Show list of books
As an Idaho citizen, I want the Idaho Freedom Caucus to show me their specific evidence of “harmful material” in school and public libraries.
I want to see a list of books that they say contain material that promotes, in their words, “... deviant sexual behavior including that oral, anal and traditional sex at any age is appropriate, including having sex with adults.” I then want to know, specifically, in what Idaho libraries each book they list is available.
Mike Kingsley, Cindy Carlson and Dan Forman said in their Tribune Opinion page piece published July 29 that denial of this problem is “frustrating and disheartening.” Well, I feel the same way about their claims when they make them without providing specific evidence.
In the “Chicken Little” fable, “evidence” was successfully used to spread panic. In the end, it was discovered that forming incorrect conclusions from insufficient data was the cause of the panic.
Don’t take other people’s word for things, especially when those people are making extraordinary claims. Show me, and all other Idaho citizens, your specific evidence.
Russell Gee
Lewiston
Flamethrowers
Judging from the way north central Idaho legislators Mike Kingsley, Cindy Carlson and Dan Foreman demonized librarians in the July 29 Tribune, you might think their call to make libraries organs of government censorship stemmed from a personal affront.
It didn’t.
The restriction they helped nearly pass was circulated around the nation by culture warriors intent on undermining free speech, free elections and free thought. In fact, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Arkansas legislation a federal judge blocked the day their editorial response appeared, including the $2,500 bounty for anyone finding purported objectionable material.
Despite Kingsley, Carlson and Foreman’s fulminations against pornography, the bill in question’s offenses include depictions of the female breast “with less than a full opaque covering” below the top of the nipple.
Imagine your local librarian rushing to move all works featuring art from Michelangelo to Manet away from the eyes of minors. That would, says 17-year-old Little Rock student Hayden Kirby, “restrict the spaces I’ve accessed freely throughout my life.”
That is just what happens in Ray Bradbury’s futuristic novel “Fahrenheit 451,” the title reflecting the temperature at which paper turns to flames, as Judge Timothy L. Brooks noted.
“There is more than one way to burn a book,” Brooks wrote. “And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”
Jim Fisher
Moscow
Dishonesty appalling
Though I changed affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 1976, I am pleased to associate with the honest, hard-working Republicans I personally know. These traits seem nonexistent for our three legislators (July 29 Tribune), whose arrogance and dishonesty are appalling.
Their first dishonesty is calling the American Library Association “radical” (without evidence), saying libraries today differ from the ones of their youth. This from members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus, which attacks the freedom of women, of children, for people of all inclinations to just be themselves. Having spent much of my life in libraries, my experience indicates their accusations are false. Libraries serve everyone.
Second, they refer to texts that “promote deviant sexual behavior,” but name no evidence for their (therefore) false assumptions.
Third, they imply that libraries would not suffer from House Bill 314. What about the fines that could be levied? Or the bounties paid to parents for squealing on libraries that allow freedom of choice?
Fourth, my search for causes of sexual deviance show that the most often named reason for sexual deviance is “negative or adverse conditions in early development, particularly poor relations with caregivers.” The next most often named reason is “lack of education.” Though continual or addictive exposure to “violent pornography” is a cause, no one mentions texts in libraries as leading to deviant behavior. Solutions include “offering kindness, education.”
So perhaps following the advice of arrogant, dishonest people who promote squashing education would exacerbate the problem of sexual deviance, not ameliorate it.
D’Wayne Hodgin
Moscow
Valued ‘Forgotten War’
I really appreciate you at the Tribune for publishing “The Forgotten War” section about the people who served our country in the Korean War.
I read every article and was blessed by how those people sacrificed to serve our country. And the writers and support people did a great job of putting it together.
John Merrick
Genesee
