Conservative activists, led by a local pastor and outspoken Israel advocate, pushed the district, Mission CISD, to excise books mostly about gender, sexuality and race. Their demands represented an extreme version of a nationwide culture war over books that has played out in recent years — and ensnared a number of books with Jewish themes.

In Mission, the long list of books on the chopping block includes a recent illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary; both volumes of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir “Maus”; “The Fixer,” Bernard Malamud’s novel about a historical instance of antisemitic blood libel; and “Kasher in the Rye,” a ribald memoir by Jewish comedian Moshe Kasher.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    Are conservatives activists so concerned with information related to living under Nazism because they don’t want young people to be able to recognize the steps if those steps occur to young people today?

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        Not it’s 100% tied to the resurgence of white supremacy. These conservatives groups are backed by humongous PACs that fund groups that push their agenda. Just like with turningpointusa and groups like that. Don’t mistake careful planning masked by racist zealots as idiocy.

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          Fair enough. All the actual humans I know that vote for these numbnuts are some flava of misplaced Jeebus worshipper. They don’t agree with racists (do they vote for them? Every time - while explaining how the candidate isn’t really racist) but they try not to do and say racist things. They don’t really know what fascism is in this context. Still they willingly hand over political power to those that do.

          The actual racist / fascist shitheel who supports this garbage will do the Wavy-Jesus-Hands when they pray ostentatiously, but don’t really believe that crap, it’s just an important part of the grift for “the weak-minded”.

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    local pastor and outspoken Israel advocate

    Anne Frank’s diary

    Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir

    Israel advocate

    Anne Frank’s diary

    Israel advocate

    Anne Frank’s diary

    You fucking disgrace

    Get out of my country

    For some reason this made me way more irrationally angry than just killing Palestinians. It’s killing Palestinians and running cover for the people who killed Anne Frank and Spiegelman’s brother, and doing it all at the exact same time with no sense of shame or embarrassment but, I’m sure, a smug sense of superiority like everyone else is the monster in this

    This guy better really hope that there isn’t a hell

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      Hey man. If it looks like a Nazi, walks like a Nazi and quacks like a Nazi, it’s probably a Nazi

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        If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and looks like a duck, then it’s…

        A swan! It claims to be a swan, therefore it is a swan! Swans are beautiful, therefore if you’re against swans you’re a bad person! You see ducks everywhere and accuse everyone being a duck! The word “duck” lost its meaning. In fact, we defeated the ducks in 1945, therefore any “ducks” we might have today are just edgy teens cosplaying as such.

        EDIT: If you ask me, I think conservatives are just “good cops” to the fascists “bad cops” (this gave me an idea for a potential video essay).

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      It’s not really surprising - historically, the creation Israel state was helped massively by antisemitists, who wanted to get rid of jews in their own country and having them a place to immigrate to would be the easiest option (the phenomena is often referred to as Zionist antisemitism).

      So yeah, it does make sense - they can hate the jews, but also support Israel at the same time.

    • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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      But an Israel advocate would try to hide the holocaust least someone relate it to what Israel is doing to Palestine.

      Maybe you’re thinking of a Jewish advocate and not an Israel advocate?

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        In-Israel Israel advocacy, and American Judaism, are absolutely chock full of people who are disgusted with Netanyahu’s government and his “war,” in part because of how much he is doing to destroy Israel on the world stage and get Israelis killed for more or less no purpose, as well as the unfolding horror of the apartheid state and genocide he’s enacting in their name.

        Zionist advocates and Israel advocates and Jewish advocates and human rights advocates are four sometimes overlapping but distinct categories.

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          Netanyahu is an evil fuck, but this isn’t his war, Israel has been doing slow and steady ethnic cleansing of the region for 50+ years.

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            Rabin was closer than anyone to ending it, and Netanyahu’s stochastic terrorism led directly to his death. And he’s been propping up Hamas ever since, to give Israel an enemy to hate and prevent peace from ever coming to the region.

            Fuck him, he owns it now.

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              “No does more for Israel than I do”

              “What about that time you killed a democratically elected Israeli leader who was doing good things for Israel”

              “That’s what I said. He was doing more than me for Israel, and we can’t have that. No one does more for Israel than I do.”

