Current Events > Tennessee school board votes to ban Holocaust graphic novel "Maus"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/tennessee-school-board-bans-holocaust-comic-maus-by-art-spiegelman.html

The book depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, and tells the story of the author's parents' time at Auschwitz, his mother's later suicide, and his family's attempts to deal with all the trauma. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, the only graphic novel ever to do so.

There is precisely one kind of person who would want to ban this book.

Yeeeeah I'm gonna need a Supreme Court challenge on that ban

School libraries have graphic novels now?

"The libs can't censor anything if we censor everything first!"

Of course, we all know the school board's actual reason for banning the book, but their stated rationale for the ban? It contains the phrase "god damn" and some naked mice.

Horrorbooksguy posted...

Yeeeeah I'm gonna need a Supreme Court challenge on that ban

We really shouldn't need to get the highest court of the land involved to tell them "cut this Nazi shit out" but here we are.

DrizztLink posted...

We really shouldn't need to get the highest court of the land involved to tell them "cut this Nazi shit out" but here we are.

Doesn't have to be the federal one, at most it'll get to state and they'll do it

But yes, you're right, and frankly if some citizens decide to ignore the ban and bring physical consequences to anyone who tries to enforce it, rhey have my blessing.

Solid Snake07 posted...

School libraries have graphic novels now?

They have for a long time, and good thing, they contain some amazing works.

Great GN too. I bet its the case of some Karen influence that didnt read the GN.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

You can't ban art without a very solid reason. They don't have a solid reason, so it'll get overturned.

Maus. I had that book once but gave it to a library.

It is a graphic novel and there is some language, nudity, and violence (albeit black and white) in it. How much I don't remember; it doesn't reach porno levels but it is there.

I doubt very much it was banned simply because it depicts the Holocaust, but I may be wrong...

Reading the report, the minutes indicate that the Director and the school's attorney proposed redacting "eight curse words" and a "picture of a woman" rather than removing the book outright; but other board members were worried about running into legal problems with copyright. The assistant principal insisted during the meeting that Spiegelman's book was "a great way to depict a horrific time in history". So I'm not seeing the pro-Nazi conspiracy you're all somehow seeing.

Disgusting.

I loved those books when I was a kid and dont get why they would ban it

Solid Snake07 posted...

School libraries have graphic novels now?

Havent they always had them?

Criminalt posted...

Reading the report, the minutes indicate that the Director and the school's attorney proposed redacting "eight curse words" and a "picture of a woman" rather than removing the book outright; but other board members were worried about running into legal problems with copyright. The assistant principal insisted during the meeting that Spiegelman's book was "a great way to depict a horrific time in history". So I'm not seeing the pro-Nazi conspiracy you're all somehow seeing.

from what I remember, there is a story within a story which depicts a dead naked woman in a bathtub.
I think it was meant to be Art Spiegelman's mother who did kill herself.

Mind you, I'm not sure how exactly you can "redact" certain text and pictures from a graphic novel in a library; put stickers over them, maybe?

To quote Neil Gaiman "there is only one type of person who would vote to ban Maus, whatever they are calling themselves these days".

ScazarMeltex posted...

To quote Neil Gaiman "there is only one type of person who would vote to ban Maus, whatever they are calling themselves these days".

Has this school board removed or banned other books from the library because they ran counter to school policy about profanity or depictions of nudity? If they haven't, then they're training a suspicious focus on this particular case. But if they have, then that's just called consistency, in which case: tough shit.

Does this school have any other titles in its library that touch upon, or deal with, the Holocaust? Has anyone even thought to ask that simple question, before framing this issue as a deliberate attempt to silence all teaching about it?

Criminalt posted...

Has this school board removed or banned other books from the library because they ran counter to school policy about profanity or depictions of nudity? If they haven't, then they're training a suspicious focus on this particular case. But if they have, then that's just called consistency, in which case: tough shit.

Does this school have any other titles in its library that touch upon, or deal with, the Holocaust? Has anyone even thought to ask that simple question, before framing this issue as a deliberate attempt to silence all teaching about it?

There is only one reason to ever try to censor anything related to the holocaust or the nazis. And you know what that is.
To try and frame it as concern over nudity or language when the subject matter is that of the assembly line murder of millions is disingenuous at best.

"I'm kind of baffled by this," Spiegelman said.

The only thing close to "offensive" in the book is the notion of returning half-used groceries.

Then again:

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.

Being prudish about tits and naughty words is nothing new, especially for junior high.

ScazarMeltex posted...

There is only one reason to ever try to censor anything related to the holocaust or the nazis. And you know what that is.
To try and frame it as concern over nudity or language when the subject matter is that of the assembly line murder of millions is disingenuous at best.

Seriously. The Holocaust is like the ultimate offensive thing. A swear word looks silly in comparison

They didnt ban it, they just denied a request to include it in the 8th grade English curriculum this year. Its not like they are taking it out of stores or libraries

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

They didnt ban it, they just denied a request to include it in the 8th grade English curriculum this year. Its not like they are taking it out of stores or libraries

They removed it from school grounds.

Concerns about profanity and depiction of nudity. Of course they can't see the forest for the trees. Should offer up some edits to remove the objectionable material and call their bluff. See how far they want to chase this profanity of theirs.

ScazarMeltex posted...

There is only one reason to ever try to censor anything related to the holocaust or the nazis.

Meaning that the onlypossible reason for parents to object to a school showing graphic documentary footage from the liberation of Belsen or Dachau in their child's first grade class would be because the parents are neo-Nazis, rather than worried about their child having nightmares?

