Public awareness of crime, sexual harassment in libraries, and inappropriate books and web sites in schools due to American Library Association policy. ⚖️
Citizens for a New Louisiana recently won another court case against school librarian Amanda Jones who had sued them in an attempt to impose a gag order on library issues. Michael Lunsford, a member of the organization, discussed a podcast episode from 2021 featuring Jones and Amy Hermon, the host of School Librarians United. In the podcast, Jones discussed her program called the MESH Society that aims to replace STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to incorporate instead media literacy, ethics, sociology, and history, to inject "social justice" (including "microaggressions") into the curriculum, without explicitly teaching social justice. Lunsford expressed concern about the use of taxpayer money to promote a specific worldview and questioned whether parents were aware of these teachings. He encouraged viewers to share their thoughts on the matter. And feel free to comment below.
Notice the loveb0mbing there: "We will announce your entrance into The MESH Society during morning/afternoon announcements and post on social media and our website." One of many examples:
From that, here is Amanda Jones's recommended reading:
It's an Amanda Jones cited story detailing replacing actual learning (STEM) with raising a Marxist critical consciousness (MESH):
Now we can see why Amanda Jones is the perfect poster girl for the American Library Association, an organization that spends decades minimizing information parents get about what librarians are doing. I should write a book on this.
Here is a transcript of that commentary, followed by the video source and my X post with a recording of Amanda Jones and Amy Hermon high fiving each other over indoctrinating and s3xualizing children without "riling up" the parents:
Michael Lunsford:
Hey, all. Michael Lunsford here at Citizens for a New Louisiana. You know, I, I mentioned, uh, I think on our social platforms and I sent an email to all of our, uh, 23,000, uh, email subscribers the other day that Amanda Jones, the librarian that sued us back in 2022, has just, uh, we won again in the, the First Circuit court.
Uh, basically, well, she sued us, she wanted a gag order, so we couldn't talk about library issues. And why she didn't want the transparency organization talking about library issues is anyone's guess. But (laughs) we've got a great friend. You know, we do research. Uh, we're really good at it. We don't do, we don't, we don't stay on this library issue because I think, I get tired of stuff. I like to move around a little bit. I think you like variety too. After all, we don't go to the same restaurant every single day to eat the same exact thing, right? We mix it up, right?
So, that's where we are. We're, we're movin' around, but we're back on library. So, if you're not a fan of this issue, I apologize. But what Dan Kleinman found is nothing short of shocking.
So, back in March of 2021, before any of the other junk happened and we got sued and all of that, we have a podcast episode from, uh, it sounds in like the Teamsters Union, but it's actually called, School Librarians United. Apparently, it's a library union. (laughs) It's, it's a podcast run by one person, uh, but, uh, Amy Hermon is her name, um, March from 2021.
Let's, let's listen to introductions just so you know this is, uh, Amy and also Amanda Jones. Listen now.
Amy Hermon:
Welcome to Episode 118 of School Librarians United. I'm your host, Amy Hermon. So, I'm so excited today to be sharing conversation with old podcasting friends, Amanda Jones. Welcome back to the podcast.
Amanda Jones:
Thank you for having me.
Michael Lunsford:
All right. So, there we have it, uh, there's the podcast. It's put on by Amy Hermon. It is called, School, excuse me, yes, School Librarians United. Not public librarians, School Librarians United. Um, and of course, introducing Amanda Jones, the woman who sued us. Anyway, uh, let, let's continue.
Amanda Jones:
But I think that as a modern school librarian, you just gotta jump in. And you've got to, you know, take some risks. Yes, be fearless, take some risks. Another program that I started that happened over the summer with all of the, the social unrest and the issues in the news, um, I am in Southern Louisiana. And I had to be very delicate about this 'cause I don't wanna be... Let me just say, my district is not modern for th- (laughs)
I don't know how to say it. Uh, and by district, I don't mean my school, I mean, my community and some of the thinking. And, um, w- there's some of the thinking is still back in the '50s.
Michael Lunsford:
So, w- we've heard this language before. You, you, you're thinking is still in the '50s. This is old-fashioned. You shouldn't be thinking these things. And, uh, this is, this is common with the drag queen story time stuff we saw back, uh, when we, (laughs) very early on in this organization, we stopped government funded drag queen story time in Lafayette. As far as I know, we're still the only organization in Louisiana for sure, and perhaps the nation that is actually blocked the drag queen story time event. Which honestly, let's face it, it's a drag show for three-year-olds, is what it is.
Um, but this was the language you kept hearing. You're so old-fashioned. Why would you be against this? And it's like, why would you wanna s@xualize children at three-years-old? This is, this is weird.
But anyway, they, they turned the tables on us, right? But if you listen, there was a very long pause while she tried to figure out how to say, uh, we're a bunch of troglodytes because we don't like this junk, or whatever she's about to tell us about. We're gonna get to that here in a second.
There, also, "take risks." What are we taking risks on? Hmm, let's continue.
Amanda Jones:
And so, I knew that I wanted to teach my students some things, but I couldn't outright say it, "This is what I'm teaching." So, I developed a program called the MESH Society to incorporate media literacy which we all should be teaching anyway. But ethics, sociology and history, but infuse, um, some social justice in there without outright s- teaching social justice, if you read between the lines of what I'm saying.
Say it.
Michael Lunsford:
The term again, we're teaching my students some things, but without outright saying it. And you... What were some of those things? She says, "Well, we have our standard stuff." And this is kinda the, the, um, common core that we talked about years ago, mixed in with this social emotional learning which is not allowed in Louisiana, uh, combined with the, um, what's the, diversity, equity, a- inclusion stuff, right?
We're, we're gonna take standard, what everyone accepts, and we're gonna interweave social justice in there. That, those are not my words. That's what was said right here in this podcast, back in 2021 before most of the trouble started. Uh, let's continue.
Amanda Jones:
I think a modern school librarian pushes things like, graphic novels and audiobooks and social justice. And, and, and you focus on the, what you're reading and not how many. So, the MESH Society program, it encourages and is completely optional, it encourages the students to read one book from each of those categories. And then they have to do a Flipgrid [a video discussion platform that requires a student to make a recording of himself for everyone to see and hear], and, um, tell me what they've learned. What h- What ideas have changed from reading these books?