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            True that. Netanyahu’s a little more extreme than the norm, but as I understand it, yes, Israeli politics is:

            • A majority that wants full-on ethnic cleansing
            • A minority party that wants oppression and murder but not in a way that’s explicitly genocidal or threatens their own security
            • And maybe a tiny dissident faction that wants actual human rights for the Palestinians

            I’m speaking well of the dissident faction and highlighting its existence in the first place; I’m not saying it’s anywhere near the mainstream.

        • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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          A Zionist advocate and an Israel advocate are the same thing.

          Human rights advocates never overlap with those.

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            I sense the morass of an ever widening pointless argument opening up beneath me.

            I’ll say my feeling on it and be done, and you’re free to disagree: No one should be hated for where they were born, or for wanting a home or a safe place to be. Not a Palestinian, or a Russian, or an Israeli citizen, or someone who was born and grew up in Nazi Germany. If you got born in Israel and managed to penetrate through a significant haze of propaganda and groupthink to realize that what your country is doing on the world stage is a monstrous crime, what should you do?

            Advocate for the destruction of your home?

            Move away, never to return, renounce your citizenship and want nothing to do with your evil of a country? Yeah, maybe.

            But I can also see someone who sees it as their duty to resist Netanyahu’s government, tries to set their country back on the right course, advocates for the ICC, and turns out for protests against the government and gets brutalized and arrested for it. That stuff happens too. “Pro Israel” isn’t really the right word for those people, no. I actually don’t fully disagree with what you’re saying, that in the modern world if you are “pro Israel” you’re probably a piece of shit (or just totally propagandized / misinformed about what’s actually going on, which there’s a lot of also). So maybe I shouldn’t have phrased it in those terms. But definitely, I think there is a type of Israeli person who is trying to support their home, the only place they’ve ever known to live, by resisting the Netanyahu government, and is ashamed of Israel but not like “against” them in the sense of, I hate my home and all the people here. You can love the town you grew up in, you can have friends and allies (hopefully, ones who are also horrified by the death and destruction in Gaza) there. You can be “pro” that part of it while still hoping that Netanyahu somehow gets what’s coming for him, soon, and all of the killing that’s being done in your name stops.

            Like I say, I don’t think anyone should be hated for where they were born.

            (Oh, and also the far ends of the scale have 0 overlap, yes. You cannot be a Zionist and a human rights advocate, if my way of saying it made it sound like I thought you could.)

            • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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              No one in Israel is out there protesting the genocide.

              All the protests have been because not enough was done to rescue hostages or some other dislike of Netanyahu.

              Overall polling shows Israel supports what is happening to Palestine or thinks not enough has been done.

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                Yes they are. It’s the same groups that have been campaigning to end the occupation since before October 7th. It’s not a majority or even close to - two-thirds of Israelis support the continuation of the war. But saying “no one” is an absolute falsehood. And, I think propaganda and misunderstanding of the situation on the ground is also a large part (in addition to, yes, some large amount of pure racism and violent vindictiveness that says it’s okay if Palestinians are dying because they are bad.)

                The wheel you’re currently cranking on, is the same wheel that was turning right at the beginning of Israel, and managed to turn its way from “all the Nazis are wrong and evil” around to “the Jews are always the victims about everything” and has now arrived itself at “Israel can do anything it decides to and will still be the victim” and now, on the other side, “all the Israelis are always wrong and evil” is emerging into view coming in the other direction. I am telling you that no matter how hard you crank that wheel, on whichever side, your activity will never crank you around to arrive at a world that is peaceful or just.

                (I know I said I’d stop after saying my bit; I just wanted to say a little more on it and shoot down the absolutely false idea that no one in Israel opposes the war on humanitarian grounds.)

                • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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                  That whole article talks more about protestors pushing for returning hostages and other dislikes of Netanyahu far more than it does generic ‘anti-war’ protestors.

                  So thanks for that really, just further solidifies my point.

                  Likewise life is not a fucking wheel, it doesn’t travel in some predetermined path you’ve created. Let me tell you something, no matter how hard you centrist “don’t do anything at all” approach it, you will never arrive at a world that is peaceful or just.

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      From what I understand, a lot of Israelis are rather unkind towards Holocaust survivors. Which is fucking wild to me.

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        It’s only wild if you believe their fable that their nation represents all Jews.

        If however you see them as just another bunch of ethno-Fascists, it actually makes sense that many of the victims of the other large ethno-Fascist group in the last century wouldn’t get along with them simply because they recognize many of the same signs.

