#article rec

[theraininspa]

george deserves a gun.

[sir-libearian]

You're Wrong About These Common Myths About Book Ban: Book Censorship News, March 22, 2024

You've likely seen or said many of these things about book bans, but they're not true. That, plus this week's book censorship news.

Book bans make kids/teens hurry to read the books being banned

Book bans are driving kids away from libraries. Moreover, the severe restrictions placed on libraries and what they can acquire means that wish lists from students are not being fulfilled like they once were, either. Recall that for many kids, the school library is the only place of book access available to them.

Authors benefit financially from book bans

Some of the most-banned authors have seen a minor bump in sales. But what about the vast majority of authors whose books are being banned?

Moms For Liberty is responsible for the swell of book bans

Moms For Liberty might be powerful. They are not the only group banning books, though.

Book bans are only happening in states like Florida, Texas, and Alabama

Even—and especially—in progressive states. Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, and Washington, to name six “blue” states, are all still experiencing book bans in schools and public libraries. By pretending it’s only some states, those stories not only get overlooked, but the blinders go up.

This creates the prime environment and fuel for mass quiet/soft/silent censorship.

It’s also important here to emphasize that stigmatizing entire states based on the actions of a few helps no one.

Book bans only impact what’s in school classrooms and libraries

Nope. Book bans are everywhere.

What about the rainbow book bus/the bookstore sending free books to kids/the free book fairs/the free LGBTQ+ libraries, etc.?

Those are cool. They are not a solution to book bans.

It’s not banning if you can get the book on Amazon/B&N.com/Other Retailer

A book ban is simple. It’s the removal of a book from a place where it once belonged, making it inaccessible.

[anilyan]

Why Trans Roles for Trans Actors?

This Scarlett Johansson casting got me fired up so I spat out this video real quick. Apologies if it's a little more rough around the edges and inarticulate ...

I’ve actually seen this video for a long time now, but I still consider it important. Months (years?) ago, the actress Scarlet Johansson (you may know her as the Black Widow of Marvel) had accepted to portray a trans man on a movie from the director of Ghost in the Shell. She wouldn’t be the first cisgender actress doing that, not even the first being criticized - however, thankfully, this time she did something she hasn’t done with Ghost in the shell, despite the similar critics (only the theme, gender and race, were different): she learned with the criticism, and declined the role. That made me happy, because she is already the second person doing that, and maybe more actors start to learn there are things they shouldn’t represent. Why? The video explains probably all the reasons I know, but in summary:

On one hand, transgender actors/actresses are usually only allowed to portray trans characters (and let’s be honest, there aren’t many of those roles available) on screen so, if cisgender people take those roles, there will be even fewer opportunities for trans talents

On the other hand, for the same reason a cisgender man wouldn’t represent a cisgender woman, a cisgender man shouldn’t represent a transgender woman, and vice-versa: gender is just not a role or personality trait to be represented by someone that is not from that gender. When a cis man represents a trans woman, that’s because our society doesn’t see that as someone playing another gender, but as a trans woman actually being a man and therefore as the actor correctly portraying his gender. And that’s invalidating, misgendering and dysphoria-inducing. 

[oldbooksandhouseplants]

Excellent article!

“Good Omens is the asexual love story I’ve been waiting for  Aziraphale and Crowley prove relationships don’t have to be physical to be valid”

[0samjha]

What the Double Standards for Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University Say About India

This week’s fracas at Aligarh Muslim University – slandered as a “university of terrorists” – ended with 14 students being charged

[theraininspa]

I hope everyone that’s trying to denigrate daniel’s part in the development of vcarb know that NO ONE believes in that team more than him.

When helmut marko and peter bayer kept flip-flopping before insisting that it was a junior team, and walked back all the work the team had done at the start of 2024 to brand themselves as a stand-alone sister team, it was daniel that was insistent in honoring the work that every single one of their sponsors played and continued to make it clear their goal was to set themselves apart from the main team, with their own successes and development. Laurent Mekies also exulted him for not only his part in the car’s development but also as a mentor and team leader:

"We have explored a large part of the car's envelope with Daniel […] It's a never-ending process. You do that every time you have a new update, or every time you have a new characteristic. But certainly, Daniel pushed us to explore that envelope, and it gave the engineering team a very good background of what the car would and could not do."

"There was a huge benefit for the team and for Yuki in terms of Daniel's technical feedback, direction of development, race-winning approach," Mekies added. "Having somebody that knows how it is in a team that wins races, that fights for championships, is setting the benchmark and that counts a lot in a time where you are trying to build the team and target better results."

VCARB would not exist in its current form without Daniel Ricciardo, and the experience, money, and personnel that his signing brought them.

[theraininspa]

Perhaps a bit too early for me to say this, but if this happens, I actually do very much see some kind of collab between daniel in ford racing and max in Red Bull next year. I think helmut was the one remaining entity in Red Bull that daniel would never want to be in the vicinity of after singapore.

He seems very chill with mekies from what we’ve seen: his enduring collab with F1 academy x vcarb, mekies reiterating how much daniel brought to the team and that he was personally very regretful over the way they handled his departure, and it gives his most recent comment on how happy he was that daniel was ford ambassador and "back in the family" into a different perspective.

via

[theraininspa]

whatever you do, don’t read @rickybaby’s tags on this post or even go back and read the full article, because you’ll be staring at the ceiling thinking about what could have - and should - have been 😔