Worse than bans - Mandates

Do you know what's worse than bans? Mandates. Instead of telling people what they can't read, watch, or hear, mandates tell people what they must read, watch, or hear. In a sense, mandates ban all alternatives.

Yes, people can read in their spare time. With mandates, they likely won't. If you have already been subjected to material, you are not going to use your free time to read it again from a different perspective. Enjoyment of reading will especially be harmed for students who don't enjoy being forced.

I can take this even further. If schools are forcing you to read certain books (required reading), you are not going to enjoy reading. Why would you waste what little free time you have left reading? If schools are going to require reading books of their choice, they are effectively preventing children from reading anything else.

In the case of schools, there's also an element of obedience you must deal with. Content is not provided for the purpose of promoting dissent. Instead, schools test students on the ability to absorb messaging. Mandates require students to embrace the perspective provided to them.

This goes beyond books. We have seen similar issues with curriculum. Some schools have tried to force material onto students from controversial sources such as the Southern Poverty Law Center/Learning for Justice, the 1619 Project, and Black Lives Matter at School. Any attempts to restrict schools that want to mandate such materials is being criticized for wanting to ban it.

Technically speaking, not allowing schools to mandate propaganda is not banning that propaganda. If they really want to look at things that way, I want to mention a sex education law in our state. The state now requires sex education curriculum that was either developed by the state or approved by the same people who created the curriculum. Since my state is controlled by the Democrats, this effectively bans all curriculum that deviates from a liberal agenda.

I agree that Republicans have gone too far in their attempts to keep people from accessing liberal content. Because the Democrats go even further in controlling content they don't like, I'm not on their side. Trying to minimize exposure to a liberal perspective is wrong. Trying to minimize exposure to all perspectives not controlled by the Democrats is even worse. I absolutely will not support any efforts to mandate the embrace of one perspective at the expense of all others.