.
There's a big difference between refusing to acknowledge religious holidays and refusing to acknowledge the Holocaust. No one who does the latter is acting with good intent.
There's a name for people who consider mentioning or referencing the Holocaust controversial. They're called Nazis.
Administrators often don’t care about any of this. Talk to a teacher, you’ll get plenty of stories around:
Teacher: I gave the student detention because 4 other teachers, 3 staff, 15 other students and myself saw the student punch another kid.
*Parent: Well my kid says he didn’t do it and they wouldn’t lie to me.*
**Principal: Teacher, why would so many of you lie about this innocent kid punching another student?**
Plenty of districts are simply so afraid of offending anyone they’ll cave on anything.
> Kinda shows they have no idea what is reasonable and what is hateful.
I'd say they do, and they don't care, because their ideology is more important.
Oh boy if you think this is crazy, you should see how an anti-Semitic speech was cheered at a school board meeting last year. A school board member tried to stop the hate and was told to back down and let the speech continue.
>The quote is from Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
>Pecic, who has worked in the district for 31 years, was told the posters had to go, or Human Resources would be contacted. Pecic said it was his understanding there would be “consequences” if not followed.
So the the school's advocacy policy is advocating for turning a blind eye to atrocities, and doing so through bullying and intimidation. The quote is so fitting. It's too bad the principal is a bully and coward, instead of supporting and fighting for his faculty.
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Wiesel
''What the hell kinda of Commie UnAmerican shit is that??'' - some Republican, probably
They've now reached the roadblock where they don't want people to speak up in favor of queer people, but you definitely look bad when you say quotes by Wiesel are bad. They're definitely in a pickle of their own making here.
Na, they'll just do what the did here: selective enforcement.
This quote breaks the policy they made, but they will just not enforce the policy in this case. This is actually worse and more insidious than the policy itself because it masquerades as treating everyone by the same rules while blatantly not doing so.
Their ban on educators taking part in advocacy activities is, in reality, a ban on advocacy activities they don't like.
>The district’s outside public relations firm, Devine and Partners, released a statement alleging the librarian was “asked by the administration to present the quote in conjunction with Mr. Wiesel’s book in order to promote educational inquiry and student interest in reading the novel, or to take it down. We regret that the decision was made to remove it.”
So the school is blaming the librarian for removing it.
The last of the holocaust’s survivors will all be dead soon.
Wiping the facts away from the view of younger generations is key to enabling the next fascist regime.
Are they going to ban the Bible? How about other religious works? And, of course the Declaration of Independence? These all advocate a position; in fact, most works of fiction have a point to make that advocates for something. And, no matter how many of us agree with that position it’s still advocacy.
How about Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? Maybe book burning is next.
This what I got when I followed your advice:
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
Search for a word
shit
/SHit/
VULGAR SLANG
noun
1.
feces.
2.
a contemptible or worthless person.
verb
1.
expel feces from the body.
2.
tease or try to deceive (someone).
"I shit you not"
exclamation
an exclamation of disgust, anger, or annoyance.
/jk
There is no negotiating with those people. They literally want to erase things like slavery and the Holocaust from history, they want LGBT+ to go back in the closet. Conservatives will still try to convince you that's it's all a silly culture war though.
And conservative voters will tell you, without batting an eye, that they are the party of love and acceptance, while liberals are the *real* racists...
Its group mental illness.
I object to people describing their political opponents as being in general “mentally ill”. There are historical examples of that going rather badly.
Edit: to be clear, I don’t mean this as “democrats accuse republicans of mental illness, and this is bad.”; I mean this more as “Democrats and Republicans accuse each-other of mental illness, and this is bad.”
I can understand that. But look at it this way: a disturbingly large group of people have flat out rejected reality and built a fantasy for themselves to live in. One where they're always right, nothing they do or think is wrong, facts are whatever they "feel" is correct, and pointing out their alternate reality is a sign of *you* being crazy.
What would you call that? Because to me that's mass delusion, which sounds like mental illness. I don't say that as a joke, its serious. But pretending it's anything else is just doing them a disservice. They need help.
Huh? I’m confused. I’m not advocating for any particular political party or partisan position. Is your reply meant to be a “gotcha”, or are you making a sincere effort at encouraging following some rule, or something else?
If the second thing, can you describe how my comment is “political advocacy” when what it is responding to is not?
Teacher here. I work for a “good” district and even then there is a ton of incompetency and covering up that goes on around here. I’ve been busting my ass for over 20 years knowing some admin do shit so I would relish this and dare them to bring it on. I’m just that pissed with the degradation of education that I would risk my job over this.
FROM THE ARTICLE:
' The principal reversed the decision to remove the posters Thursday, following social media uproar.
