In Idaho, one recent high school graduate openly challenged her school superintendent and protests
during graduation. Here to lead our discussion is Sydney Davis, Junior Junior Sidney,
what is going on in the Great Air? Quotes Mormon State of Idaho?
Yes, Idaho is being shook up right now. In West Ada school
District, at an art school, a student is stirring up trouble by encouraging
people to read literature that the school district actually wants banned and has banned since
December. And she wants them to read it before banning it, which I
don't think sounds like a lot to ask, but that's her main point is
she wants to at least have the adults making these decisions read that literature before
deciding that it doesn't belong in the school district. So she brought a book
that was recently banned. It was the graphic novel version of Let's see hear,
Oh, That's why I lost my fun A Maid's Tale? He and
mesale. Yes, Yes, yes, it was the graphic novel version of
A Handmaid's Tale. And she walked up on stage and she handed it to
the superintendent. The superintendent rejected it. He did not want it, so
she set it on the floor, and before she handed it to him,
she showed it to the audience a little bit, and then she just handed
it to him. He rejected it. She laid it on the floor,
and she walked off. And so now there's a debate going on where the
school district says she took all the attention away from everybody else who was graduating
that day, and that's the problem. And everybody else is saying, we
don't think that's true. Students who are there that day say we don't think
that's true. If you watch the video, it's on TikTok, it's on
YouTube. She did not say anything to the man. She did not make
a statement, She did not do anything outlandis. She literally handed him a
book. If you weren't close enough to see what it was, you wouldn't
have even known. He rejected it. And I why argue that him rejecting
it was actually more attention grabbing than her handing him the book. And it's
a he said, she said, they said she said, versus the video
of the event. Basically, well, she did get critiqued by people saying
that it was excessive. I think I'm on the side of the people who
thought it was excessive. I don't really see that this was necessary. And
you know, Eli, I wanted to get your thoughts on that. I
mean, was she right for doing this or did she need to do this?
What are your thoughts? I mean, I would say need is a
strong bird, but I think she's right to I think that she said it
herself, that her walk across the stage of graduation is her moment, and
that's what she chose to do with it, and I think that's appropriate.
I think that I don't think that it was all that disruptive. I can
see how. I mean, I think for a more effective protest, perhaps
a different method might have been, you know, more effective, But I
I I think I would I don't think I would agree with you. I
think that I think she was in I think I don't see any issues as
what she did if I'm being honest. Well, I all right, so
she says her goal was never to be disruptive or mess up the ceremony,
but I think that that's not true. In fact, you know, how
did this even get on the internet. I mean, she didn't film it
herself. She must have, you know, had somebody film it. She
showed the book, right, and I think she did, in a way
do something that didn't really need to be done. I mean, she's got
twenty four million views. In this clickbait society, I think she knew exactly
what she was doing. And in this very fifteen minutes of fame society that
we live in, everybody can become an overnight celebrity on the Internet. I
mean, that's why us three or here, isn't it. But no,
seriously, I think that she took away from the validity of this ceremony.
And before I get into that, I just want to see if Sydney has
anything on that. I mean, is there any is there any validity to
what I just said at all? So I think two things can be true
at once. I think what she did can be unnecessary, and I think
what she did also was not much of anything that with the exception of for
the split second turning the book showing the audience, it wasn't one of these
she was, you know, Vanna Whiting. She literally just showed the book,
handed it to him. If anything, and obviously we none of us
know what we're going to do in the moment. But if anything, I
still think that him shaking his head, crossing his arms, and allowing her
to lay the book at his feet was much more memorable then. What did
she give him? I don't know. She gave him a present. Oh,
look, she gave him a present. She gave him a book that
must be her favorite teacher or something. You know. I also think if
you, I don't. I don't know what your situations were back in the
day, but I remember about three minutes of my high school graduation. I
don't remember how people walked across the stage. I don't remember what they were
doing. I'm sure somebody did something, you know, like wore a tiger
tail or something like that. You know, there's always a high school student
doing something to call attention. I don't think what she did was harmful.