Michael Lunsford:
So, here we go. We're, we're, we're encouraging children to read books about, what are the categories? Social justice is one of the categories. And then, so instead of me teaching it directly, and that's gonna come here in a minute, instead of me teaching this directly, I'm just giving these kids these materials for them to learn on their own, interwoven with acceptable materials to kinda conceal what we're teaching. Does that, does that, do you see how that works? Uh, let, let, let's listen to her, the rest of this explanation here. Very interesting stuff.
Amanda Jones:
Because I can't teach, outright teach s@xual harassment and consent at a fifth grade school. My community would just, you know, even though it needs to be taught. But they can read, Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee, which is written on a level four, the age group of my students. And I can encourage them to read that, and they can tell me what they have learned themselves.
Michael Lunsford:
Do you, see, see, there it is. Encourage them to read materials that propagate this world view, this social justice world view and just start, just, just pour it a little bit at a time into the kids. And who's paying for this? By the- But this is, these are s- public school librarians. Public school means, your tax dollars are paying for this.
Uh, who's paying attention to this, you all? I mean, we're paying attention to it. Are you paying attention to what's going on in your schools? I know we hear about this, the DEI and all of this stuff. But did, have you actually heard a school teacher from Louisiana saying they're doing this? I'm, uh, we're providing it. Thank you, Dan Kleinman for pointing this out. This is fabulous.
Listen to Amy Hermon, uh, who's going to applaud this. Listen.
Amy Hermon:
I think that's amazing. I think that you have found a way to thread the needle and do it in a way that gives your students the benefit of, of all of the resources you can bring together. And do so in a way that is not going to agitate and stir up, uh, the, and rile up, uh, your, your parent base.
Michael Lunsford:
So, you're hearing this. You're presenting information that would normally rile up the parents in your area. But you found a way to do it, so that no one's the wiser, no one makes any noise, there's no troubles. Shh, don't tell anybody. That's what's going on.
Again, I'll, I'll, I'll say, uh, I'm, I'm not taking a position on this stuff. I'm just letting you know, is this okay with you, number one. Number two, Amanda Jones, again, is the w- uh, the former president from last year, president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, I believe is the name of the organization.
So, the school librarians, if they're unionized in Louisiana or they, they have resources that they use, they're getting them from this organization, the Association of School Librarians. And their head of that organization is talkin' about, how can we can teach the little kids in middle school stuff that their parent don't approve of without creating much of a disturbance.
Leave your comments in the, uh, in the notes below. If you're on the website, you have to sign in, uh, and become a, uh, a subscriber to do that. It's free. Uh, social media, obviously you can, you can comment, respond. Let us know what you think. I really wanna know what you gu- especially if you're in Livingston Parish, I wanna know what you think of this.
Until next time, keep doing it. Keep, keep doing your own research. Keep followin' things. (laughs) Follow the thread all the way to the end. And, uh, you know, share some of that with us too. Appreciate it. Til next time.
Oh look, Amanda Jones is going to spread her method of indoctrination of school children to other school librarians in yet another training:
SLS Communication Coordinator Meeting (REGIONAL MEETING - Amanda Jones)
Join SLJ Librarian of the Year Amanda Jones as she shares her biggest takeaways and top words of advice on how to stay proactive vs reactive in standing up for intellectual freedom, tips on how to transform your school's library one step at a time, and advocating for school libraries across the country. Join the discussion and learn about resources for advocacy best practices, protecting yourself as an advocate, building your professional learning network, and making your voice heard in your school, district, state, and across the nation. Together we are a force and we must stand united. Follow her journey as a school librarian who has learned to speak out on behalf of her students and libraries at librarianjones.com.
Bio: Amanda Jones is a 23 year educator and the current Past President of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians. She is the 2021 School Library Journal Librarian of the Year, a 2021 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and the 2020 Louisiana School Librarian of the Year. She made national headlines for fighting back against censorship in her community when she became a target of extremists. Amanda is a co-founding member of Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, a grassroots organization fighting attacks on intellectual freedom in Louisiana. She is the winner of multiple intellectual freedom awards from the ALA, AASL, and the Louisiana Library Association. She serves as the LLA Chapter Councilor for ALA and is a member of the AASL Chapter Assembly. Her book That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2024. Find out more about her at librarianjones.com.
Watch the 8:41min video in this X post for a true jaw dropping experience:
S3xualizing school kids is big business for one of @ALALibrary’s school librarian poster girls. Listen to this recording of “That Librarian” Amanda Jones @abmack33 on @LMS_United.
As a school librarian a quiet corner in the state of Texas, I felt fortunate to be away from the battle lines currently being drawn through libraries throughout the United States of America. I'm blessed to have the full confidence of my institution's administration and board, freedom to curate the library collection as I see fit, and a supportive school community that does not feel that their children's library is a potential source of damaging content.
I am a rarity in the field of librarianship. I am a fiscal and social conservative, and as such, were I “out” and active in my field, I would be castigated and attacked from every corner. I have read countless messages and overheard conversations at professional events castigating people of my political and personal beliefs as a modern-day devil who must be run out of town and destroyed. Needless to say, I keep my head down, my mouth shut, and listen hard.
One of my more fascinating sources of professional word comes through the Texas Library Association. The rot is just as deep in TLA as it is in ALA (American Library Association) and having eyes on the internal list servs, professional programming, and more is very revealing.
In the state of Texas, the state legislature meets every other year and this year is one of those years. As all professional organizations do, TLA is tracking proposed legislation that would impact libraries and librarians within the state. The conversation around these proposals is grimly illuminating.
Texas SB13 Legislative Efforts by TXLA Criticized
Look how the Texas Association of School Libraries newsletter (promoted and shared within the TLA list serv) frames one such bill:
“A person has an affirmative defense to the crime of distributing harmful material to minors if they do so with an educational justification. SB 13 would remove that justification. Exposing children to harmful material is penalized as a Class A misdemeanor.”
This definition implies that TLA believes there is educational merit in books and graphic novels depicting underage s3x, drug use, and alcohol consumption.