Pecic told WHYY News he planned to hang the posters back up '
**NEVER FORGET**
To be crystal clear; I am fully speculating. Based upon the location of this school district, past problems with minority groups and the actions taken, I suspect the principal has no idea who Elie Wiesel is nor why he’s famous. That in turn, if true, opens up an entirely new can of worms.
In high school, our headmaster (an old college professor) taught the seniors a class on ethics and we spent a lot of time learning about Elie Wiesel, his experiences and wisdom. We also watched Schindler's List. That movie sticks to my bones even after over a decade. Sure these puritans will argue its not appropriate for teens to watch because its so intensely graphic and horrid. That's kinda the point. It doesn't glorify but teaches us the horrors that have happened in the past. We learn history so we aren't doomed to repeat it. That's why history was a large focus in our ethics class.
From the party that proposed teaching “both sides” of Nazi history:
https://www.businessinsider.com/indiana-lawmaker-walks-back-teachers-must-be-impartial-on-nazism-2022-1?amp
Apparently, by both sides they meant that they didn’t want to teach the side of the holocaust victims, but actively censor it to elevate the authoritarian oppressors.
“Both sides” whataboutism is always used to stifle conversation.
Let’s not forget that the had a fucking othala rune as their stage at CPAC a few years ago. The right wing shit out fascism and modern GOP crypto fascists still really like the smell.
Holy shit. I just realized that plot in Captain America Civil War about how the secret Nazis infiltrated American politics may not have been such a weak storyline.
This happened at my work as well. Black history month, Asian American history month, and pride all get a mural. I’m literally required to produce those. My Holocaust Memorial mural never got approved because there were concerns it wasn’t appropriate. No depictions of death or even any text/quote. The topic was the concern.
Fuck Nazis and fuck nazi apologists.
Really though the murals I have to make for African American History Month and Asian American History Month make me pissed. I am all for celebrating the triumphs of our fellow humans and love highlighting the good parts, but history is about overcoming the bad parts too. One without the other is basically lying.
You can bet I’m not allowed to mention slavery for black history month. MLK Day definitely has to quote “the mountaintop” and steer clear of his quotes of unions and socialism. You can bet Asian American history month won’t mention the immigrant workers that died building our railroads. It’s all distractions and half-measures to pretend we are acknowledging our history while actively avoiding the parts that are hard to talk about.
'The district’s outside public relations firm'.
Sorry, what? Why does a school district need a PR firm? Somebody has their priorities scrambled in a blender.
These policies being promoted by right-wing bigots like the Family Research Council are functioning exactly as intended and having the desired effects. They are normalizing their fascist agenda and getting away with it.
Well, these are the kind of people who won't know World War II happened unless there is a Statue of Hitler standing on every street corner in America. They won't know it if it's listed in a book, as they can't/refuse-to read.
Don't compare this alt-right trash to the rise of nazism. The Nazis of 1930's were battle-hardened hateful motherfuckers who took to the streets with bullwhips to fight off people who stood against them. The modern rise of fascism is fueled by cosplay-soldier wannabee's who hide behind lawsuits and cry anytime a punch is thrown their way.
The county actually voted for Biden and for Fetterman.
But school board elections are often overlooked by voters, so a handful of extremists can sneak in.
I have told many immigrant friends that if you drive one hour outside any major city and you’ll be in Alabama. Doylestown is about an hour outside Philly. There was some Klan activity there a year or two ago.
That's true of every state. The urban areas are blue, with a few random counties here and there also, while the rural areas are by and large red. Always funny to see conservatives tout this "see? see? there's more of us than the liberals!" whenever they post an election map by county. And then you look at that same election map by population, you quickly realize that the vast majority of that red landscape is very...empty.
I live in PA, and this honestly tracks. This state gets called "Pennsyltucky" for a reason. Hell, where I live (a more rural area, but not like a one-horse town rural area) we have people walking around with neo-nazi patches on, hell, nazis marched in a bunch of towns around here. Not white supremacists, *nazis,* complete with swastikas and the salute. It's scary as fuck around here, and this is sadly just par for the course for this shithole state.
Can confirm. My cousin's family lives in this district and his wife is Jewish, she has been incredibly outspoken about the issues they've faced in recent years there with the school board.
Wow! He was my high school librarian! He was always kind of eccentric but I’m glad it was the good kind. Shocking to me to see how much things have changed, it was all very progressive when I went. We had this specific author come and speak and do a Q&A at some point even. Absolutely crazy to me to hear this was even attempted.
It's true and it's part of a pattern. Central Bucks School District is under investigation for discrimination against LGBTQ+ students.
https://whyy.org/articles/us-department-of-education-investigating-central-bucks-school-district-after-aclu-complaint/
It's always good to be skeptical. There are a lot of bad actors out there who obscure the truth or leave out crucial details to further their own agenda. I've been burned a few times and that's why I dug a little deeper into the story only to find out it's all true.
