• dumbass@leminal.space
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    2 months ago

    Cop: these books made me horny, you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing me to get turned on by a book, in fact I’m going to confiscate all of them so no one else has to be turned on by this filth.

  • nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    They’ve been doing stuff like this for years. In 1990, a Florida judge ruled that an album by 2 Live Crew was obscene, and police officers went into stores and threatened to arrest anyone who sold copies of the album. The obscenity law specifically requires a “lack of serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” and they were able to get it appealed.

    Reading the article it’s actually more insane than it first appears. He’s been doing it for two years. This wasn’t an investigation ordered by a court, it was evidence he himself was compiling for his own legal complaint, which was dismissed when finally brought to the DA.

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    From the article:

    Paul Hyde, a Granbury attorney who served on the volunteer committee tasked with reviewing dozens of school library books, said he informally advised two of the accused librarians early in London’s investigation and saw the toll it has taken on them.

    “These women, that are amazing educators and librarians, have been terrified for over two years now that they’re going to get arrested, hauled off to jail on a felony charge of providing pornography to minors,” Hyde said, noting that one of the librarians left the district as a result.

    “We lost a great librarian,” he said.

    Anyone who thinks it’s a non-issue because charges weren’t filed should understand that intimidation is the point. It looks like the intimidation worked.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I am of the belief that people who spend this much time in the mindset of trying to find "inappropriate material minors are reading"are in fact, just pursuing a really weird fucking kink or getting off on it in some way.

      I refuse to believe that this cop isn’t stuck in some kind of pedo-adjacent sexual obsession.

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Found the article.

    It’s so incredibly stupid how he takes himself so seriously; he’s like if Poirot had a satchel of lead beads he would stick up his nose occasionally.

    And then like a coward he won’t elaborate on his master plan of making education and edification punishable by law.

    He wasted important people’s time and then just fucked off, pretending it never happened.

    What a dunce; no wonder he became a cop.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      So this guy went around reading books found in a children’s library that he thought were disgusting. Then he looked up the names of the children who checked them out?

      That sounds like something a pervert would do.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The targets of the investigation? Three school librarians in Granbury, Texas. The allegation? They had allowed children to access literature — such as “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison — that the officer, Scott London, a chief deputy constable, had deemed obscene.

      Summary of The Bluest Eye from Wikipedia:

      The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison’s hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story is about how she is consistently regarded as “ugly” due to her mannerisms and dark skin. As a result, she develops an inferiority complex, which fuels her desire for the blue eyes she equates with “whiteness”.

      The novel is told mostly from Claudia MacTeer’s point of view. Claudia is the daughter of Pecola’s temporary foster parents. There is also some omniscient third-person narration. The book’s controversial topics of racism, incest, and child molestation have led to numerous attempts to ban the novel from schools and libraries in the United States.[1]

      Now, if he read the book, like he claims to have read it, he would know that the only obscene thing in the book is that it shows why things like racism and incest are, themselves, obscene. And that sounds like something kids should learn.

      Unless, of course, this cop doesn’t find one or both of those things obscene and rather finds the obscene thing to be telling people racism and/or incest is wrong…

    • CO5MO ✨@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      TY for sharing the article!

      “London, who has ties to the anti-government constitutional sheriff’s movement and tried to launch a local chapter of the far-right Oath Keepers militia in 2020, did not respond to questions.” No surprises here.

      Also, homeschooling parents complaining @ a school board meeting? Wtf?? 🤔