this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Local community standards, participants in the process who reflect these standards, and those placed in positions of power to enforce determinations are the ones who get to decide. It’s not very hard to figure out in a democracy. The standards of Montana can be different than California and one city in one county might have different standards than another in the same county. But no one in California should have a say in what books should or should not be in a library in Montana or vice versa. Let the communities in which these libraries are decide through the political process and debate what they put on their own shelves.
The problem is that not everyone in Montana has the same standards. If you dislike a book that is in your local library, don't read it, but you have not right to have it removed so that others can read it.
Regardless of your downvotes the fact remains that not including certain books and/or removing them based upon community petition is more democratic than keeping them in the library against the wishes of the community. A minority’s complaints doesn’t always overrule the majority’s when both sides are fully capable of petitioning for their position and having it implemented.
As a reader of literature I don’t like the current basis of the effort to remove books, but I accept it as part of our democratic system; it’s better than a dictate that you must keep certain books in the library.
Naw, courts have already determined the constitutionality of libraries being able to remove items based upon local community boards of education and boards of libraries who are open to influence by community groups. You may not like those who petition removal or libraries that remove, but none of it is illegal or undemocratic.