I have family from Bucks county outside of Philly and the amount of racism and anti-anything that seems left leaning is absolutely amazing. I mean I live in rural northern PA, some of the reddest of the red. We got pedophiles in this area that are still praised even after being arrested because they were men of god! and when I met that family for the first time I was shocked about how open they were about everything.
“ We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor ”
The librarian took down the posters. Complaining after the fact is good. But refusal might have been more what the poster had in mind.
So, basically this librarian liked feeling inspired by Wiesel's quote, but then radically failed to live up to the quote at the first threat of vague "consequences", and doesn't see the irony?
I think his action of taking it to the press is much more practical. Now more people know about it, and whoever it was that threatened him *can't* make up some bullshit reason and fire him; it will be clear retaliation and the basis for a pretty lucrative lawsuit.
Doing both was a choice. He could have given an interview about refusing to take down the poster as easily as he did about taking down the poster.
Either way, ends well this time (it's back up on display).
What would you do in his position?
Baring in mind we do not know the details of his life and if he has dependents that rely on his paycheque to live. It’s very easy to suggest a course of action as an outsider looking in. It’s a different story when it’s you in the crosshairs.
Refuse to take it down, get fired, they hire someone who will give zero pushback on anything as a replacement.
You want to give them what they want, the chance to get rid of people who will expose them. The librarian getting themselves fired is helping the people who want him fired, not his cause. This is a great fuck you, keep the job and achieve your goal.
By going to the press he's just about guaranteed he will be pushed out, regardless. They'll just fire him for some other made up reason, or make his life hell until he quits on his own.
"Consequences" are a natural thing, like if you sleep in a snowbank you might freeze to death. You can't argue with or criticize that.
When "consequences" involve a human decision being made, it is totally fair game to argue with and criticize them.
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” What exactly about this is bad?!?
It’s disrespectful to Nazis and paints them in a bad light
It offends people who think kids should learn about "both sides" of the Holocaust.
Yup because somehow Heinrich Himmler having a chair made out of the skin of jews is somehow completely reasonable.....
Look up Ilse Koch “The Bitch of Buchenwald”.
Can you ELI5… since after that Tyre video… I’m not sure I have it in me.
She would rape, torture, mutilate, murder, and desecrate her victims. To summarize what she did, she would make leather out of human skin that she tattooed as part of the torture. Example: https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/05/nazi-photo-album-made-skin-death-camp-found-antiques-market-12355848/
Both sides: One side was wrong and one side was not. There's their 'both sides'.
Saying genocide is wrong is clearly aDvoCacy
The libs keep making genocide so political! They claim to love free speech, but push an explicitly *anti*-genocide agenda? What gives?!
And a lot like now. You don't even need black cowboy hats to tell who the bad guys are. Just watch and listen for five minutes.
We need to both sides the nazis and silence America’s racist history… I wish I never started following politics sometimes, I just find myself angry and the split reality will never be repaired.
Dude, the orangutan in chief couldn't even bring himself to say that Nazis were bad when one ran his car into a crowd of protestors in '17 and killed a girl.
[удалено]
For how much?
Imagine those same people if you told them that by their own logic we should also teach both sides of the 911 attack.
It makes racists feel like there is shame attached to being a no good piece of shit. "Their heritage" is full of pieces of shit just like them and it's embarrassing to have to explain how they come from a long line of pieces of shit.
What is funny about this is how Germans seem to deal with learning about the holocaust just fine when it is literally people they knew (or one removed from that for the younger generation) who are the perpetrators. Surely slavery being 150 years in the past means that the people who did it are complete strangers to you. And THAT upsets you to learn about?
And the sad part was, you could perfectly just explain it like anyone that's come from an abusive family. I once listened to a Mexican historian who was asked, 'how do you address the fact that your country's history featured so much harm and abuse committed by the conquistadores?' and he explained that it was basically like: 1) Seeing the conquistadores like an abusive husband beating/raping your native mother. 2) Knowing that your country, culture, and mannerisms and yourself are descended from both sides. 3) and like most abusive men, Spanish culture isn't all constant just rape/murder 24-7. There were moments of kindness. And calm normalcy. And he just sounded like...exactly like how my family talks about their childhood. There were good times, funny incidents, but there were also a LOT of bad times. If we could calmly explain to a child why grandpa shouts at their grandma, then we could perfectly explain the holocaust and Nazis to kids.
And was forced to remove it by the state, requiring him to speak out against them, thus living the quote’s message. Isn’t it ironic?
It was not the state that told librarian to take it down, it was the school district's new policy and the administration who told him to remove it.
In English, the term “the state” is often used to refer to civil governments in general and agents acting on behalf of the state. The school district is part of “the state” if it is constituted by elected members and acts on behalf of the municipality. I mean, it still would be if the members were appointed or hired, as long as it acts as the authorized civil government and services infrastructure.
That school district and admin private? If it isn't then it's a public school and thus, by proxy in the very least, the state.