Mumbling About Censorship and Diversity While S3xualizing Kids
When All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson has pages long scenes of underage oral and anal s3x (one example starts on page 266 of the paperback edition), that's educational.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez is recommended for kids starting at age 14 by Kirkus Reviews and can be found in school libraries. The graphic scenes of a father violently beating and raping his daughter before murdering her and her boyfriend are educational, apparently.
What does TLA have to say about these scenes, about these books? Nothing specific. They'll mumble about censorship, diversity, and needing LGBT+ content. But they won't specifically cite or defend this horrifying content and explain why it is necessary for children to have access to it.
Let's look at what another TLA-promoted resource has to say, this time the What If... Forum hosted by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Importance of Considering Content in Context
Posted on February 21, 2023
Q: I’m struggling with how to explain why words or a scene or images in a book taken out of context should not be used to discount the book as a whole. Can you offer some ideas for talking about why it’s so important to consider content in context, and not judge a book in a library based on material that’s been excerpted, often with the intent to get people upset?
There is no possible harm in providing materials to children depicting violent scenes of familial rape and murder, it seems. It's educational and how else will all the school's students feel represented?
Everyone knows LGBT+ children require graphic s3xual content to feel represented.
Librarians refuse to acknowledge the true issue at hand. They won't take responsibility. They wiggle and squirm and whine when confronted about the materials they share and promote. They exclaim they can't let parents censor books for other kids. They're changing lives.
Librarians on Facebook Mock Parents
Librarian groups on Facebook are no better. Librarians bringing up book challenges and concerns brought to them by parents are answered with sneering derision being aimed at said parents. “If people are too conservative to even READ A BOOK about other people who might have different lifestyles than them, that's a problem and it's one of the reasons we have such an important job to do as a librarian... Keep it on the shelf; it could change a life.”
I even saw one horrifying post once from one high school librarian determined to ensure that the child s3x workers in her school feel represented. There was very little push back from other librarians or even people pointing out that if this librarian knew about child s3x workers in her school, then she was failing her legal responsibility to serve as a mandatory reporter of child abuse. (This matter did get brought to the attention of local authorities and the librarian was removed from her position, I believe.)
These aren't new issues to anyone who's been following these stories. But it hit me hard today when I followed the link TLA provided to the What if... Forum and saw how the s3xual content families are rightfully concerned about being minimized and endorsed.
Texas Library Association is Part of the Problem
TLA is one of the largest library professional organizations in the world, and as such it has an out-sized-influence on the current state of the library profession. Matters in this profession are not improving and are not going to improve without both real-world consequences and a shift in the demographics of the profession—not towards any one racial category but one of political diversity.
Much of the work librarians do also honestly isn't something that requires graduate-level training, as the TLA forums recently had a frantic session assuring themselves about. That matter, at least, got some push back from non-degreed librarians frustrated at the lack of respect towards them and their work.
Suggestions for Parents and Librarians
In closing, I can only make a few suggestions, both to parents and other librarians.
To the parents, I say this: Keep making your voices heard. These libraries are yours, not the librarians. It can be easy to fall into a censorship trap where materials that should be handled at the family level get targeted, but by and large that isn't what's happening. Keep going. Keep pushing. Clean up these school libraries.
To the librarians, I pray that something causes your ears and eyes to open. Harm is being done. We have an incredible influence over children's developing minds and that influence is currently being used to hurt these children. We can do better. The children deserve it.
Addendum
I used ChatGPT to run some numbers per the data it had available to it in 2021. Here are some revealing numbers:
Q: Can you rank the state-level library associations in the United States such as the Texas Library Association by available or estimated membership numbers?
A: Sure, based on the available or estimated membership numbers, here are the top 10 state-level library associations in the United States, ranked by membership size:
Texas Library Association (TLA) - over 6,000 members
New York Library Association (NYLA) - over 4,500 members
California Library Association (CLA) - over 3,000 members
Illinois Library Association (ILA) - over 2,500 members
Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) - over 1,400 members
Michigan Library Association (MLA) - over 1,800 members
Florida Library Association (FLA) - over 1,800 members
North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) - over 1,500 members
Ohio Library Council (OLC) - over 1,000 members
Georgia Library Association (GLA) - over 900 members
Q: Which library associations at the state, US-state equivalent, or national level have the most members in the world?
A: The library associations with the most members in the world are typically national-level library associations, and the following are some of the largest and most prominent:
American Library Association (ALA) - over 57,000 members
Library Association of the United Kingdom (CILIP) - over 12,000 members
Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) - over 5,000 members
Canadian Library Association (CLA) - over 3,000 members
New Zealand Library Association (LIANZA) - over 1,000 members
As for state-level or US-state equivalent library associations, the Texas Library Association (TLA) is one of the largest, with over 6,000 members. However, it is important to note that membership numbers for state-level library associations can vary greatly and may not be as large as those for national-level library associations.
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The above was submitted to me for anonymous publication so parents, legislators, and librarians could get valuable inside information not available from other sources where such voices are silenced. This is another in a series of anonymous publications from librarians calling out for reform. Send submissions to me at SafeLibraries@pm.me.
A spy reveals librarians train to circumvent communities and local laws to target children. Even main stream media are beginning to notice. For example, read Joy Pullmann in the Federalist who befriended a spy to expose the damaging information:
Can you believe a spy is needed to reveal how librarians target our children? Can you believe librarians are targeting our children, even in schools? Can you believe American Library Association is facilitating this targeting? Thank goodness for the spy.
The spy revealed gender insanity and other things. Gender ideology harms children. For example:
"Gender Dysphoria in Children and Suppression of Debate," by Michelle A. Cretella, M.D. (president of the American College of Pediatricians), Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 21 Num 2, Summer 2016, Pages 50-54: "A review of the current literature suggests that this protocol is rooted in an unscientific gender ideology, lacks an evidence base, and violates the long-standing ethical principle of 'First do no harm.'"
Library law requires libraries to act for the use and benefit of the public. Gender insanity is neither useful nor beneficial for children, quite the opposite, as the above article by the President of the American College of Pediatricians reveals, "First do no harm." Thus it violates the law. Notice you never hear about that from ALA while ALA misleads and acts in the dark to thwart the law, and spies are needed to reveal this. In short, already existing law can to used to stop the gender insanity in public libraries, if only communities become aware of the law and apply it. For example, Drag Queen Story Hour is likely illegal and must be stopped. If libraries will not change, municipalities can force them into compliance with the law, and the public need not approve library levies.
