Hi, Dainy, Thank you for your feedback on my comments.
As you noted, this listserv is not supposed to be political. I only spoke out because I thought the trailer for “The Librarians” was itself very political, and I wanted to present the other side. I think there are two sides to most arguments, and that book banning is far more complex than the Moms for Liberty stereotype. However, I feel I must answer one point you made, because it relates to what is happening in my country, Canada. I think some of our disagreement may be rooted in deep cultural differences between Canada and the United States. I don't know if the listserv is interested in what things are like outside of the United States, but I wish to correct what I believe was a misrepresentation of the Canadian climate on this issue. Here is what you wrote: 1) All of the claims about progressive cancellation cited here have been thoroughly discussed and proven to be logical fallacies - a lot of strawmanning and overgeneralizing going on. Then you quote me: "They ordered -- I KID YOU NOT! -- all books on school library shelves published before 2008 to be weeded out because they might not adhere to DEI principles. This would mean, for example, *Little Women*!" And you ask: But did it include *Little Women*? Is there any evidence of this board or any other applying DEI principles like this? (Answer: no, there isn't.) I am the author of the investigative report, “Empty Shelves: The Noxious Politics Behind a Canadian School Board’s Massive Book Purge <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://c2cjournal.ca/2023/12/empty-shelves-the-noxious-politics-behind-a-canadian-school-boards-massive-book-purge/__;!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDYIL4nJQ$ >”, December 17, 2023, C2C Journal, on the scandal at the Peel District School Board (the second-largest school board in Canada). I live in Toronto, 45 minutes from Peel, and I know what happened at that board. To write the article, I interviewed parents and corresponded with a board spokesperson. Not only did Peel District *specifically order* that books, fiction and non-fiction, published before 2008 be weeded from its shelves; it also directed how this should be done. Allow me to quote from my article (all emphasis is mine): “Purged books are to be destroyed in a ‘sustainable manner’ by being *sent to a landfill or shredded*. They are *not to be sent to developing countries or even given away to charitable organizations* like Little Free Library, because that would merely spread the ‘harm.’” “‘All items should be deemed potential candidates for weeding,’ the document reads. ‘The category of ‘Classics’ typically consists of *Euro-centric* texts that were penned long before students’ birth dates, and may not reflect the lived experiences of students.’ Well*, Little Women* is certainly “Eurocentric” and was “penned” before the birth dates of all the students in Peel District. It doesn’t reflect the kids’ lived experiences either – though it just might open their minds to the “lived experiences” of those who lived a century-and-a-half ago. Once the news of this book purge hit the press – with photographs of bare library shelves, like the one in my article, and the complaint of a Japanese-Canadian high school student that books about the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II would inevitably disappear from the shelves under these guidelines -- the embarrassed school board of course began to cover its tracks. It ordered the purge “paused” and claimed that *The Hunger Games* and *Diary of Anne Frank* were still in circulation. But we know for a fact that *Curious George* was discarded by at least one librarian; I refer you to the Tupperware bin of discarded books in the photo in my article. The Japanese-Canadian student herself said that *Harry Potter, The Hunger Games*, and *Role of Thunder, Hear My Cry *all disappeared through the purge at her school library. She estimated, in fact, that half the books on the shelves had disappeared. When I wrote the article, Tom Ellard, one of the parents who spear-headed the pushback by a parents’ group called *Libraries, Not Landfills*, explained that he couldn’t get any list of purged books or an estimate of the loss or what it would cost to replenish the shelves. So, to answer your questions, Dainy: “Did it include *Little Women*?” I don’t know, because as of the date of publication of my article, the board had not provided a list of the books dumped in landfills or elsewhere. But the original orders were to discard all (or most – it’s unclear) books published before 2008. “Is there any evidence of this board or any other applying DEI principles like this?” Absolutely. Allow me to quote the words of the Peel directive to staff: “In Peel, we must acknowledge that society operates in white supremacist structures where socially constructed hierarchies…privilege some and marginalize others . . . These resources are being weeded because they are causing harm … because they are not inclusive, culturally responsive, relevant or accurate (racism, stereotypes, microaggressions, lack of representation or erasure of communities, slurs, oppression etc.).” The document goes on to recommend that, to avoid any unpleasantness, all weeding should be done when the library is closed. I don’t live in the United States. It may be that the climate there is different from the climate in Canada. We’ve never had vocal right-leaning pressure groups like Moms for Liberty, for example. So the book banning here is not coming from loud, vocal forces on the right of the political spectrum. If you read my article through, though, you will see that the iconic advocates of freedom to read -- the Writers Union of Canada, the Ontario Library Association, and Pen Canada – were conspicuously silent or mealy-mouthed on this issue. They did not strongly object to the weeding of a school board’s library books when the motivation for that purge was DEI. I would call that cowardice, not principle. I trust this clarifies what may be a misunderstanding rooted in a cultural difference. Marjorie On Tue, Dec 2, 2025 at 2:54 PM Dainy Bernstein via Hasafran < [email protected]> wrote: > Two things: 1) All of the claims about progressive cancellation cited > here have been thoroughly discussed and proven to be logical fallacies - a > lot of strawmanning and overgeneralizing going on. For example: "They > ordered -- I KID YOU > Two things: > > 1) All of the claims about progressive cancellation cited here have been > thoroughly discussed and proven to be logical fallacies - a lot of > strawmanning and overgeneralizing going on. > > For example: > > "They ordered -- I KID YOU NOT! -- all books on school library shelves > published before 2010 to be weeded out because they might not adhere to DEI > principles. This would mean, for example, *Little Women*!" > > But did it include *Little Women*? Is there any evidence of this board or > any other applying DEI principles like this? (Answer: no, there isn't.) > > And the whole bit about right-wing banning isn't so bad because it drives > sales but left-wing banning is bad because of social media pile-on: no. > Left-wing visibility is made up of individuals. Right-wing attacks and bans > are organized by groups who attempt to pass laws. One is action taken by > people for themselves; the other is action taken by organized groups for > others. > > Here's an article about one legal contest among many: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wbaltv.com/article/state-board-education-reverse-harford-decision-remove-flamer/69269111__;!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDRykZroQ$ > > <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wbaltv.com/article/state-board-education-reverse-harford-decision-remove-flamer/69269111__;!!KGKeukY!1PVOjrzMNHDJ_lLreLlRD95g15TgphJSRzM5kDZkLJGT_LIN_JaIWUJC-wOZERAbWWPfGO9yDEN83VfSljvdvTbfKM2a$> > > Here's an article about a group dedicated to banning books: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bookriot.com/what-is-take-back-the-classroom/__;!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TD4fTLvzE$ > > <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bookriot.com/what-is-take-back-the-classroom/__;!!KGKeukY!1PVOjrzMNHDJ_lLreLlRD95g15TgphJSRzM5kDZkLJGT_LIN_JaIWUJC-wOZERAbWWPfGO9yDEN83VfSljvdvYh7wTo2$> > > Here's an article about author Jean Kwok speaking to a school board in > Doylestown, PA, against book bans - I highly recommend watching the video: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/southeastern-pa/award-winning-author-makes-case-for-central-bucks-school-board-to-keep-books-on-shelves/article_abc52652-d8d5-11ed-a9d0-2b990a3ba194.html__;!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDx1HuKL8$ > > <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/southeastern-pa/award-winning-author-makes-case-for-central-bucks-school-board-to-keep-books-on-shelves/article_abc52652-d8d5-11ed-a9d0-2b990a3ba194.html__;!!KGKeukY!1PVOjrzMNHDJ_lLreLlRD95g15TgphJSRzM5kDZkLJGT_LIN_JaIWUJC-wOZERAbWWPfGO9yDEN83VfSljvdvSHxLLAp$> > > > > 2) Isn't AJL supposed to be a non-political space? I understand that > librarianship is inherently political on many levels, but the email I'm > replying to is such a blatantly political personal opinion. It does not > belong in this space. > > Dainy Bernstein > *ey/they* > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDV03Xqog$ > > Earlier Listserver: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDV03Xqog$ > > AJL HomePage > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.JewishLibraries.org__;!!KGKeukY!1iwenA0CBXCM80e6BrlF5nYPkI2a8ngNB6_kyQnhkm5H566VNwXg0rUHA07OY4pMafiZhFt8GwxIp7mPj4TDti3HVbQ$ > > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > -- "Anti-Semitism is always a means rather than an end; it is a measure of the contradictions yet to be resolved. It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and State systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of -- I'll tell you what you're guilty of." Vasily Grossman, *Life and Fate*
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