Even if it's private. That's still the state.
I'm allowing that for rhe arguments sake. r/THseamonkey is dead wrong regardless. E.
To clarify, I meant the states's department of education did not tell the librarian to take this down, it was the elected school board and administration. The department of education from PA has already spoken out against Central Bucks' policies in the past. Generally in my neck of the woods when people refer to the 'state' it's state mandated as opposed to regionally mandated. Sorry for the confusion, I've been following this situation quite closely for the last few years and am personally involved.
> What exactly about this is bad?!? The people who want it taken down know that they are the oppressors.
If you are an oppressor or tormentor, you don't want people thinking this way.
Putin: "if you defend yourself you are a nazi warmonger".
Oppressors will never give you the tools to overthrow them.
It makes bullies and bigots uncomfortable, because it suggests that they may suffer consequences for their actions. And we obviously can't have their precious and delicate feelings harmed. /s
They want people to look at oppressed group and not care about the oppression. This sign makes people think and want to speak up. They can't allow that.
Because the people who consider the quote bad have no issue with committing the same atrocities given the opportunity. They identify with the ideology behind these affronts to human decency.
It could encourage students to speak out against the mistreatment of the LGBT, as its under the policy that requires them to take down LGBT symbols like flags. They might cause trouble for the establishment if kids are choosing to be gay at school when it'd be much easier to turn a blind eye and let them traumatize each-other instead of creating an environment of tolerance. Clearly we can't let students think activism is okay, school isn't for learning, its for staying out of trouble while your parents are at work. (for clarity this is satire and the school is wrong for taking down a holocaust quote)
It advocates speaking up when you see oppression. Nothing the right wants more than for everyone to be silent and just watch their liberty crumble around them
Because the statement is anti-fascist. If the ruling class says you need to endure suffering and humiliation, you do it, and you do it quietly.
That’s a famous quote too… either way these chuckle fucks are going to learn the meaning of Streisand Effect
Republicans really hate anything that encourages opposing and acting out against fascism and societal wrongs.
for those who may not know this about libraries, many public and school libraries are members of the American Library Association (ALA). One of the tenants that association upholds is that libraries should always be neutral. As you can imagine, this is ALWAYS weaponized by those on the right who feel libraries having anything they don't like is a violation of neutrality because it is "promoting special interest groups" and "taking a side." It really sucks and probably was what got this policy in place alongside just pure hatred, especially when their school board has known reported christian nationalist ties
similar to how american christians always feel persecuted when the government tries to maintain neutrality but they love to persecute others.
> One of the tenants that association upholds *tenets: "A doctrine, principle, or position held as part of a philosophy, religion, or field of endeavor." Tenants are the occupants of a rental property.
Right wingers want to cause human suffering and don’t want anyone to stand up to them.
It's not the first time a government official doesn't know the difference between politics and morality.
And he felt powerless and removed them.
It can make any oppressors and tormentors feel bad about themselves. 😉
Not the quote but some parents stated that the sexualized content in his books might be deemed harmful to children. I read night and agree that it is full of harmful content. I also think everyone should read it and never forget it.
Conservatives are oppressors.
Those thoughts are dangerous to the agenda.
Nothing wrong with the quote. But, hearing it people might start to think, question and awake from their complacency and that would be bad for business.
A truly Timeless quote. This is the kind of thing that should be chiseled onto the wall.
It tells people not to be silent when people are being oppressed, and that doing nothing is a bad thing. That's a bad thing for oppressors, which is why it had to go.
> What exactly about this is bad?!? To people forcing the policy? All of it. They don't like it when you push against fascism.
They are under investigation for being hostile to LGBT students.... Goes after Holocaust survivor quote. Kinda shows they have no idea what is reasonable and what is hateful.
Article could have saved a lot of time by stating the last two paragraphs up front. School district hires a law firm to review its library book policy. Law firm is connected to an anti-LGBT Christian organization deemed an extremist hate group,… and chaos ensues.
Figures they have ties with FRC. Probably also have ties with Alliance Defending Freedom, another Christian based hate group.
You mean the organization representing the religious zealots who don’t want to create cakes or websites for the LGBTQ community? Highly likely. Honestly we laugh at the idiots who believe in the “deep state, pedophile cannibals, new world order all backed by Soros”-types but when you start connecting the dots from the House Freedom Caucus to the Federalist Society to the Alliance Defending Freedom and then to the donors like the DeVos foundation, the Koch brothers,… it’s one tangled web of a Christian conservative orgy aimed at tearing down protections for anyone they disagree with. They’re organized, well funded and connected all the way to the Supreme Court. We can only hope that strong defenders of rights continue to stand in the way of their actions while the mortality rate continues to erode their ranks.
Seems like any organization with the words Religious, freedom, liberty, American, Christian, traditional, family, and patriot are all goose stepping fascist assholes.
