this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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A Florida school district has literally banned the dictionary in an effort to comply with Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) book-banning law.

The Escambia County School District has reportedly removed over 2800 books from library shelves as they undergo a review process that will determine if they are inappropriate for students, according to Popular Information. Among the books currently relegated to storage are The American Heritage Children’s Dictionary, Webster’s Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary.

The district contends these texts could violate H.B. 1069, which DeSantis signed into law in May 2023.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Mmm. Malicious compliance.

Honestly, it’s pretty ingenious. If they can get their publishers to help push for appeal, then it’ll be worth it in the long run.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Ya, I get it... But now they're actively participating in making the students education worse.

No doubt, it's a lose/lose situation. But I find it quite sad for the innocent kids getting caught up in stupid adult stuff. And believe me... I use "adult" strictly to define age/authority position, not mental or maturity level.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 9 months ago (1 children)

innocent kids getting caught up in stupid adult stuff.

This describes what happens in pretty much every conflict ever.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

And at least half of the time the conflicts start over "protecting kids" 🤦‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah kids are probably bummed they can't check out the dictionary. Maybe they can find an alternative way to look up words though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I kinda would have been, but I had a dictionary at home so didn't use the library one much.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

They all have access to the Internet now. This would be much more detrimental to learning if other resources weren't in everyone's pocket.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Some of my best education in high school was learning to circumvent school network/internet censorship. I think the kids will be alright.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

You can only hope so. However from looking in from Australia, America is going to shit at an accelerating pace.

Thwy remind me of the movie Idiocracy, something i once viewed as extreme and impossible but now plays as almost fact.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I get that it’s malicious compliance, but part of me thinks this is exactly what they want. The correct definition of words is what they are trying to keep from children. They are constantly misusing or abusing the English language to push their agenda. What better way to brainwash than remove the ability to find out what a word means?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So there's this thing called the internet, which has dictionaries on it.

Also, 1984 is a great fiction novel, but the linguistics within it is more than a little shoddy. Not to mention, Republicans are not as smart as you think they are.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

If you think internet censorship is going to stop at porn you're in for a surprise. It's the testing ground.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (14 children)

I think they are dumb as a box of air, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want exactly this. Just because they are dumb makes it even more believable that they actually want this and think it will accomplish anything. One of them read 1984 and said “we should do that”. More probably, one of them watched 1984.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I promise you, they simply dont know what books they are banning. They come up with some criteria and then schools have to sort through their books to make sure they all comply. A graphic novel of the book of genesis got banned from my school district. I garuntee they did not intend for that to happen.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Seems like at the point you've banned dictionaries that you should stop and reconsider what you're doing

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago

Except that would violate their objective of increasing their electorate through the erosion of education.

The more educated people get, the more they understand how morally and intellectually bankrupt the political and social right is.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like some malicious compliance there just from the summary but maybe I still have too much faith in people.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago

Yeah, this is the district that keeps this deranged bigot, on the payroll, so I wouldn't ascribe any good intentions to them..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Malicious compliance in my mind would be "We haven't read all of these books completely, nor can we remember all the texts. Therefore we have to completely empty the library for review"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Could be exactly the argument for a dictionary. Have you read one front to back? Do you recall every single definition? No? Might better remove the dictionary. Definitely have to remove the bible.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago

Honestly Ron probably wants everyone in his state to be dumber so they'll vote for him

[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (3 children)

That's not the "gotcha" it should be. If anything results in future generations becoming ignorant, gullible and uncritically docile towards authorities, that's just the system working as intended.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)

They should ban the bilble like some other districts did. There is sex, murder, incest and all kinds of inappropriate content in there. Makes conservatives go nuts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Banning it would annoy them, but if they all just went missing without any fanfare then they wouldn't notice; very few of them read it.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Of course they had to get rid of the dictionary! It contained words like fellatio and evolution. It even contained evollatio which is the theory that man invented fellatio!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

It also contains the filthy words penis, vagina, scrotum, vulva, and gay.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

Teacher "look it up in a dictionary." Student "We won't have dictionaries outside of school." Other student "we don't have dictionaries /in/ school."

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

2 years later.... Melissa S Tafht has finally put together a new book, and what is this book about? All we know is that it is banned....

Oh yes, I started thinking, hey maybe we should write all the words we know. I'm getting older and I see my mother forgetting words so I wrote this book for her. But then, I started thinking, hmm what about kids who don't know all the words? And people might actually come up with new ones. Anyway, I'm calling this "Words Book".

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No it's a good thing. Malicious Compliance will bite Desantis in the arse.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Really? People are going to destroy his political career over a dictionary?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

From little acorns, mighty oak trees grow.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

That sounds like something someone with a small acorn would say

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

You are missing it.

They pulled the dictionary in malicious compliance it wasn't that DeSantis ordered it pulled.

And DeSantis is destroying his own career

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I'm a HUGE fan of malicious compliance. When people do stupid shit like, for example, being religious—if you just make them AC TUALLY live with their maleficence, then they give up faster than any other method of confrontation. If women really had to kill a dove every time they menstruated, then it would lose a bit of popularity. LMFAO, just one of an ENDLESS (well, I guess it actually is finite) number of examples.

Leviticus 15:28-30 ESV But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.

Edit: We'd probably run out of doves too. ><

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Most Christians believe in the new law, which abolished sacrifice like that, so it's not the trump card you think it is.

I'm not saying you shouldn't call out religious inconsistencies, just make sure you know what you're talking about, first.

Use turning the other cheek. That's a basic tenet of Jesus, which highlights the hypocrisy of gun-toting Republican "Christians."

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Why would an infallible god need to revise its laws?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Serious answer from a non fundamentalist Christian: Because the old testament laws were intended for a specific society, to pave the way for Jesus. They were also a mix of religious rules and secular laws. They weren't (all) intended to be universal moral laws that apply to all of humanity.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It was just a quick low effort example, but yes, you are correct. Take my upvote! LOL

One can always leaf through and pick any of the many examples of awful highlighted on the site: https://www.evilbible.com/

I'd also say, though, that most Christians will use any law, new or old, to support their hatred and evil. If they're looking to support their bigotry or hatred, then any version of the bible is fair game. It's only abolished when it's inconvenient for them.

Sadly, I've had the misfortune of living in multiple areas with mega-churches. ><

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

My parents raised me in the church and then were surprised when I objected to all of the republicanisms. They decided that "the church was gay."

Them : Be Christ like

Also them: no not like that

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Lol this will definitely improve test rates and IQ scores

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