I don't think it helps anything. I don't think it'll change anything. But
I do agree that if you're going to ban literature from a school, well
you should read the book. Yes, right, And it goes back to
that whole complain all you want about who's in office, how bad a movie
was, how offensive a music video was, after voting, watching the video,
hearing the song, reading the book that So, while while in one
hand, yeah, sure, we live in a clickbait society where everybody gets
a fifteen minute a slice of fame, we also live in a society where
people can just tell kids they're not allowed to read books, which means,
guess what, they're immediately going to go on Amazon and buy that book for
a dollar used. Right, So, if you don't want kids to read
a book, I don't know if you've ever heard of the barbar streisand effect.
Have you ever heard of that? I don't think so. So barbar
Streisand got really upset that her the photos of her house were taken by paparazzi
and published. Nobody gave a fuck until she got upset about it. Then
everybody was googling what her house looked like. Right, and so everybody who's
ever spent ten seconds with teenagers, No, if you don't want them to
do something, just don't mention it. She would never have read that book
otherwise, I don't think. Well, listen, I'm two things I want
to bring up because I'm having a little bit of an O shit moment because
I do remember my high school graduation and I threw my arms up as I
walked across the stage like I won the Super Bowl, and I'll never forget
my dad jumping up for joy in the background. That was a huge moment
for me. But you know what, that was my moment, and I
did what was right for me. But I didn't take away from anybody else.
Now, let me let me explain something. My last name starts with
the letter S. My whole life, I have been watching the entire alphabet,
you know, go before me and do things. Especially I did the
same thing in high school, college graduation, and I'd say, oh,
well that person, you know, they were the valedictorian. Oh, that
person was on the lacrosse team. Oh I knew that guy. You know,
we were in history class together, et cetera. Whatever. And then
this person gets up, and then for the rest of the time, people
are going, can you see that? I mean, Sidney, you just
alluded to it, like people are like, oh, what'd she hand them?
You know it was and it became a deal. Well, what was
graduation like for the one person that went up and got their diploma? After
she did that, Eli reflections on that. That is a good point.
And after you kind of started to explain it. I see your point of
view on it. The person, it would be difficult to follow that.
I, like Sidney, only remember like I have like a three second memory
from my graduation that I can think of right now, and it was like
sitting in the chairs waiting like for somebody to finish speaking so I could go
get my diploma. It wasn't even the walk itself. But the person that
just graduated, that's not the case. That person who just graduated thinks that
that's going to be a significant moment for the rest of their life and really
really feels that right now. So I'd say I think that you have a
very valid point for that. Immediately next person, or maybe even the second,
maybe the third half, that that little event people were talking about that
rather than listening to or you know, watching those people graduate at the same
time. I think I also agree with Sydney that it was the superintendent's display
of like resting it. If he had just taken it, he had a
suit on, he could take it, put it in one of his pockets
and move on. Yeah, and that would have I think, been a
lot less significant of a moment, and probably it wouldn't even we probably wouldn't
be talking about it, say you might, so I would argue it wasn't
a thing until the video went around later after graduation was over. I would
actually be curious how many people even could see what happened, because it looked
like a large auditorium, and even when you turned the book. I've watched
the video, which is it looks like it was filmed by somebody on like
the very front row, or maybe there was a cameraman filming the whole thing.
I don't think anybody would have even known what happened if the video hadn't
gone around, especially if he had just taken the book, it would have
looked like she just gave him a gift at graduation. But him going hmmm
probably made a lot of people go, what just happened? I don't know,
I'll ask later or something, you know, But I might argue that
the video that came out later would be a distraction. But by then they've
already walked, students have already walked, And if you think about it,
maybe everybody did notice. Let's say in that moment, everybody noticed, and
I listened in the video to see if anybody boot or anything. There was
really a non reaction that person might actually look great for not doing some shit.
They get up and they're like, I'm just going to graduate normally,
and all the people who are mad at her are like, thank you for
being mature. You know, yeah, I definitely agree there. The superintendent
didn't help his case. In fact, I think he played right into her
trap exactly, if that's what you want to call it. So in the
long term, she probably or actually, let's call it short term, but
she probably achieved right the bigger message here. She probably achieved what she was
looking for because now everybody's looking at this school and they're saying, well,
why the heck are they banning these books in the first place, And now
that superintendent that district, they have to answer for these actions. They have
to justify why they're banning books that are anti LGBTQ or talk about sex.