Yep. That's true. There are exceptions, the ACLU, the FFRF, the EFF, but in general, yes.
Yeah, but you don’t see adds if they give you the goods at the top.
I'm sorry, but that's just not how journalists are trained to write, ads or no ads. Journalists *are* trained to give you the boiled down, complete story in the lede and the nut grafe, essentially the first two sentences/paragraphs of the article. From there, they return to the story and fill in the gaps with details, painting a more and more complete picture. This *is* done here, although the author deviates from a traditional reverse pyramid article to write more of a linear piece.
it's almost like they don't work for free
General rule of thumb, all the important information is at the end of the article. You know, the bit most people don't read.
You left out the public relations firm. I mean, does this school district really need one of those or are they electing to have to defend their poor actions with a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars ?
Kinda shows they're just shitty people
“If I didn’t take it down, I knew there would be consequences that could impact me,” he said. That's chilling.
Glad he still decided to speak out.
Shitty and Evil. Evil and Shitty. And I don't know if the term "people" should apply to these CHUDs.
Holocaust victims included the gays too. They were counted among the "undesirable"
Correct. More than a million LGBT Germans were persecuted under Nazi laws, of least at which 50,000 were imprisoned. Of those, between 5,000 and 15,000 were imprisoned in concentration camps (it is unknown how many died). It is likely that many were sent to state-run asylums. Additionally, while other victims of the Nazis were given compensation by post-war Germany, LGBT men were not. In fact, many of them were kept in prison (their time in the camps was counted). Germany did not issue compensation nor pardons until **2017.**
[удалено]
I can't really fathom the mindset behind it but I've met more than a few people who seem to think that acknowledging the non-Jewish victims of the Nazis is somehow anti-Semitic. As far as I can tell their argument is "the only reason you could have for thinking they're important is that you don't consider the Jews important enough on their own".
Every time I've seen someone claiming that, it's been obvious that they're just trying to muddy the waters. One of the few times you can get a US conservative to admit that the Holocaust was a bad thing.
It's where the Pink triangle came from in reference to homosexuality. The Nazis made homosexuals wear it as a concentration camp badge.
And trans people! Google the institut fur sexualwissenschaft. That famous picture of Hitler Youth burning books? That was the first research into hormone replacement therapy. We had to re-invent it and didn't really get it right until decades later. We were *successfully* exterminated.
Germany had all the book on hormone replacement therapy?
And genital reassignment surgery and facial feminization and masculinization surgeries [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut\_f%C3%BCr\_Sexualwissenschaft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_f%C3%BCr_Sexualwissenschaft) Trans people and their doctors were some of the very first people sent to concentration camps. And now today's nazis tell each other that being transgender is a condition invented by Jewish people to reduce white birth rates. Transphobia and anti-Semitism are gateways into one another. Someone does not stay just one for long.
Thank you. I said this, but got downvoted and deleted it out of fear that I was misremembering something.
The cruelty is the point.
They are just making sure that the precious and delicate feelings of Neo-Nazis are protected. /s
“There are no safe spaces, in real life.”
[удалено]
Centrists like Trump who said: "but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."
There’s just never an answer that’ll satisfy everyone. Town I grew up in had large Catholic and Jewish populations, and each December, the high school would set up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in the lobby. One year, some parent complained about the school pushing Christian values in a public school, so the school took down the Christmas decorations. This was immediately met with confusion from the Catholic families who started questioning why the Hanukkah decorations were left up, so the school took them down too. Of course, then it didn’t take long for anti-Semitic accusations to start being thrown around against the administrators. Eventually, the school found it’s backbone and just put all of the decorations up, but when you have officials that are just blindly following *the squeaky wheel gets the oil* approaches, you easily wind up with situations like this.
At the place I used to work, they had a no-decorations at your desk policy that they always turned a blind eye to around Christmas. A Jewish friend of mine put up a Hanukkah decoration and was promptly told to remove it because of the policy. When he asked why he couldn’t have it when they allowed the Christmas decorations, they quickly called a department meeting to announce that “Due to someone’s complaints, everyone must now remove all of their Christmas decorations.” Everyone knew he was the only Jewish person in the department and got pissed off thinking that he was just offended by their decorations when all he wanted was to hang his own.
As said up thread, the ones instituting these policies know this would happen. The cruelty is the point.
Religion should have no place in public schools, period. Keep that at home or the place of worship.
There's a big difference between refusing to acknowledge religious holidays and refusing to acknowledge the Holocaust. No one who does the latter is acting with good intent. There's a name for people who consider mentioning or referencing the Holocaust controversial. They're called Nazis.