Who will be the first to sue the ALA for misleading communities into violating the law, for harming children and communities?
Here is the story in full with the information from the spy, thanks to Joy Pullmann, followed by another revealing story that cites Joy Pullmann:
21,460 Attend Library Conference Featuring Workshops On Drag Queens And Queering Elementary Schools
At the American Library Association's annual conference, the nation's librarians learned how to circumvent community objections to events like Drag Queen Story Hour and other outrageous, taxpayer-purchased materials.
The world’s largest library association’s annual conference this year featured more than 100 workshops with an “equity, diversity, and inclusion” theme, according to the American Library Association’s conference catalog. That included workshops with these titles (some shortened): “Creating Queer-Inclusive Elementary School Library Programming,” “Developing an Online Face for a Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection,” and “Telling Stories, Expanding Boundaries: Drag Queen Storytimes in Libraries.”
The ALA annual conference’s workshop selections also included “A Child’s Room to Choose: Encouraging Gender Identity and Expression in School and Public Libraries,” and “Are You Going to Tell My Parents?: The Minor’s Right to Privacy in the Library.” Politically charged talks and workshops like these formed at least one-third of the conference offerings, according to the ALA’s own description and a review of the conference catalog.
The titles and descriptions of the conference’s approximately 300 workshops and talks are not available online. They were only published in a conference app and paper catalog reserved to in-person attendees, many of whose attendance was underwritten by taxpayers through local library budgets. According to the ALA, 21,460 people attended 2019’s annual conference this June, approximately 4,000 more than last year.
The attendee who gave me her conference catalog and mobile app access has told me of internal conflict between her public library employment and Christian faith due to the saturation of this kind of bias in the interconnected library and book publishing worlds. More examples of this extreme bias permeated social media under the conference hashtag, including for some reason having librarians weigh in on U.S. border security and make plans for removing the category “illegal aliens” from their collection catalogs. The conference of course featured bisexual bathroom facilities.
Look--#ALAcouncil can be agile and timely! @7shores's resolution on library services for children in detention centers, denouncing existence/conditions of centers and calling upon libraries provide outreach & services to centers and migrant families, passes unanimously #alaac19
Follow-up to SAC II meeting on "Illegal aliens" #LCSH: a working group has been formed to investigate & report on ways that individual libraries can change this heading in their catalogs. @dnjoudrey@aboutness & I et al. will be part of this group. Want to volunteer?? #ALAac19
Just watched a guy figure out his very first gender neutral bathroom. Walked in, walked out looking confused, saw the sign, read it, shrugged, walked back in. <3 #alaac19
An Obsession on Dividing People Based on Skin Color
A large portion of the “equity, diversion, and inclusion” workshops focused on race. One subdivision of these was for participants in ALA’s Spectrum Leadership Institute, which grants a $5,000 scholarship and $1,500 stipend to attend the ALA conference. White people need not apply. See the application criteria:
A Saturday morning workshop entitled “Talking with Kids about Race: A ‘how to’ workshop” discussed, according to its conference description, “individual and systemic racism, intersectionality, and white fragility, as well as participant-guided topics to give attendees concrete tools and the confidence to address these issues with young people in the communities they serve.”
The slideshow that accompanied the workshop and was available on the conference app told participants that the United States is “a country built on white supremacy. White supremacy is the operating system in the US.” It also states, “If you are white, the strategies we are sharing today push against white fragility and racism. Pay attention to your reactions and be aware of your body right now. You might be uncomfortable. That’s OK.”
The handout for a Friday workshop on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) tells participants “Leaders on DEI efforts can always expect pushback on those efforts… pushback happens because effective DEI efforts challenge the status quo, and it can feel threatening to many when we start to change ‘the way things always have been.’ Leaders on diversity, equity, and inclusion must expect and manage this pushback” (emphasis original).
Notice how this encourages librarians to resist feedback from patrons and taxpayers, placing public employees over American citizens and undermining classic American consensuses about public service and government’s proper subjection to the will of the people.
Celebrating Queer Sex with Public Resources, Even for Kids
The workshop titled “Telling Stories, Expanding Boundaries: Drag Queen Storytimes in Libraries” featured Michelle Tea, a lesbian who started drag queen events at a public library in San Francisco. It also featured a “drag queen storyteller” reading to the audience, according to the workshop description.
The description in the conference app says: “The DGS [sic, for Drag Queen Storytime] program has been immensely popular with many audiences at libraries across the country, but it has also produced its share of resistance and controversy. The panel will discuss how DGS was developed and originally implemented, how librarians have been using it today, how institutions have dealt with specific successes and controversies, and how DGS relates to intellectual freedom.”
The workshop speakers included ALA’s Kristin Pekoll, the assistant director of the organization’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Pekoll was active in several workshops dedicated to challenging local communities and patrons’ opinions about appropriate taxpayer-provided materials and events. Another included librarians discussing how they handled patron complaints about a Black Lives Matter display in the children’s department, a Banned Books Week display, and a librarian-provided LGBTQ reading list for teens. These patron objections were treated as attempts at “censorship.”
A visual from Pekoll’s office says one of the five main kinds of “censorship” is “requiring parental permission to access content.” On another panel she participated in, another public librarian who initiated a drag queen story time gave audience members advice about how to overcome community objections to such events, according to a writeup of the event in Library Journal.
Larson shared her library’s effort to create and promote Drag Queen Story Time. Within an hour of the event being featured in the library’s newsletter, complaints arrived via phone and emal [sic]. After the event was picked up by conversative [sic] news outlets, calls started coming in from across the United States. As a result, the library coordinated with local police for added security during the process.
When planning programs, Larson advised librarians to make sure that reference and circulation staff are supported; have a prepared statement about how a program supports the library’s values. Be clear in your goals and prepare stakeholders, such as a Board of Trustees. After the success of their first event, they hosted more without incident.
The ALA also provides librarians “crisis communication plans” to shield themselves from altering events or materials they provide with public resources that generate a public backlash, such as the drag queen story hours. A third librarian who hosted drag queen story hours, this time in a Philadelphia-area public library, told the audience the ALA helped him resist community objections to the events.
