(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . It's one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Meanwhile the long war continues here in the U.S. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-24 January 6 was the explicit demonstration of the long war we've been fighting for the soul of America. Taylor Brorby has a guest editorial in The NY Times: The Real Reason North Dakota Is Going After Books and Librarians ...two pieces of legislation that may soon be signed into law in North Dakota would make it possible to restrict libraries and, in some cases, to imprison librarians. House Bill 1205 would prohibit public libraries from keeping and lending “books that contain explicit sexual material.” The bill’s definition of explicit material could include “pictorial, three-dimensional, or visual” depictions of anything from sex scenes in movies to educational materials meant to teach teenagers about puberty. As the bill states, libraries have until Jan. 1, 2024 to create a procedure “for the development of a book collection that is appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the individuals who may access the materials, and which is suitable for, and consistent with, the purpose of the library.” Currently, the bill contains no explanation of what “the purpose of the library” means or how to determine “appropriate” age and maturity. The more far-reaching Senate Bill 2360 prohibits organizations open to minors from displaying “objectionable materials,” whether image or text, including visuals or descriptions of “nude or partially denuded human figures posed or presented in a manner to exploit sex, lust or perversion.” The bill defines “nude or partially denuded human figures” as “less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic regions, female breasts or a female breast, if the breast or breasts are exposed below a point immediately above the top of the areola, or human buttocks; and includes human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state even if completely and opaquely covered.” By that definition, a photograph or even a written description of the Venus de Milo could — depending on the eye of the beholder — be out of bounds. It’s not just a matter of interpretation, though: Senate Bill 2360 would make it possible to charge offending librarians with a class B misdemeanor, punishable with up to 30 days in jail and a fine of $1,500. With these bills, North Dakota stands to become a model for other towns, cities and states to censor not only their libraries, but also their citizens. emphasis added Brorby goes on to relate how, growing up in the closet in North Dakota in the late ’90s and early 2000s, libraries were the only place where he could find sanctuary, the only place he could find answers after being outed. Consider this this just one example of the way what passes for conservatism has become a threat to everything America allegedly aspires to: a country where every is free to pursue their potential and do so in a way that enriches everyone else, a country where freedom isn’t something gained at the expense of others, but something to be shared. The threat is radical, it’s reactionary, and it’s become a positive feedback loop; the more it gets, the more it demands. What they are doing in North Dakota is a pogrom by other means. It’s the gender equivalent of ethnic cleansing. It’s akin to the approach the right is using to make abortion and contraception impossible - by threatening doctors, pharmacists, and anyone who chooses to assist with criminal penalties. It’s what they are doing to teachers who try to educate people about the actual world we live in, the actual history we stand on — instead of the comforting myths and lies they want to tell themselves and force on everyone else. It’s why they attack BLM, CRT, Trans, woke… Every day it’s something new. And when they find something works somewhere, they make sure to spread it everywhere else they can reach. They’ve built a vast mechanism of dark money and an expanding network of disinformation to do so. They have think tanks, institutes, foundations, and agents. This is what an authoritarian cult looks like. They will not accept reason or compromise. When they talk about freedom and values, it’s about the freedom to impose their values on everyone else. Their god is a god of hellfire and eternal damnation. Their idea of the rule of law is Quia Ego Sic Dico. This isn’t a war? Then why do we have a bodycount? Ask the people dead from the stochastic terrorism of mass shootings incited by right wing media and the Second Amendment fantasies they promote. Ask the youth lost to suicide and depression and drugs, because they can’t live within the boundaries that are being imposed on them to fit gender stereotypes. Ask the women dying because they can’t get the healthcare they need because of the cult of the fetus — and tell it to the children lost because their right to life ends at birth. Ask the people dead and the people who will die because they reject science and inconvenient truths. Ask the people dying for lack of healthcare, because states refuse to expand Medicaid, because that refusal is also forcing hospitals to close. Ask the hundreds of thousands lost to a pandemic because they were fed a diet of lies and paranoia. Ask the people working themselves to death, while the rich get richer and force them to work in workplaces where safety is not a priority — only profit and shareholder value. Ask the people who fell along the way, because ‘they made poor lifestyle choices.” Ask the people who lost their homes, their minds, their lives because they trusted in Wall Street and the magic of market forces. Ask the people dead because of the wrong skin color, the wrong language, the wrong national origin, the wrong faith in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ask the people dead in wars of choice driven by dreams of empire, and those dead because there was no money left for anything else, not food, water, shelter. This may not be a shooting war (if you disregard the gun deaths for a moment) but there is a body count. How do they justify what they are doing to the rest of us (and themselves)? If you are not with them, you are against them. If you are against them, you are their enemy. If you are their enemy, they are justified to do anything they can to defend themselves against you - and the best defense is a good offense. They demand leaders who will provide that ‘defense’ and they don’t care if they are getting ripped off by them as long as “those people” are being made to pay for their ‘crimes’. This is the ‘logic’ the rest of us are up against - and anyone can become a target. They need enemies to justify what they do, and to blame for all the things that go wrong - because nothing is ever their fault. They are the victims — just ask them. We are at war, whether we realize it or not, whether we admit it or not. They’ve not been shy about declaring it — we should take them at their word. It comes down to a basic orientation, a world view. Liberals like to talk about what they want to do FOR other people. Conservatives like to talk about what they want to do TO other people. All they need to win is for the rest of us to do nothing. All they need is for the rest of us to assume this is normal, this is just the way things are, that we can’t change it. All they need is to keep us from realizing we have the tools to do something about it — that’s why they are resorting to censorship, indoctrination, vote suppression, and disinformation. That’s why they are spending billions to make this war happen. We have the power IF we use it. Never give up. Never surrender. Forward momentum. Enjoy the music — and the inspiring words. 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