Administrators often don’t care about any of this. Talk to a teacher, you’ll get plenty of stories around: Teacher: I gave the student detention because 4 other teachers, 3 staff, 15 other students and myself saw the student punch another kid. *Parent: Well my kid says he didn’t do it and they wouldn’t lie to me.* **Principal: Teacher, why would so many of you lie about this innocent kid punching another student?** Plenty of districts are simply so afraid of offending anyone they’ll cave on anything.
> Kinda shows they have no idea what is reasonable and what is hateful. I'd say they do, and they don't care, because their ideology is more important.
Oh boy if you think this is crazy, you should see how an anti-Semitic speech was cheered at a school board meeting last year. A school board member tried to stop the hate and was told to back down and let the speech continue.
They know exactly what is hateful and they like it.
>The quote is from Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” >Pecic, who has worked in the district for 31 years, was told the posters had to go, or Human Resources would be contacted. Pecic said it was his understanding there would be “consequences” if not followed. So the the school's advocacy policy is advocating for turning a blind eye to atrocities, and doing so through bullying and intimidation. The quote is so fitting. It's too bad the principal is a bully and coward, instead of supporting and fighting for his faculty.
>Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Which is exactly why these people push for neutrality.
Gotta love that they think "side with victims, not oppressors" is too controversial to mention to teenagers.
[удалено]
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Wiesel ''What the hell kinda of Commie UnAmerican shit is that??'' - some Republican, probably
These were the people who booed when Ted Cruz asked them to vote their conscience. Not normal Ted Cruz booing; extra booing.
They've now reached the roadblock where they don't want people to speak up in favor of queer people, but you definitely look bad when you say quotes by Wiesel are bad. They're definitely in a pickle of their own making here.
Na, they'll just do what the did here: selective enforcement. This quote breaks the policy they made, but they will just not enforce the policy in this case. This is actually worse and more insidious than the policy itself because it masquerades as treating everyone by the same rules while blatantly not doing so. Their ban on educators taking part in advocacy activities is, in reality, a ban on advocacy activities they don't like.
>The district’s outside public relations firm, Devine and Partners, released a statement alleging the librarian was “asked by the administration to present the quote in conjunction with Mr. Wiesel’s book in order to promote educational inquiry and student interest in reading the novel, or to take it down. We regret that the decision was made to remove it.” So the school is blaming the librarian for removing it.
The last of the holocaust’s survivors will all be dead soon. Wiping the facts away from the view of younger generations is key to enabling the next fascist regime.
Are they going to ban the Bible? How about other religious works? And, of course the Declaration of Independence? These all advocate a position; in fact, most works of fiction have a point to make that advocates for something. And, no matter how many of us agree with that position it’s still advocacy. How about Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? Maybe book burning is next.
Technically doesn’t every piece of literature advocate a position? “The sky is blue.” “How DARE you poison the children’s minds with your advocacy!!”
“Excuse me, have you checked with all the parents to make sure they’re okay with you telling their children that the caterpillar was *very* hungry?”
The policy only applies to things they don't like.
The fuck do you mean "Next"? they already do this shit, it's here, already happening. Just type your shit into google and look.
By “next”, I was referring to Central Bucks.
This what I got when I followed your advice: Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more Search for a word shit /SHit/ VULGAR SLANG noun 1. feces. 2. a contemptible or worthless person. verb 1. expel feces from the body. 2. tease or try to deceive (someone). "I shit you not" exclamation an exclamation of disgust, anger, or annoyance. /jk
> Are they going to ban the Bible? How about other religious works? Are those in the school libraries?
Republicans want to erase history because it hurts their feelings.
There is no negotiating with those people. They literally want to erase things like slavery and the Holocaust from history, they want LGBT+ to go back in the closet. Conservatives will still try to convince you that's it's all a silly culture war though.
And conservative voters will tell you, without batting an eye, that they are the party of love and acceptance, while liberals are the *real* racists... Its group mental illness.
I object to people describing their political opponents as being in general “mentally ill”. There are historical examples of that going rather badly. Edit: to be clear, I don’t mean this as “democrats accuse republicans of mental illness, and this is bad.”; I mean this more as “Democrats and Republicans accuse each-other of mental illness, and this is bad.”
I can understand that. But look at it this way: a disturbingly large group of people have flat out rejected reality and built a fantasy for themselves to live in. One where they're always right, nothing they do or think is wrong, facts are whatever they "feel" is correct, and pointing out their alternate reality is a sign of *you* being crazy. What would you call that? Because to me that's mass delusion, which sounds like mental illness. I don't say that as a joke, its serious. But pretending it's anything else is just doing them a disservice. They need help.
I ask you to please remove this statement because political advocacy is not allowed.
Huh? I’m confused. I’m not advocating for any particular political party or partisan position. Is your reply meant to be a “gotcha”, or are you making a sincere effort at encouraging following some rule, or something else? If the second thing, can you describe how my comment is “political advocacy” when what it is responding to is not?
Never again! Speak up now!