The June 24 workshop on “Creating Queer-Inclusive Elementary School Library Programming” discussed “ways to dismantle barriers” to such programs, including “crafting arguments,” “reviewing legislation,” and “listing talking points.” The description makes it clear that the workshop is not about only selecting books on this topic but also creating “services and programs.” Please note: The title says elementary school. That’s children younger than 13.
One of the presenters for this workshop, Lucy Santos Green, is the incoming chairwoman for the Educators of School Librarians section of the American Association of School Librarians. Let that one sink in. Then juxtapose it with the description of the workshop about underage children’s “privacy rights” from their parents, which “explore[d] positive and proactive ways that libraries can protect minors’ privacy and confidentiality” and insisted children “have a right to privacy and confidentiality in what they read and view in the library.”
At still another ALA conference workshop, participants brainstormed a list of book recommendations featuring “non-trad families,” which included the titles “My Brother’s Husband” and “Pregnant Butch.”
All these people, and this large organization that serves almost exclusively public institutions, clearly feel completely comfortable broadcasting their cheerful feelings about queer sex — and other extremely politicized and controversial subjects — in public. Have any of them ever stopped to think about how their decision to do so may contribute to some of the polarization, alienation, and anger Americans are experiencing towards each other currently?
Are all these supposedly well-read people completely ignorant of the fact that the majority of the world’s religions and religious adherents, which comprise the clear majority of the world today, plus the vast majority of cultures in world history, consider the kind of behavior they’re cheering depraved, damaging to children, self-harming, and socially destructive?
At least half of America does not agree with bisexual bathrooms or denying opportunities to white people based on their skin color. They are not on board with “queering” public elementary school libraries. How can we trust these librarians’ judgment and management of public resources after seeing this kind of bias, which is extreme to the point of open hostility against our deepest values?
ALA’s leaders and workshop approval committees don’t have to agree, of course. But could they at least, as the woke say, engage in a bit of perspective-taking? Or would they prefer to continue abusing the public trust placed in them and the public institutions they influence? What do they think will be the outcomes of that decision?
What a moment to meet Palaces for the People author @EricKlinenberg. He says: “Libraries stand for and exemplify something that needs defending: the public institutions that – even in an age of atomization and inequality – serve as bedrocks of civil society.” #ALAAC19#LOCatALApic.twitter.com/zmVHlBdqt5
NOTE: Within the above article reporting on self-arrogated free speech advocates planning to bypass community concerns to target children in violation of law and community standards, the following ALA censors block me, a whistleblower, on Twitter—including the ALA President and antisemite Loida Garcia Febo:
Andromeda Yelton, @ThatAndromeda, "Superpositive wrecking ball of goodness. Like putting your finger in an electrical outlet in a good way. @ALA_LITA Past-President. Software dev @BKCHarvard."
Loida Garcia Febo, @loidagarciafebo, "ALA President 2018-2019. Libraries pillars of public education. Communities. Reading, Wellness enthusiast. English/Spanish/Latina/Librarian • LoveAccents"
How can we trust these librarians’ judgment and management of public resources after seeing this kind of bias, which is extreme to the point of open hostility against our deepest values? https://t.co/Aqfg916oyR
What image comes to mind when you think of or hear the word librarian? For me that image is of a conservative person (and truth be told always a woman). By conservative, I refer not to politics or ideology (I imagine librarians have always come in a variety of ideological flavors) but instead of one with a conservative sensibility or temperament which includes a certain respect for tradition and decorum. And, that makes sense (at least to me) for those who are charged with preserving and providing access to a significant portion of our cultural heritage. In recent years, however, that image is fading fast for me.
Pride Month is celebrated at the Boston Public
Library in June 2018 – Image credit
Keith J Finks / Shutterstock.com
A couple of weeks ago, the American Library Association (ALA) held its annual conference and it was a cornucopia of leftism and the stupidest aspects of today’s identity politics according to this July 10, 2019 article by Joy Pullmann at The Federalist. The leftist bent of the conference also clearly shows at the ALA’s review of said conference. The ALA seems to be entirely on board and supportive of every aspect of the LGBT agenda including, regrettably, what I call their war on childhood. The conference involved many workshops including “Creating Queer-Inclusive Elementary School Library Programming,” “Telling Stories, Expanding Boundaries: Drag Queen Storytimes in Libraries,” and “A Children’s Room to Choose: Encouraging Gender Identity and Expression in School and Public Libraries.” And, of course, these sort of endeavors are to be encouraged and undertaken by librarians and school teachers regardless of what parents may think as per the workshop “Are You Going to Tell My Parents?: The Minor’s Right to Privacy in the Library.” The conference also had the usual paeans to racialist thinking and behavior such as the workshop “Talking to Kids About Race: A ‘how-to’ workshop” which included the current racial grievance industry charges such as white supremacy is the operating system in the USA, and white fragility is a tool of white supremacy. Oh, and I am happy to report that the conference was able to approve a motion that denounced detention centers for illegal immigrants. How daring of them!
I suppose I should’ve been surprised by Ms. Pullmann’s article, but I really wasn’t. It seems the ALA has been moving to the left for several decades now. I first became aware of this shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the immediate aftermath of those attacks the Congress passed and President Bush signed into law what was called the Patriot Act, the purpose of which was to strengthen national security. Specifically, the ALA opposed Section 215 of that law, which provided for the collection of “business records,” as per this fact sheet prepared by a group in support of the law. To be fair, there were legitimate concerns regarding this provision of the law and the Congress eventually allowed Section 215 to expire in 2015. That said, the ALA’s reaction to the law was hysterical and went beyond criticism to willful disobedience of the law via purposeful destruction of records they thought pertinent to the law.
The main reading room of the
New York Public Library –
Image credit Keith J Finks / shutterstock.com
Around the same time, librarians were in the news for another issue. At some point twenty or so years ago, libraries began to connect to the internet and provide computer terminals for their patrons. This is all well and good; however, hardcore pornography was and is readily available and accessible on the internet and, although filtering systems exist to deny access to the porn, the ALA and librarians across the country have refused and continue to refuse to provide these filters on first amendment and other spurious grounds, despite the fact that the computers are regularly used for the viewing of hardcore porn. The silliest aspect of this issue is that until the introduction of the internet into the libraries no one ever went to a library to view pornography.
