Mark is one of the best known local talk show hosts in America. He has been a guest host on America's most listened to radio program, The Rush Limbaugh Show.
Chapter 5: UPDATE!
From The Advocate:
The plaintiffs want a grand jury to determine whether the book should be declared obscene and whether making it available is a hate crime.
WTF!??! People who would vote against hate crimes legislation want libraries that make available books criticizing Christians to be prosecuted for hate crimes!
A group calling themselves West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, associated with a national fundamentalist Christian, anti-gay movement called Safe Libraries, wants books containing sexual references moved from the young adult section to the adult section and labels sexually explicit material. They also want more restrictions on the library's access to the Internet, and a link to a list of gay-themed books removed from the Library's Website.And, true to form, the backlash spawned another group: West Bend Parents for Free Speech.
So there you have the whole mind-boggling mess (with particularly stupid points in red):
- Two concerned right-wing parents attempt to ban or relocate gay young-adult novels at their local library.
- The library refuses to ban or relocate any books.
- The parents pick out one novel which has been out of print for over ten years.The commotion catches the attention of a nebulous right-wing group called Christian Civil Liberties Union.
- The CCLU starts a lawsuit against the library. Coincidentally, the CCLU seems to be made up of the plaintiffs in the suit.
- The suit demands $120,000 for "compensatory damages" focusing on "emotional" and "mental" distress brought about by the mere presence of the book in the library. Only one of the plaintiffs lives in West Bend, WI. And he does NOT have a library card.
- Local support for the parents and the CCLU is garnered through a right-wing radio talk show host.
- Further commotion ensues when the CCLU announces that the suit will also specify that the presence of the book constitutes a hate crime.
- The backlash spawns: a parent's free speech group; support for the library, especially from the American Library Association; notoriety on internet blogs and some mainstream media; the book's award-winning being slated to write the book's screenplay for MTV.
So, the underlying question brought out by all of this:
Just how stupid can right wingnuts get?
Just a thought.
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