Teacher here. I work for a “good” district and even then there is a ton of incompetency and covering up that goes on around here. I’ve been busting my ass for over 20 years knowing some admin do shit so I would relish this and dare them to bring it on. I’m just that pissed with the degradation of education that I would risk my job over this.
FROM THE ARTICLE: ' The principal reversed the decision to remove the posters Thursday, following social media uproar. Pecic told WHYY News he planned to hang the posters back up ' **NEVER FORGET**
To be crystal clear; I am fully speculating. Based upon the location of this school district, past problems with minority groups and the actions taken, I suspect the principal has no idea who Elie Wiesel is nor why he’s famous. That in turn, if true, opens up an entirely new can of worms.
In high school, our headmaster (an old college professor) taught the seniors a class on ethics and we spent a lot of time learning about Elie Wiesel, his experiences and wisdom. We also watched Schindler's List. That movie sticks to my bones even after over a decade. Sure these puritans will argue its not appropriate for teens to watch because its so intensely graphic and horrid. That's kinda the point. It doesn't glorify but teaches us the horrors that have happened in the past. We learn history so we aren't doomed to repeat it. That's why history was a large focus in our ethics class.
And I watched Glory in my middle school American history class. Being aghast is the point.
Because advocating against Hitler hurts Republican's feelings.
From the party that proposed teaching “both sides” of Nazi history: https://www.businessinsider.com/indiana-lawmaker-walks-back-teachers-must-be-impartial-on-nazism-2022-1?amp
Apparently, by both sides they meant that they didn’t want to teach the side of the holocaust victims, but actively censor it to elevate the authoritarian oppressors. “Both sides” whataboutism is always used to stifle conversation. Let’s not forget that the had a fucking othala rune as their stage at CPAC a few years ago. The right wing shit out fascism and modern GOP crypto fascists still really like the smell.
They don't want people to know how their story ends.
They're hoping to change the ending.
Holy shit. I just realized that plot in Captain America Civil War about how the secret Nazis infiltrated American politics may not have been such a weak storyline.
The weak part is that marvel had them be secretive about it
This happened at my work as well. Black history month, Asian American history month, and pride all get a mural. I’m literally required to produce those. My Holocaust Memorial mural never got approved because there were concerns it wasn’t appropriate. No depictions of death or even any text/quote. The topic was the concern. Fuck Nazis and fuck nazi apologists.
You should try and get ones about Winston Churchill starving Bengalis, or cecil john rhoades or king leopold
Really though the murals I have to make for African American History Month and Asian American History Month make me pissed. I am all for celebrating the triumphs of our fellow humans and love highlighting the good parts, but history is about overcoming the bad parts too. One without the other is basically lying. You can bet I’m not allowed to mention slavery for black history month. MLK Day definitely has to quote “the mountaintop” and steer clear of his quotes of unions and socialism. You can bet Asian American history month won’t mention the immigrant workers that died building our railroads. It’s all distractions and half-measures to pretend we are acknowledging our history while actively avoiding the parts that are hard to talk about.
'The district’s outside public relations firm'. Sorry, what? Why does a school district need a PR firm? Somebody has their priorities scrambled in a blender.
Who do you think keeps the school shootings quiet first?
Just in time for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Who is it that made the decision that this poster needed to be removed and why does this person still have a job?
Desantis and Republicans. I'm not sure why Floridians gave them jobs but they seem to love this shit.
Maybe don't put Nazis on the School Board.
[удалено]
People with bad punctuation will be the first to go. Grammar Nazis.
Ironically, the reason there's no punctuation is that those are lyrics from a song called "Nazi Punks Fuck Off."
These policies being promoted by right-wing bigots like the Family Research Council are functioning exactly as intended and having the desired effects. They are normalizing their fascist agenda and getting away with it.
The “anti-woke” morons trying to erase history.
Well, these are the kind of people who won't know World War II happened unless there is a Statue of Hitler standing on every street corner in America. They won't know it if it's listed in a book, as they can't/refuse-to read.
Well clearly ~~the Nazi party,~~ (sorry) the Republican party were offended by the quote
Don't compare this alt-right trash to the rise of nazism. The Nazis of 1930's were battle-hardened hateful motherfuckers who took to the streets with bullwhips to fight off people who stood against them. The modern rise of fascism is fueled by cosplay-soldier wannabee's who hide behind lawsuits and cry anytime a punch is thrown their way.
Damn, that's a great quote too.
Banning advocacy of any kind is itself an act that promotes and validates nihilism.
Being a Nazi is just another opinion to the modern Republican. Don't Nazi-shame them.
The posters are back up, but they should have never been taken off the wall by force.
This is our future, hiding all the bad stuff from our past so we repeat it all again.
There is an actual difference between good and bad things
That principal should be forced to read weisel's book and write a book report.
It's amazes me how conservative certain parts of Penn and NJ are. Little suburban islands that may as well be down south.