Actually, Sidney, didn't you have a list of books that you were able
to recite that were banned in this school district? Yes? I actually found
a link that some local news station had done a list of all the books
they were banning as of December, which is when this book was banned,
and that list includes Wicked like the musical that's coming out. A book about
the life and times of the Wicked Witch in the West, completely fictitious,
right. Then A Stolen Life by J. C. Dugard, one of
the most famous kidnapping victims you know, in the American history. Her autobiography
is banned in that in that district, which I think is a mistake.
But they also banned Water for Elephants, Kingdom of Ash And they lumped all
of these books into a they're all sexually explicit, which I think is horrific
to say to JC Duguard. It's like, oh, by the way,
sorry, what happened to you is explicit for people to learn about it in
high school. But they also made a statement which I thought was also quite
like weak in terms of defending their decision. And I'll just read it really
quick, so they said. According to a representative of West Ada School District,
these books were banned due to what district personnel characterized as strong explicit content.
Titles like The Handmaid's Tale and Wicked were two of the most recent editions
on the no go list. West Ada School District released a statement on the
newest list saying this decision is aimed at fostering an environment that encourages diverse perspectives,
which I think it does not. I think it quite does the opposite,
while ensuring the protection of our students. Our commitment is to provide a
spectrum of choices that promote critical thinking and respectful discourse, fostering a space where
learning thrives and minds are challenged and safeguarded. That to me is the statement
of the school defending why they left those books in. Well, Eli,
what is wrong with banning all of these books? Is there justification one that
you know we could understand. Well, you and I I think recently talked
about book banning on the nonprofits and I are, yeah, book banning or
book censorship. And what I think is like after high school, a lot
of people may not step into a library again. And and you know,
sometimes it's depending on where they go on, but like that is true for
a lot of people, so that that's the last place we're going to get
that information we're going to have access to, like to those books and those
libraries. And what's happening is this information is being restricted. And what I
said last time is that you need true information to make good choices about the
world. And you can't know what is true information what is good information until
you learn how to separate the two. And if you're letting some if these
schools are like, well, we're we're going to take these out, so
like we're don't worry about it. We'll let you know what you need to
know and what you need to learn about and just don't worry about the rest.
And then you get out into the world and now you have to figure
out how the rest of the world works because all of this other stuff was
kept from And that's the position that a lot of like adults that I know
are in, like and you know, even at my age, I'm thirty
two for me, all the way down to like people that are just getting
out of high school and college and in their early twenties, they're just trying
to figure out how all these things about the world work that they were just
never exposed to. Because like for Pan America found that there are four two
hundred and forty unique titles that have been challenged in the United States, like
in different libraries, public libraries, and school libraries in the United States.
The most challenged books, not surprisingly having to do with like sexual well being
and LGBTQ IA plus issues. What they're doing is they are cultivating the information
that they want people to know because they're afraid of what happens if they know
the rest. And that's what I think is the most sinister thing about it.
Yeah, and I can see your point there. You know, Sydney,
you had an interesting point I want to get back to because I think
it's related. You said that the justification that they gave was actually a reason
they left them in. Can you go ahead and just on that point.
Yeah, the verbiage that they use in their justification for why they ban these
books. The first thing I noticed when I read it is this is what
I would say if I was a librarian defending these books. They say,
our commitment is to provide a spectrum of choices that promote critical thinking and respectful
discourse, fostering a space where learning thrives and minds are challenged and safeguarded.
One my body, My choice includes my brain. So I should not be
dictated by any government sponsored entity or educational entity what I can and cannot read.
I think that's ridiculous. If I read something and i'm and I have
nightmares about it, sounds like a me problem. Right if I read something
like I love the show sixteen and Pregnant or whatever like the teen shows,
none of them, not a single story has started with I was a virgin
until I read Wicked, or I was a virgin until I read you know,
somebody might say that vampire movie that came out a few years ago Twilight.
