Shopping the 'vicious compliance section': Stores see sales after Alberta book ban

[ownedbycats]

Note: Had to shorten the title one word to make it fit (originally "sales spike after..."). If mods can bypass the character limit, appreciate edit.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...-ban-1.7624887

An Alberta government order banning some books from school libraries doesn't appear to be deterring people from reading them, say managers at several bookstores.

Kelly Dyer, with Audreys Books in Edmonton, said the store has noticed a jump in sales since July, when the province announced the ban on books with explicit sexual content.

"We've definitely seen a spike," said Dyer. "Even book [sales] on book banning have spiked."

Popular purchases, she said, include the four coming-of-age graphic novels that the government cited as cause for its order, as well as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale — a title listed by Edmonton's public school board as one to remove from its shelves.

"Many people respect Margaret Atwood and her writing and that sort of thing, and I think it's just the pure curiosity as to why this book would end up on a list like this," Dyer said.

EDIT: The full list of banned books is here.

[cgsmom]

It seems to me that when any government bans books they are not trying to protect children, they are trying to protect themselves from what people think.

My parents usually always talked to me about the books I was reading and tried to make sure they were age appropriate, but by the time I started into high school, I could pretty much read what I wanted. I had a good relationship with my parents and I talked to them about stuff I read. If I heard a book was banned, it made me want to read it more. Of course it was hard to hide what I was reading with paper books.

[Quoth]

Alberta is still in Canada, not USA?

Puzzled.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Alberta is still in Canada, not USA?

Puzzled.

Yes. Culturally, though, they're more American, and there's been talk of separation (not sure how that'd work as a landlocked province).

Note that Edmonton is a left-wing city in a predominantly right-wing province, leading to speculation that some of the 'classic' books were selected as a form of malicious compliance (or, as their premier put it, "vicious compliance").

[haertig]

It's a matter of degree. In general, I am not against the concept of "age appropriateness". It's the people who try to drag that way far to one side or the other that I disagree with. IMHO, government is probably not the best place to decide approved lists, banned lists, and age appropriate things. That is probably better left to individual school libraries or school districts. And left to the actual librarians, not the political board members. As for librarians, you probably don't want a group of nuns. But you don't want a group of drag queens either. Find the middle, and quit arguing for the extremes where you may personally reside.

[Quoth]

Up to parents?

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Up to parents?

That would be fine. The parents could supply the books that they want their children to read. The parents could either buy those books, or check them out of adult libraries and hand them to their kids. If it were feasible to implement, this would be a good way of handling the issue.

But it's not really feasible, unless we get rid of school libraries. So then we're back to the question of what is age appropriate for a children's library. Especially if that library is shared by kids from kindergarten to high school graduation. I think it would be best to have the school libraries service the lowest common denominator and only stock books that are not the slightest bit controversial. And let the parents be the ones to supply the books that are are even slightly controversial.

This is not an unreasonable approach. But it does require parents to participate in their children's education. And be able to read books themselves and make good decisions. These requirements are not guaranteed to be fulfilled by all parents.

So we're back at square one again.

[tubemonkey]

Wrong thread.

[Sarmat89]

So what? It is not the government that spends money on that filth, that's what matters.

[DNSB]

I take it you have read all the banned books to know that they are filth?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

So what? It is not the government that spends money on that filth, that's what matters.

1984 is filth? Really?

[Terisa de morgan]

BTW, reading the article, I think it has been a very good way to react to goverment directive. Instead of crying, they have knocked the goverment with a list which shows how stupid the directive is.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by haertig

But it's not really feasible, unless we get rid of school libraries. So then we're back to the question of what is age appropriate for a children's library. Especially if that library is shared by kids from kindergarten to high school graduation. I think it would be best to have the school libraries service the lowest common denominator and only stock books that are not the slightest bit controversial. And let the parents be the ones to supply the books that are are even slightly controversial.
.

I wasn't considering school libraries. I was considering actual Government bans on books for alleged "Think of the Children".

The UK used to ban books and other media much more than now and the Irish Government was worse.

Movies and the home marketed media get age ratings, some of which can be weird and there is little consistency between countries with swearing, any nudity and violence treated differently.

Censoring is a complex issue. Retroactive bans are always very suspicious.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I take it you have read all the banned books to know that they are filth?

I think they responded to the title, not the article itself....

[ownedbycats]

Another thing I felt worth was mentioning here is that three of the four graphic novels that were named as a reason for the ban (Maia Kobabe's "Gender Queer", Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home", Craig Thompson's "Blankets", and Mike Curato's "Flamer") all involve LGBT self-discovery, except for Blankets which involves a "fundamentalist Christian childhood."