More recently the ALA has eagerly joined in on the current practice of expunging from polite society dead white people for some real or imagined transgression against one the pillars (sex and race) of today’s identity politics. In 1954, the ALA established the Laura Ingalls Wilder award – a lifetime achievement award for authors and illustrators of children’s literature – and named her as the first recipient for her “Little House” books. In 2018, the ALA renamed the award the Children’s Literature Legacy Award because her work does not comport with the ALA’s “…core values of inclusiveness, integrity, and respect” since her books “…reflect dated attitudes towards indigenous people and people of color.” In their announcement stripping Wilder of her honor, the ALA also made sure to congratulate themselves for not removing these horrible works from their library shelves. How generous of them.
With their appetite whetted by the Wilder award renaming, the ALA decided to take down a much bigger fish in the library world in 2019 – that of Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. And so at this year’s annual conference it was decided to strip Dewey’s name from the American Library Association’s top award – the Melvil Dewey Award- which is awarded annually to an individual who has demonstrated “creative leadership of a high order” in such fields as classification and cataloging, library management, and library training. It seems that Mr. Dewey had a bit of a #metoo problem. According to one biographer, Dewey “…was a serial hugger and kisser,” while another biographer stated that Dewey engaged in “unwelcome hugging, unwelcome touching, and unwelcome kissing” with women subordinates over a period of decades. Sounds a bit like Joe Biden, doesn’t it? He also has another problem in that he discriminated against Jews, Blacks, and others in a club he owned.
Whenever I hear or read of these situations of an organization taking a decidedly progressive turn, I am reminded of Robert Conquest’s Three Laws of Politics, the second of which is “Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.” It is remarkable how often this process comes to pass. It is almost as true and immutable as Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. I should note, at least in passing that authorship for this law seems to be in dispute. It is also regularly assigned to John O’Sullivan, a former editor of National Review. If anyone can clarify this conflict, please feel free to speak up.
I mentioned earlier my image of a typical librarian. The clip below from the 1940 movie The Philadelphia Story presents a somewhat exaggerated version my typical librarian.
Copyright 2019 Silent Cal Productions, LLC.
NOTE ADDED 16 JULY 2019:
Excellent comment below I'm republishing here so it gets seen:
David Anderson
Mon Jul 15, 09:11:00 PM 2019
As readers here may know, in March of 2018, the Public Library Association (PLA) hosted its biennial national conference in the City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – and among the programs offered was one entitled “Drag Queen Story Hour: Reading Fabulously”.
Shared with attendees for titles to read in setting up their own DQSH were those that “best support a program for young children exploring gender fluidity.”
First listed on the program handout touting the spread of “The Ever Growing Queendom” was Rachel Aimee, New York City DQSH chapter founder.
Speaking of spreading, those in the audience during the DQSH presentation of that March meeting of library enthusiasts – official representatives and staff - from across the country may or may not have known that Aimee co-founded in 2005, developed and was editor-in-chief of “$pread”, a sex-workers magazine.
“$pread” was “criticized by some branches of feminism that believe that sex work is inherently degrading.”
Aimee believes otherwise.
Aimee’s “$pread” website declares of her magazine staff, “Most of us are real sex workers. Among us are street workers, pro-dommes, escorts, strippers, nude models, porn workers and pretty much anything else you can think of.”
“The assumption that sex workers are too dumb to publish a magazine really pisses us off,” Aimee wrote.
When asked what was next for “$pread”, Aimee responded “We’re looking for sex workers to paint, mutilate, or otherwise decorate sex toys” for her then-upcoming show’s special exhibit entitled “One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo.”
If your search engine is set to filter out adult content, then you may not know what ‘dildo’ means, nor the world Aimee envisioned.
Did the members of your library association where you live attend the Rachel Aimee, NYC Director of DQSH, sponsored event at the March 2018 Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia?
And, just as important, even as political districts vet their candidates, does your library district screen for character those who would stand before your children, your grandchildren, the children of your community?
Responding to Opposition: Training Guide by EveryLibrary
So how do we stay on message in the face of our critics? You should realize that, no matter how great your campaign message, your library campaign is going to have its critics. It doesn’t matter how much the library is loved, the anti-library groups will almost always have some voice in your community.
Responding to Opposition
There are most likely groups of people in your community with the opinion that the library isn’t needed. There are people who will think that the library should be run by volunteers. There are people who will believe that the library is doing something malicious with their money. Finally, there are most likely groups of people who just plain and simply don’t want to pay more taxes no matter what for.
While you should expect to always have opposition, you shouldn’t always expect to have a fight on your hands. There are ways to quiet the opposition enough that they don’t pose a risk for your campaign. Remember, you don’t need them to be completely quiet, you don’t need them to love the library, you don’t even need them to vote for the library. You just need them to not get in the way, vote against, or sabotage the campaign. Your goal is only to turn them from an active opposition to a passive opposition.
Online or IRL?
Before we begin, I should point out that many of these techniques work for oppositional messages in the comments of blog posts or news articles as well as in real life. It’s the way that you structure your response that is important and it works across media platforms. In either case, I want to make sure to note that you should never directly attack your opposition by calling them out by name or specifically responding to just them. Instead of directly attacking your opponent, you should build a message that can be repeated often enough that their message simply gets buried. You can have your supporters post variations of the same counter message or dozens of positive stories on a blog post until the negative comments are buried. Whatever you do, don’t validate them or fuel their anger, mistrust, or hatred by attacking them.
Sources of Opposition
It’s extremely important to know who your opposition is and why they don’t support the library. This is something that should ideally be done during the surfacing phase of your campaign but new opposition can show up at any time. Luckily, in the case of libraries, you have something up your sleeve. We at EveryLibrary have heard just about every possible opposition message to libraries, from the most ridiculous, to the most reasonable. Here are some of the most heard opposition messages that we have heard;
The library tax will be yet another tax that (homeowners/small business owners/residents) can’t afford to pay.