Again, the question: does this school have any other works relating to the Holocaust in its library? Be advised that "I don't know, but obviously the board's in a neo-Nazi conspiracy to silence all Holocaust education" isn't really an answer.

Criminalt posted...

Has this school board removed or banned other books from the library because they ran counter to school policy about profanity or depictions of nudity? If they haven't, then they're training a suspicious focus on this particular case. But if they have, then that's just called consistency, in which case: tough shit.

Does this school have any other titles in its library that touch upon, or deal with, the Holocaust? Has anyone even thought to ask that simple question, before framing this issue as a deliberate attempt to silence all teaching about it?

duke transformed into Johnny Cochran to defend his party

Alucard188 posted...

Should offer up some edits to remove the objectionable material and call their bluff.

Again: if you read what the report says about the school board minutes, it seems that was indeed the school's first idea -- but apparently some board members cited worries about copyright if text or images were redacted, which I suppose may not be entirely implausible (or at least genuinely held).

Nasty_Nitro posted...

duke transformed into Johnny Cochran to defend his party

Over my head. Translation, please?

Here's an idea

Maybe don't come down on the side of the people banning books. Especially not books about the Holocaust.

Watchmen, which is drastically more gratuitous than Maus, was assigned reading in my 9th grade english class. I read Maus in the 6th grade lol

Criminalt posted...

Meaning that the only possible reason for parents to object to a school showing graphic documentary footage from the liberation of Belsen or Dachau in their child's first grade class would be because the parents are neo-Nazis, rather than worried about their child having nightmares?

look how far you had to stretch your hypothetical Maus isnt going to give kids nightmares it does deal with a serious topic but it is illustrated to teach kids about the holocaust in a school appropriate way. Removing that book should be a redflag

Smashingpmkns posted...

Watchmen, which is drastically more gratuitous than Maus, was assigned reading in my 9th grade english class.

Your school was way more cool than mine.

I'm unclear on whether it's actually being removed from libraries, or if it's just not being directly used in class anymore. The article seems to indicate the latter, but I'm not sure how far it goes

Also I don't think the author's comments are helping anything

Yeah I had pretty cool English teachers. Still read a bunch of classics. I think Watchmen was the most recent book we read at the time, at least in high school.

That same 9th grade class our teacher showed us Romeo and Juliet and the disc got stuck on the nude scene when he was trying to skip over it lmao

I doubt it's because they're all secretly neo Nazis. There are better books about the Holocaust to ban if that's what they wanted

WorsCaseOntario posted...

I doubt it's because they're all secretly neo Nazis.

Probably just the same sort of dumb parents who used to rent hentai from Blockbuster thinking "this looks like pokemon, so it's totally okay for my kids to watch unattended!", are now the ones who just see comicbook mice and somehow fail to notice the bigass swastika on the front cover.

Or, it's just plain old pearl-clutching. Back in my day, the school librarian would attack the newest issue of National Geographic with a black marker before letting anyone else read it.

Solid Snake07 posted...

School libraries have graphic novels now?

My old high school's library had graphic novels, comics and even manga. I remember in middle school finding a couple Star Wars manga as well.

Nasty_Nitro posted...

look how far you had to stretch your hypothetical

When someone says "there's only one reason, ever", why anyone would want to try censoring anything to do with the Holocaust, that's tendentious nonsense. I offered a perfectly legitimate reason why a parent might want to.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Probably just the same sort of dumb parents who used to rent hentai from Blockbuster thinking "this looks like pokemon, so it's totally okay for my kids to watch unattended!", are now the ones who just see comicbook mice and somehow fail to notice the bigass swastika on the front cover.

Or, it's just plain old pearl-clutching. Back in my day, the school librarian would attack the newest issue of National Geographic with a black marker before letting anyone else read it.

I mean I probably wouldn't let my kids watch Schindler's List either, until they were older

Criminalt posted...

When someone says "there's only one reason, ever", why anyone would want to try censoring anything to do with the Holocaust, that's tendentious nonsense. I offered a perfectly legitimate reason why a parent might want to.

Maus is a childrens book specifically designed to approach the difficult topic of the holocaust for very young readers.

this is republicans censoring history plain and simple

Nasty_Nitro posted...

Maus is a childrens book

whut

CommonGrackle posted...

Maus. I had that book once but gave it to a library.

It is a graphic novel and there is some language, nudity, and violence (albeit black and white) in it. How much I don't remember; it doesn't reach porno levels but it is there.

I doubt very much it was banned simply because it depicts the Holocaust, but I may be wrong...

Schindlers List has all that stuff too but schools arent banning that so thats not even good reasoning.

Maus, btw, is allegedly one of the inspirations behind An American Tail.

Many of the "classic" school assigned reading books are more vulgar than Maus, it's clearly not the reason.

Nasty_Nitro posted...

Maus is a childrens book specifically designed to approach the difficult topic of the holocaust for very young readers.

Again, the statement: "There is only one reason to ever try to censor anything related to the holocaust or the nazis." Clearly, "anything" is a pretty broad term that doesn't limit itself to just Maus. OK?

There are parents who'd have perfectly legitimate reasons why they wouldn't want their child exposed to horrific images from the Holocaust at a young age. That wouldn't justify stigmatizing them as crypto-Nazis out to "censor" Holocaust education. It is possible to want certain materials not to be used in a classroom, for reasons that are not connected to some Nazi conspiracy.

And again, the question: do schools in McMinn County use or stock any other books to do with the Holocaust? Unless we have that missing piece of information, we're not yet in a position to judge exactly what's really going on here -- but apparently that doesn't prevent people from making lazy assumptions and crass generalizations.