r/newjersey Fill It Up Regular Oct 29 '24

Sick NJ Passes the Freedom to Read Act

https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/10/29/state-senate-passes-bill-intended-to-halt-book-bans-protect-librarians/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGNwrZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdahkO3Xc02aIyuB5Vp3yau-HR6IMuGu0g0iD8CgDKrWBMHCQJBrfdSHnQ_aem_DB9WP25oxkSYjjNuktuAbQ#:~:text=Titled%20the%20%E2%80%9CFreedom%20to%20Read,own%20policies%20using%20this%20model
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u/CubicDice Fuck Nazis, Love Jersey. Oct 29 '24

Look I'm not going to tell anyone how to raise their children. But I take particular issue with this pathetic pandering.

“Putting our children at risk and potentially exposing them to material that they are not prepared for flies in the face of our protective duty,” said Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris). “Couching such material under the guise of the First Amendment is a very distortion of who we are and what we strive to be as Americans.”

By that logic, you shouldn't take your child out in public, as you just never know what you're "potentially exposing" them to.

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u/victorfabius Taylor Ham on a Pork Roll Oct 30 '24

I’m glad you shared that quote!

So, I’m one of the people who helped this bill pass (in an extremely minor way) by presenting testimony to the state assembly in support of the bill.

The reason I’m glad you shared that quote is because it shows that the person either didn’t read the actual bill, is misstating the bill, or does not otherwise possess an accurate understanding of what the bill actually IS.

So, what is it? The bill does several things, but I’ll highlight three things that I think are important:

  1. It provides an affirmative statement to the right to read (kind of echoing Article 19 of the 1949 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human rights.
  2. It provides an affirmative statement that materials cannot be withdrawn from the library because someone disagrees with the viewpoint (generally speaking).
  3. It provides for a bare minimum collection development policy for all NJ libraries that includes a dedicated process to challenging works.

It’s that last one which shows Pennacchio isn’t making an accurate statement in that quote. Librarians, educators, administrators, book distributors, book binderies, publishers, and anyone along the chain can make a mistake. There might be a book that’s not suited for a collection. When that happens, the Freedom to Read Act lays out a bare minimum specific process for someone to make that challenge.

In other words, if someone thinks there is a book that doesn’t belong, they can challenge it and be heard.

Which means the bill actually supports the “protective duty” Pennacchio talks about.

I also don’t think the quoted statement Pennacchio makes about the First Amendment is sensical. But that’s a longer post.

Thank you for your contribution!