The internet has everything that I could just find at the library
I don’t want to pay more taxes
We don’t need a new library
The library can be run by volunteers
Libraries are irrelevant because I never use them
What you also need to recognize is that some people will never change their view or opinion no matter what you say or do. Attempting to convince them otherwise will be a huge waste of resources and not something that your campaign can not afford to do. It is far more important to go out and engage the people who are already on your side and get those voters to the polls in greater numbers than the opposition can. You can be much more effective talking to people who are on the fence than those who have already made up their mind.
The desire to respond to the opposition directly can be difficult to resist. Instead there are ways that you can use the opposition to build your supporter base. You can actually turn your opposition’s messages against them and use those messages to convince your supporters to get to the polls. You can use the public debate to educate the public about the issues and build greater support. This paper will outline how to do just that.
Listen
The first thing that you should always do when handling discussions from people who have concerns about library ballot measures is listen to them. Since nearly all opposition stems from a place of fear, you need to handle their concerns with respect and show a concern and understanding about what they are afraid of. Don’t directly oppose their position as that will give them a sense of validation and you will remain actively opposed. Instead, you should listen and respect their opinion and don’t be afraid to ask meaningful questions. Once you have their source of fear, you can alleviate it.
Repeat
Once you know what their fear is, the first thing you should do is repeat it. You should not directly counter their argument with an opposing viewpoint since this will be perceived as combative and people will fight back until they feel that they won. By repeating their concerns or fears you prove that you understand them and that you respect their ideals and the repetition will be almost immediately calming.
The library tax will be yet another tax that small business owners can’t afford to pay.
I understand the great burden placed on small business owners….
The internet has everything that I could just find at the library
The internet is a great source of information…
I don’t want to pay more taxes
I understand that taxes are high…
We don’t need a new library.
We know that people love the old library and everything that it provided to the community…
The library can be run by volunteers
That’s an excellent suggestion and our volunteers are very valuable…
Question
Sometimes the opposition is unclear about their messaging, or what they are saying doesn’t make sense. If you can’t figure out what their fear is, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You can usually get to the root of the issue by kindly asking questions and addressing the root issue. Most people will feel that you genuinely care if you are asking questions and you can help move them over from active to passive opposition.
Get back to the message
Here is where that message box comes in and where you can see how useful it is. Since you should have already brainstormed and/or recorded as many of the opposition’s messages, you will be able to develop “and” statements to craft your counter message. The “and” statement is what you use after repeating their concern. This is how you are working to solve the same issue that they are concerned about. This is how you show that you are actually on their side and that you both have the same concerns. It is very important that you use an “and” statement and not a “but” or a “yes but” statement. You should never use a “no” statement because you are not disagreeing with them. You are trying to show that you agree and that you are both actually on the same side.
The library tax will be yet another tax that small business owners can’t afford to pay.
I understand the great burden placed on small business owners AND that’s why we provide so many resources that make being a small business owner easier
The internet has everything that I could just find at the library
The internet is a great source of information AND that’s why we want to increase the community’s access to it and add value to what you get from it.
I don’t want to pay more taxes
I understand that taxes are high AND that is why it’s so important to me to provide services to the community that help bring the cost of living down and the value of the community up.
We don’t need a new library.
We know that people love the old library and everything that it provides to the community AND that’s why it’s so important to us that we continue to provide the services of the old library and the kinds of services that you deserve in a modern age.
The library can be run by volunteers
That’s an excellent suggestion and we love our volunteers AND that’s why the library uses as many volunteers as we can to streamline our processes and free up our paid staff to provide the best services we possibly can
Reinforce Your Message
You can reinforce your message by using examples of how you’re achieving your “and” statement. These examples should be concrete and provable. You should never lie and say that your library provides something that it doesn’t or something that you can’t prove that it provides. This is also where that message box comes back into play. You can use your opposition’s messages to research your examples so that you have them in mind before the discussion even begins. It’s always best to give more than one example, but you should probably never offer more than three in order to avoid the appearance of “I gotcha.”
The library tax will be yet another tax that small business owners can’t afford to pay.
I understand the great burden placed on small business owners AND that’s why we provide so many resources that make being a small business owner easier. FOR EXAMPLE, we often have programming on hiring staff for small business owners and we offer patent and trademark classes to teach small business owners to protect their property.
The internet has everything that I could just find at the library
The internet is a great source of information AND that’s why we want to increase the community’s access to it and add value to what you get from it. FOR EXAMPLE, we offer high speed internet access along with databases that provide a level of well researched and scientifically supported articles that you just can’t find for free on the internet.
I don’t want to pay more taxes
I understand that taxes are high AND that is why it’s so important to me to provide services to the community that help bring the cost of living down and the value of the community up. FOR EXAMPLE, we provide opportunities for teens and youth to volunteer and become engaged citizens and we provide storytimes for new parents to help the children with early literacy and get them ready for school.
We don’t need a new library.
We know that people love the old library and everything that it provides to the community AND that’s why it’s so important to us that we continue to provide the services of the old library and the kinds of services that you deserve in a modern age. FOR EXAMPLE, with a new library, we can provide for programming space to support our growing community and we can provide access to even more materials.
The library can be run by volunteers
That’s an excellent suggestion AND that’s why the library uses as many volunteers as we can to streamline our processes and free up our paid staff to provide the best services we possibly can. FOR EXAMPLE, we love having our volunteers take on roles that free up staff to work on higher level tasks such as budgets, training, and working with high level technology issues.
Arm Your Campaign
These counter messages are your campaign’s weapons against the opposition so while these answers work well, they are not formatted for your community of voters and you will need the right weapon at the right time. Everything that we have used here are simply common examples and you will need to do some opposition research and continuously revisit and use your message box with any of the opposition messages that you come across. Most importantly, you need to practice with your weapons to get back on message. This means taking some time with your campaign committee and volunteers and doing role playing games where one person plays the opposition and you respond to their claims by getting back to your message using the correct format. Record some of the best responses, distribute them to your campaign members, and make sure that everyone has them memorized and is well trained on responding to the opposition.
The Opposition’s Outright Lies
Sometimes the opposition lies. There is not a whole lot you can do about that. We have seen it happen in a number of campaigns and the problem with lies is that because they are not based on fact, there is very little evidence to the contrary. But there are a few things that you can do about it in order to simply pacify the opposition until the campaign is over. Remember that you are simply trying to win the election and you don’t need to discredit or prove the liars wrong, you just need them to be quiet until the campaign is over.