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        No, quite the contrary.

        You’ve probably read that in the early days of the State there was a lot of resentment towards Holocaust survivors. They were counter to the national narrative of the “New Jew” who was strong, hard-working, and living off the land. Shoah survivors represented Jews as victims, who did not fight back against the Nazis, instead going like “lambs to the slaughter.”

        This all changed after the Eichmann trial (1961), which is when most of the world first came to understand the true nature of how the Nazis operated. Many people did fight back, and many couldn’t.

        Holocaust survivors are revered and honored in Israel, although the country suffers from poor social services with a lot of gaps. Shoah survivors often fall through those gaps, along with other elders.

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      I’m definitely not for banning books, but couldn’t you say the same thing about news media? Or Facebook memes? Those “get you to think”.

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        We should only be banning things that promote intolerance because there will never be an end to the bannings, there will always be some witch to hunt somewhere.

        To answer your question, yes it is the saying the same thing, that is why banning books is so stupid. A book, movie, TV show, meme, or news report isn’t necessarily going to change my mind but it might make me think about something from a perspective I didn’t consider before.

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        I don’t support banning memes or the news either, but they aren’t under attack currently.

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      i cannot believe how openly anti-nazi some books are! we should burn these intolerant books!

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, but the New Testament says everyone who doesn’t worship Jesus is going to burn in hell forever, so that kind of lessens the whole Jewishness of the first half.

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    I simply cannot wrap my head around this. How is this defensible? What possible justification could they provide for banning Maus?? Anne’s Diary?? How could you even link these to any contemporary agenda?

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        Nah I get that they’re Nazis. But the article failed to mention the official justification to ban these. I want to know what’s the sugarcoated, duplicitous rationale they provided.

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        Wise person: “Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”

        Actual Nazis: Great idea. Let’s burn some books.

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      See, us Jews control Hollywood, so all of that is just PR messaging about our Holocaust lie. And we also control the banks, so we’re the ones buying these books and bribing school librarians to put them on the shelves. Whereupon, I guess, something about the trans agenda happens? I’m a cishet Jew, so I’m only up on our side of the conspiracy.

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          There’s a reason for that, which I mentioned in a post elsewhere in the thread:

          “Outspoken Israel advocates” who are evangelical Christians don’t love Jews. Quite the opposite. They need Israel to exist so all Jews in the world can be forcibly deported to it, and then made to rebuild the Great Temple, so Jesus can come back and throw them all into Hell.

          And a red cow comes into the picture as well.

          None of that is sarcasm. That is really what they think.

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            Even without the whole Religion angle, racists the world over just love ethno-nationalism: each ethnicity living in their own corner, separate from the rest, is exactly what these people want.

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          It tracks! Nazi Germany was actually pro Jewish state as well, the rationale was that it gets all the Jews out of Germany. It also supposedly kicks off the rapture when the Jews return to Israel.

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          Well it’s a trick, they are more anti-muslim than anti-jew. They want the war to escalate because both sides die, and the one they hate more has more casualties.

          They can also sell them all the weapons used in the war… might as well fill the pockets with the new “solution.”

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          Why do you think Oregon is on fire right now? I swear, it’s like people don’t think I even know how to do my job sometimes…

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      They can link them to their own goals. They want to avoid that people might notice the signs and recognize them as a warning. Let me guess, “The Wave” has been banned there, too?

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    The conservative groups are led by Pastor Luis Cabrera, who is active in Latino conservative circles in the state and whose Instagram profile picture is currently an upraised fist outlined with the Israeli flag. Originally from Guatemala, Cabrera is a member of several right-wing Christian activist organizations and has also posted numerous pieces of pro-Israel social media content.

    The thing about Uncle Tom’s are they come in all shapes, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Ironically the things they all hate and fight against

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      Another thing is that Uncle Tom was eventually flogged to death by the people whose admiration he so desperately sought to win.

      Fundamentalist only see things in measures of what helps them obtain what they want. Once the utility of someone is over, they have zero compunction with turning on the person that helped them and riving them to nothingness as demonstration.

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    well the USA was circling the drain after Trump’s first win… they are now at the toilet gargling stage

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      This isn’t the USA. It’s one school district in one state. I know you aren’t bright enough to separate the two, but it would be like saying because the far right has made inroads in French election, then all of Europe is in the toilet.

