In the latest episode of “progressives get their collective panties all in a bunch,” leftists are all out of sorts because of a decision a Tennessee school board made regarding a popular graphic novel about the holocaust. They have used this development to push their “book banning” narrative that they have been using to distract from issues like the debate over wokeism and elements of Critical Race Theory (CRT) being introduced to students in the classroom.
CNBC reported:
A Tennessee school board has voted to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” from an eighth grade language arts curriculum due to concerns about profanity and an image of female nudity in its depiction of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust.
McMinn Country School Board votes Jan. 10, which has only started to attract attention on Wednesday. This comes amid many battles in schools systems across the country, as conservatives focus curriculums more than teachings about slavery and racism in America.
Is that the last sentence? This sentence should be enough to give an idea of how the left intends to structure the narrative.
Art Spiegelman, the author of the graphic novel, suggested that the school board’s decision isn’t really about profanity and nudity. CNBC reported:
Spiegelman also said he suspected that its members were motivated less about some mild curse words and more by the subject of the book, which tells the story of his Jewish parents’ time in Nazi concentration camps, the mass murder of other Jews by Nazis, his mother’s suicide when he was just 20 and his relationship with his father.
“I’ve met so many young people who … have learned things from my book,” said Spiegelman about “Maus.” The image in the book that drew objections from the board was of his mother.
However, there was one nagging problem with the left’s attempt to intimate that this would mean the Holocaust would not be taught in the district. The board released a statement explaining that it would simply be replacing “Maus”Other books which teach the Holocaust in an appropriate way for children. It said they “do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust.”
The board went on:
Our administrators were asked to look for other educational works in order to meet the same goals. It was shameful to describe the atrocities committed during World War II, and it is our responsibility to make sure that future generations are aware of them.
Leftists, however, had their typical fake outrage meltdown. Tara Dublin wrote:
Really weird how the people who keep crying about “cancel culture” are literally trying to cancel whatever’s left of our culture #Maus
Really weird how the people who keep crying about “cancel culture” are literally trying to cancel whatever’s left of our culture #Maus https://t.co/ALWLjXc0kv
— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) January 27, 2022
Judd Legum was also an activist in media.
1. It is not an isolated case that a Tennessee county school board decided to ban Maus in the classroom.
It is part of a much broader effort to censor history and literature being packaged under euphemisms like “parents rights”
1. The decision of a Tennessee county school board to ban Maus from the classroom is not an isolated incident
It’s part of a larger effort to censor history. Literature is being sold under pseudonyms like “parents right” as part of a wider effort to censor it.
If you are interested, please follow along pic.twitter.com/Ciidqperrz
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 27, 2022
Twitter:
Maus has taught countless young people about the Holocaust through its depiction of what the author’s father, a survivor, experienced.
Censoring school curriculum and banning books can’t “protect” anyone from history, it only limits access to knowledge and understanding.
Maus, through his depiction how the author’s dad, who was a survivor of the Holocaust, has helped many people learn about the Holocaust.
Censoring school curriculum and banning books can’t “protect” anyone from history, it only limits access to knowledge and understanding. https://t.co/AZsoXSUbZ6
— ACLU (@ACLU) January 27, 2022
David M. Perry, a columnist for CNN also complained about CNN’s decision to remove the books. “To ban ‘Maus’ for being an uncomfortable read is, in fact, to be against teaching the Holocaust, regardless of the school board member’s protests to the contrary,” he wrote. To actually engage with the horror of the Holocaust, one has to be horrified, thrown from one’s comfortable position, engaging with the terrible, messy reality.”
He continued, claiming that “the timing of canceling ‘Maus’ a few days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day is telling,” and that the move is occurring “in the midst of a growing number of right-wing attacks on teaching history.”
Bottom line: The book ban narrative is a failure in this instance. There are many other circumstances in which such criticism might be justified. It is evident that the district will not stop teaching Holocaust topics.
“Maus” is not The only book 8thGraders have the ability to read material that will inform them about Nazi Germany’s horrors. It makes no sense for them not to learn about this atrocity. Switching The source material is not the same as keeping students from being educated on the history — no matter how badly the left wishes it were.
I won’t make any judgments regarding whether the book is appropriate for 8thGraders because I have not yet read the graphic novel. According to some reports, parents might have liked the graphic novel kept. But instead of debating the merits of the book – which would be a worthy conversation – the left is simply using this to push a political narrative.
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