One of the biggest lies that we have seen crop up around election time is that of porn in the library. Often, these library detractors will try to use examples of porn issues in other libraries, a lack of filters on the computers, and language and content in YA materials to “prove” that the library WANTS to expose kids to porn. Of course, we know that there is no truth to this ideology but there is typically very little you can do to disprove it.
Solutions for Opposition
While you’ll find that there are people in the community who are serious in their opposition to your library, there are a few things you can try to do to either get them to quiet down or get out of the way. We are going to use the porn in the library discussion as our example in the these three solutions.
One technique would be to simply use the same Agree, And, For Example format that we discussed earlier. In the example of the individuals concerned about porn we can use this-
-Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we also want our children to be safe and secure while they are in the library so we take your claim very seriously AND we are going to do something about it. FOR EXAMPLE, we are going to look into a committee to seriously look into the exposure of porn to children in the community.
You can invite them more into the campaign to be a part of the solution. You can talk about how the library really needs the resources that the win for the library would bring in order to ensure that the library can protect the kids. With the money you can purchase better filters and take staff time to look at the collection development policy or build a committee specifically to protect the children. Of course, if you make these campaign promises, you will need to deliver on them if you win.
Another solution is to side-step the campaign and form a committee to look into the issue. In this case, you might even invite the detractor to be a part of the committee. You can set the schedule of meetings and the timing of the outcomes of the committee to occur AFTER the Election Day. This is a very common political ploy used often in campaigns that utilizes a diversion and delay technique to work around election days or long enough until the voters have forgotten about the issue.
Build Your Story
Sometimes you might find that you can build your story. What this means is that you find people in your community who can tell the opposite story. You will need to identify community members who can show up to meetings and tell a personal account of the opposite experience. In the case of porn in the library, you can have community members show up to meetings and talk about how their kids are not exposed to adult material on the computers or that their kids found value in the books they read at the library and that they could then have a meaningful conversation about the issue with their children. They can tell stories of being responsible parents who monitor their children in public spaces. If you use this technique, never mention or directly oppose or attack the person making the original claim. Simply bury their claim in great stories that tell a counter account of their experience.
Ignore Them
The last technique you can use is to simply ignore them. Sometimes, if you ignore the lie it simply doesn’t gain enough momentum and traction and goes away. This is risky, but if you know enough about the detractor or who they know in the community, you can make an informed guess as to whether or not they can get enough support of their claim to become a problem. The detractor may simply go find something else to lie about somewhere else in the community. This is usually because they are trying to build a name for themselves or play a “hero” role in the community and they won’t be able to gain that role if nobody steps up to be the villain.
One thing that you should never do is openly debate, criticize, or demean the person bringing up the lie. They can use your open debate to validate themselves and their claim. If you criticize or publicly demean them, they can make the claim that you are simply trying to put them down because they are close to “the truth.” You will become the villain that they are looking for and they will make the case that they are the hero.
Source of above (except the title):
"Responding to Opposition: Training Guide," by Patrick Sweeney or Andrew Woodworth, EveryLibrary, 21 October 2015 (free subscription required to view; republished under Fair Use Copyright rules for educational, nonprofit purposes).
Note: The title of this post, "Librarians Guide to Defeating Parents By EveryLibrary," was written by SafeLibraries. The "guide" itself was written by EveryLibrary and labels parents as "biggest liars" and "detractors":
One of the biggest lies that we have seen crop up around election time is that of porn in the library. Often, these library detractors will try to use examples of porn issues in other libraries, a lack of filters on the computers, and language and content in YA materials to “prove” that the library WANTS to expose kids to porn. Of course, we know that there is no truth to this ideology but there is typically very little you can do to disprove it.
Previously, the American Library Association's "Office for Intellectual Freedom" labeled any parent who ever complained about anything as a "censor":
So whether parents are labeled as "liars," "detractors," or "censors," librarians as being trained, as this EveryLibrary "guide" proves again, to defeat parents.
By the way, ALA opposes labeling books—but labeling parents is a useful means for bullying, ridicule, and sending the message to other parents that they should not themselves dare challenge anything whatsoever. It's a propaganda technique called "jamming."
The last section of the above "guide" called "Ignore Them" is about SafeLibraries as just months before one of the authors besmirched my efforts to stop the sexual harassment of librarians and convinced other librarians to ignore me. He is an "ignore them" expert:
EveryLibrary even actively censors me to hide my exposing how ALA is involved in the sexual harassment of librarians, child pornography, and homophobia. Yes, EveryLibrary deleted proof ALA hides its homophobia. See 1) before, 2) after censorship.
EveryLibrary is a federally registered 501(c)(4) "Social Welfare Organization." One wonders what attacking every single parent who complains about anything such as pornography in libraries has to do with "Social Welfare":
Source: EveryLibrary at YouTube:
https://youtu.be/4p9qcPmgrZk?t=3m50s
If you are helping to spread Internet pornography and child pornography in public libraries and school libraries by organizing attacks on those seeking to end such things, where's the charity and social welfare in that? Why should the public subsidize that?
SafeLibraries is happy to present EveryLibrary's "guide" for librarians on how to defeat parents. Knowing the tricks of the librarians seeking to enable libraries to violate the law, the identity of the tricksters, and the potential for influence on local librarians may help parents who seek redress of their government in accordance with the law and despite the diktat of ALA or the organized bullying of EveryLibrary.
NOTE ADDED 17 JANUARY 2020:
As EveryLibrary has grown, it still leads librarians and others on how to defeat parents. However, it appears to have censored "Responding to Opposition: Training Guide," by Patrick Sweeney or Andrew Woodworth, EveryLibrary, 21 October 2015. I can no longer find it on the Internet. That is a tactic American Library Association itself uses, such as when its so-called Office for Intellectual Freedom, with which Andy Woodworth collaborated on Banned Books Week, removed a model policy telling librarians to ignore child pronography, after I and others exposed it, of course.
So EveryLibrary has something to hide. I just happened to have made the only remaining copy about three years ago, shown above.
Anyone or any politician getting pressure from EveryLibrary AstroTurfed campaigns should know EveryLibrary acts with dirty hands:
This bill in Missouri, if passed, would jail librarians for doing their jobs.