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        Conservatives continue winning elections. Trump, of all people, actually became president. He has a non zero chance of being voted in again. Supreme Court is far right conservative. House of reps is republican controlled. Many Democrat elected officials are arguably, conservative.

        This is the USA. This is who the conservatives are, and they win often.

        Until the people show us by continually electing democrats to take the senate, house, and exec branch over and over and over again (not gonna happen), this type of shit is VERY USA.

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          You propose legitimate criticisms of the us as a whole. I was responding to the claim that this one school district being dumb is what makes the whole us dumb. It’s terrible logic, and I think you understand that, which is why you didn’t attempt to defend their argument, but pulled in tons of other points to justify their conclusion.

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        If you read the article you’ll find that this is a nation wide movement, they are all copying ban lists from Booklook, a website that used to be a Mom’s for Liberty site. Which is why these clowns keep blindly removing books that make them look like anti-semetic racist idiots. They are those things, but one would guess they’d be a little subtle, also most school districts don’t allow blanket book banning, you have to find the book in their libraries and have a formal meeting about removing it. A lot of these books aren’t even in school libraries.

        But my point is. It’s not one school district in one state it’s happening all over.

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          There are people all over the globe who want to ban books, I’m sure there is plenty of trying. The fact that they haven’t been successful across the country, but won in this one podunk district in a very conservative state, kind of reflects well on the US as a whole, no?

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            It’s not just one place. I feel like you already understand this but you just need to argue a point for dumb reasons. It’s not one place, it’s a clear, obvious, nation wide effort with central organization. Why would you think that isn’t significant OTHER than arguing a point for no reason beyond your ego?

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          Texas is, believe it or not, the USA. Since 1845 even.

          No, Texas is part of the USA. It is not the USA. You even responded to the part about how I discussed parts of Europe…and you still fucked this up. Amazing.

          But no, the right wing is no big deal.

          Who said it wasn’t a big deal? I’m all for calling this out, but using this one school district doing something dumb to claim the entirety of the USA is garbage is…well, completely fucking moronic.

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            It’s not one school district is a nationwide effort, you’re minimizing it either through ignorance or malice.

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              I’m sure there is some effort in every corner of the globe to have some books banned. You’re minimizing it either through ignorance or malice.

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                Next time just say ‘‘No U’’, all this is doing is convincing me you don’t know what these words mean.

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    Didn’t need to read past the word “Texas” and I know not only would the next words be really stupid but also I would believe it 100%

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    I gotta work on getting my kids passports. If the traitor fucktard wins, i could see us all forced onto cattle cars.

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      If you are a cis-het white who at least publicly proclaims belief in Jesus, you should be fine. For eveyone else, they’ll start with those who have the least power and keep coming for the next out-group on the ladder… and they’ll use anyone they can convince along the ladder to kick off those on a lower rung.

      Let’s see, illegal immigrants, homeless, drug addicts, trans, gay, muslim, atheist, brown, jewish - appologies if sure if I left anyone out. You may disagree with the order, but I might not be far off.

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    An “outspoken Israel advocate” wants to get rid of books about the Holocaust and antisemitism in general? I am very confused. Usually right wing extremist demands make some kind of sense from within their twisted world view, but how does that fit together at all, in any world view?

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      Hard right folks don’t like teaching the history of the consequences of hard right political movements. Those histories never end with a country full of happy economically secure people just living their lives because the only thing fascists can do is destroy everything.

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        Sounds straight up delusional and seems like people who believe that sort of stuff and then act on it should be institutionalized for the safety of our fellow citizens.

        Aren’t most people who believe in invisible people and talk to thin air considered crazy?

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          I think that’s a little ableist and a lot reductionist, ignoring the people creating these ideas and institutions and enforcing them (including by historically and still in different forms today actually institutionalising people that speak against them), because they didn’t come out of thin air, and the money and power those people have definitely isn’t imaginary.

          Don’t blame people grasping at straws for comfort in this shitty shitty world, blame those manipulating and exploiting them for profit and power.

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      “Outspoken Israel advocates” who are evangelical Christians don’t love Jews. Quite the opposite. They need Israel to exist so all Jews in the world can be forcibly deported to it, and then made to rebuild the Great Temple, so Jesus can come back and throw them all into Hell.

      And a red cow comes into the picture as well.

      None of that is sarcasm. That is really what they think.