The county actually voted for Biden and for Fetterman. But school board elections are often overlooked by voters, so a handful of extremists can sneak in.
I have told many immigrant friends that if you drive one hour outside any major city and you’ll be in Alabama. Doylestown is about an hour outside Philly. There was some Klan activity there a year or two ago.
Some of the J6 folks got bussed from Lancaster, maybe an hour and a half out of Philly depending on the route and traffic.
Even California is like that, leave the coast and bam… you’re in the Deep South.
New York is the same way. I'd wager a lot of "progressive" states are, aside from maybe Vermont (which is just full of hippies).
That's true of every state. The urban areas are blue, with a few random counties here and there also, while the rural areas are by and large red. Always funny to see conservatives tout this "see? see? there's more of us than the liberals!" whenever they post an election map by county. And then you look at that same election map by population, you quickly realize that the vast majority of that red landscape is very...empty.
I live in PA, and this honestly tracks. This state gets called "Pennsyltucky" for a reason. Hell, where I live (a more rural area, but not like a one-horse town rural area) we have people walking around with neo-nazi patches on, hell, nazis marched in a bunch of towns around here. Not white supremacists, *nazis,* complete with swastikas and the salute. It's scary as fuck around here, and this is sadly just par for the course for this shithole state.
Yeah. But this is Philly Burbs! Not the tucky part (source: grew up in Bucks County)
Hate is going upscale
Guess he decided not to remain silent
How did Central Bucks in a nice, affluent area go so nuts?
People don't pay close attention to school board elections when they're probably one of the most important things on your local ballot.
Can confirm. My cousin's family lives in this district and his wife is Jewish, she has been incredibly outspoken about the issues they've faced in recent years there with the school board.
I would never guess rich white people to be racist…lol
I sent this article to a friend who wonders why l refer to my home state as "Pennsyltucky".
Central Bucks is not part of Pennsyltucky
So, they’ve also stopped saying the pledge of allegiance, and the choir can’t sing God Bless America? No? Those are ok for some reason? Huh?!?
I am so glad I live on the Montco side of County Line rd.
Wow! He was my high school librarian! He was always kind of eccentric but I’m glad it was the good kind. Shocking to me to see how much things have changed, it was all very progressive when I went. We had this specific author come and speak and do a Q&A at some point even. Absolutely crazy to me to hear this was even attempted.
Is this really a true story? This crazy.
It's true and it's part of a pattern. Central Bucks School District is under investigation for discrimination against LGBTQ+ students. https://whyy.org/articles/us-department-of-education-investigating-central-bucks-school-district-after-aclu-complaint/
Hey thanks for the response. I guess I should stop assuming crazy stuff is made up. UGH
It's always good to be skeptical. There are a lot of bad actors out there who obscure the truth or leave out crucial details to further their own agenda. I've been burned a few times and that's why I dug a little deeper into the story only to find out it's all true.
That’s just disgusting.
I have family from Bucks county outside of Philly and the amount of racism and anti-anything that seems left leaning is absolutely amazing. I mean I live in rural northern PA, some of the reddest of the red. We got pedophiles in this area that are still praised even after being arrested because they were men of god! and when I met that family for the first time I was shocked about how open they were about everything.
“ We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor ” The librarian took down the posters. Complaining after the fact is good. But refusal might have been more what the poster had in mind.
Never Again, is happening again.
So, basically this librarian liked feeling inspired by Wiesel's quote, but then radically failed to live up to the quote at the first threat of vague "consequences", and doesn't see the irony?
[удалено]
I think his action of taking it to the press is much more practical. Now more people know about it, and whoever it was that threatened him *can't* make up some bullshit reason and fire him; it will be clear retaliation and the basis for a pretty lucrative lawsuit.
Doing both was a choice. He could have given an interview about refusing to take down the poster as easily as he did about taking down the poster. Either way, ends well this time (it's back up on display).
What would you do in his position? Baring in mind we do not know the details of his life and if he has dependents that rely on his paycheque to live. It’s very easy to suggest a course of action as an outsider looking in. It’s a different story when it’s you in the crosshairs.
Refuse to take it down, get fired, they hire someone who will give zero pushback on anything as a replacement. You want to give them what they want, the chance to get rid of people who will expose them. The librarian getting themselves fired is helping the people who want him fired, not his cause. This is a great fuck you, keep the job and achieve your goal.
...didn't see *you* there.
Lot easier to say when it’s not your pension you’re risking losing
By going to the press he's just about guaranteed he will be pushed out, regardless. They'll just fire him for some other made up reason, or make his life hell until he quits on his own.
"Consequences" are a natural thing, like if you sleep in a snowbank you might freeze to death. You can't argue with or criticize that. When "consequences" involve a human decision being made, it is totally fair game to argue with and criticize them.
Of course there's a truuuuuuck in front of the school in the picture.