Nobody's story starts like that. I've never heard it. I've wasted hours
of my time watching these types of shows. And so I think one we
have a problem where schools are dictating what kids can read. I think that
statement alone is the complete opposite of what they're actually doing, and it's dangerous
because they're releasing a statement that says we're fostering this environment where choices are available,
and then they're doing the opposite. So I guess from now on,
we can just say whatever we want to say we're doing and then do the
opposite when people don't make us prove it. And also, I would like
to point out a couple of statistics that I found that I thought were interesting.
So these books were banned in December twenty twenty three. In December twenty
twenty three, or by December twenty twenty three, the most popular television shows
watched by teenagers on their own time outside of school were Sex Education, which
I don't even need to tell you what that was about, Everything Now,
which is a show about an eating disorder, and Riverdale, which is vampires
and wolves like having sex with each other and like breaking up. Because they're
all in high school, so obviously they're going to be exposed to this content
either willingly or they're just going to be in the room when it's playing,
or they're going to find it on Netflix. So whose job is it to
determine what safeguard it means? And if all they're doing is banning sexual content,
I think there's a lot of harm there. One, it's just not
diverse choices. You can't tell me I have choices. And then it's kind
of like we were joking about earlier. You can't tell me I get to
vote and then only give me like what you like to vote from and then
call it choices. And then two, I would argue that that's part of
the reason why we have such a lack of sexual education in this country,
why we're missing because we're not allowed to read books where we can then go
home and be like, Mom, what is like, what are they talking
about? What is this? What does this mean? What are they doing?
And like I said earlier, if you make a big deal to a
teenager, they're going to live, breathe, and die by that being their
brand from now on. Yeah, yeah, you know I think that Eli,
when you said, we've talked about this before, right, because you
and I have done a few shows together, and you mentioned you mentioned the
article we talked about, and what was happening was books were being banned and
there was a bill that was being passed saying well, the books, the
books that are going to stay should have a qualified individual that are allowed to
decide what can stay and what could go right, And what I'm seeing here
is a lack of a qualified individual or a lack of a quality of a
coherent justification for why books are being banned. So so Sydney gave an explanation
and talked about how hypocritical was and Eli, I think you were saying essentially
the same thing, like you know, this is a lack of diversity and
it targets LGBTQ. Eli, what trend are we seeing when it comes to
book banning? Right? Where are we seeing them banned and what is the
commonality. So, as I did mention a little bit ago, the most
commonly challenged books have to do with sexual well being an LGBTQIA plus issues.
So I actually found a list of the ten most challenged books in twenty twenty
three. The first one is called gender Queer. There's one called All Boys
Aren't Blue? I was challenged for LGBTQIA content claimed to be sexually explicit.
There's one called This Book Is Gay, which I think is an amazing title,
sex Education claim to be sexually explicit, apperaks of being a wallfire Flamer,
The Bluest Eye, Me and Earl, and The Dying Girl Tricks BILP.
So what in each of these when it talks about like in every single
one of them? Here's one that's not. But as I'm going down this
list, there are two on this list that do not include the words or
challenged for LGBTQIA plus content. Only two out of the ten most challenge books.
So I mean this is ten a representative of the entire sample of four
three and forty nine in the second half of twenty twenty three. No,
it's an insignificant sample, but I think it speaks to it a little bit.
And I was, well, and I was going to say, it's
interesting also when you point out that list wasn't the bluest eye, I could
be wrong, But if it's the same book I'm thinking of, wasn't it
written by an African American woman? Isn't it like a book about POC by
POC? And I think it's interesting. It doesn't have any information about it
here. It's written by Tony Morrison. Yeah, yep, there it is,
yep. And so I think that's interesting that that one of the few
that aren't banned for being lgbt QIA plus or LGBT supporting is written by a
black woman. Yeah. Well, you know, we have seen in Florida,
for example, the banning of certain African American history books. We've seen
different culture history books banned in that state, but to the broad or commonality,
we're seeing books banned in highly religious, highly Christian states, highly Christian
districts. The ironic thing and the thing that is inconsistent and what these decision
makers should be held accountable for, is the fact that the Bible is not
banned. If you want to talk about sexual atrocity, we should look to
the Bible. But then again, how many Christians actually read it, So
it's not a surprise to me that they have no idea what's in it.
But they love banning books they don't read, so that's true. That's true. The model