{"id":85963,"date":"2023-09-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=85963"},"modified":"2023-09-14T07:08:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T12:08:25","slug":"a-modest-proposal-and-a-sincere-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=85963","title":{"rendered":"A Modest Proposal And A Sincere Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To: Jana Shortal, KARE TV
CC: KARE TV
From: Mitch Berg, Obstreporous Peasant
Re: Books<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Shortal,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, you tweeted this, about a controversy currently being manufactured (indeed, wose manufacture you appear to be closely involved in) in Carver County:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/janashortal\/status\/1701641595320148021\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I know – it’s 2023, and even the most trivial parts of civic governance can and do get blown far out of proportion. My father was on a library board during a fracas over the book “A History of Pornography”; The Battle of the Somme didn’t have more-entrenched sides to the debate than that one. And this was in the late 1980s, in a small town, where there was both the spirit and imperative toward civic compromise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I’m pretty much a free speech absolutist. I think the adult wing of the library can and should have access to pretty much everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including Mein Kampf<\/em>. Not sure if you’re advocating removing Mein Kampf <\/em>from libraries. Having read it in English and German, I think every high school senior should be required to read it. It’s a bad book, even if you leave out the message – Hitler was a terrible writer – but people reading it won’t trivialize the term “Fascist” anymore. Which means half of Generation Z’s political vocabulary disappears overnight. Still, Ms. Shortal, if you want Mein Kampf <\/em>removed, take it up with the library board. That’s how it’s done. And the Carver County library board pretty much agreed.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now – as far as kids go? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell you what: KARE should have Ms. Shortal read Gender Queer<\/em>, with the book’s illustrations, on the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But Mitch – why not offer the NARN’s time slot?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the book would violate FCC standards for broadcast. On radio, and <\/em>on TV. For adult listeners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KARE’s management won’t allow Ms. Shortal to read it on the air. Forget about the illustrations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat what you will about FCC regulations – that’s a conversation I’d love to have. But if the FCC won’t let the book on the air, is it really something a city library should be providing to children without parental approval? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, as always, is all. <\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To: Jana Shortal, KARE TVCC: KARE TVFrom: Mitch Berg, Obstreporous PeasantRe: Books Ms. Shortal, Yesterday, you tweeted this, about a controversy currently being manufactured (indeed, wose manufacture you appear to be closely involved in) in Carver County: I know – it’s 2023, and even the most trivial parts of civic governance can and do get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4,18],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-85963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-war","category-media","category-pc","tag-open-letters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85963"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85973,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85963\/revisions\/85973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}