Sarah Palin and the Case of the Banned Books
Wednesday September 3, 2008
Straying into the political only in so far as it touches the literary, galleycat points us to this interesting Time Magazine article about Sarah Palin which delves into her alleged efforts to ban books at the local library:
[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.
Comments
This list is being circulated but it is not true. The list was taken from a website listing all books that have ever been banned in the US.
http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html
The harry potter books wern’t even published when she was mayor…
Actually, those Harry Potter books were published when Palin was mayor of Wasilla.
Harry Potter was not around in 1996 when the when the discussion took place. That source is false.
I’m not saying that the purported list is necessarily true. I’m just saying that your comment about the Harry Potter books is wrong.
The Harry Potter books listed were in print during Sarah Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
This is being circulated across the net and even on Time, but it’s not true.
munk
Why propagate obviously false information? I support Obama and sincerely hopes he wins the election. However, spreading incomplete and false information seems incongruous with the goal of moving beyond petty politics.
Your colleague, Esther Lombardi often writes the interaction between truth and literature. By posting untrue information, it lowers your great blog’s credibility.
Thanks, Tom – I appreciate your wise words. It was never my intent to propagate false information. I was quoting a Time article about Palin and book-banning, information that was true and relevant.
The list was secondary to my main point, and, not wanting to mislead, I made clear that it was purported by a commentor on another blogger’s blog post.
Again, I appreciate your interaction, and will take care not to overstep the truth.
I don’t think that Stein, the person Palin defeated in a mayoral race, is the most credible source for this story. Yet, so far, he is the only source cited. The Times article refers to “news reports”, but I haven’t been able to find any and we haven’t heard from the librarian allegedly involved. Let’s see some evidence before passing judgment.
The Harry Potter books’ inclusion on the list is not relevant to the issue…the list is updated in an ongoing basis. However, to correct a previous poster that is calling for truth to be reported, the first Harry Potter book in the series was indeed published in the US in 1998. Sarah Palin served as mayor from 1996 until 2002.
So, yes, the books were indeed in print while she was mayor. There is no quoted year or time when she alledgedly tried to ban any books…the article simply states that she tried to interject her religious beliefs “at times”…which, as another poster has stated, is the quoted opinion of the person that she defeated in the race for mayor…hardly someone I would firmly believe without a doubt.
Can we also point out that she was not attempting to ban books in a school. She was attempting to ban books in a public library. This means that she does not believe that adults can be trusted to choose their own reading material. Then again, as she went to five colleges in six years before eventually graduating with a “communications” degree, I doubt that reading is high on her priority list. Apparently, John McCain (who graduated last in his college class as well) does not believe that a love of reading and good education are not important qualities in a President and Commander in Chief.
Sarah Palin is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, is for creationism in public schools, sued the Bush administration for putting Polar Bears on the Endangered Species list and does not believe humans have had any effect on climate change. Was someone waiting for book banning to be the thing that put her over the top? I respect that she is sticking to her principles. I just don’t want her in our White House. She can push the envelope from Alaska. Let the people who govern us from the White House be more balanced in their approach. Being well read would be a icing on the cake!
Actually, the timing of the Potter books does show the list as a hoax. Palin was mayor when the four books were published, but the whole firing hullabaloo happened during the first year she was in office. None of the books were out when the actual conflict, almost always referred to as a rhetorical discussion, took place.
I think the woman is a menace to the Constitution at the very least, but that list has no place in the discussion.
If anyone cares I have the whole list of 89 books here on my web site:
http://timothyhorrigan.com/documents/palin.ban-list.080905.html
Much is being made of the fact that there are books published after 1996… however, Palin’s executive experience as mayor continued through 2002. None of the books postdate 2002 (aside from “The New Teenage Body Book” which was updated in 2008… but presumably she would have been banning the 1999 edition.)
The librarian couldn’t be reached for comment? It’s been reported that Ms. Palin sought to ban the works of Mark Twain. Sounds like the work of the widow Thatcher, or maybe even that scoundrel Huck Finn. Anyway, I’d like to hear it from Mary Ellen herself. I can’t say enough about Sarah Palin. I liken her detractors to skaters who go down hard. Anyway, here’s a clip from Jan & Dean. Bet you can’t watch just once: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX7X4FovYRA&NR=1 And, how ‘bout them Dems: lost in space, or true tales from the Office of the Pork-master General: http://theseedsof9-11.com
it’s a sad time when bloggers don’t do their research & simply take what the biased liberal media as fact & then just “echo it”. The liberal media have already been taken down for reporting false doctored photos about Bush in the last election. Can anyone say “Dan Rather”? or Rather-gate?
And here it is… all over again… sad when lies are the only thing that’s spread about a VP candidate.
Well – I guess that means there’s nothing real to spread.
Unlike what “change” really stands for from the candidate himself:
http://snipurl.com/changeo
A bogus list has been circulated, but the real one just leaked: Sarah Palin Banned Books.
Some eye-opening stuff there …
The list cited in comment #1 was on that website as early as Feb 3, 1998. Here is the link into the Internet Wayback machine
http://web.archive.org/web/19980203202515/http:/www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html
BTW –
Brian’s list in comment 15 above is funny and touches the issues swirling around Palin but is not a real Palin list either.
Jim
“About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.”
So foreseeable that it is funny.
Ok, as a librarian and a conservative (small government people…remember it’s big brother who wants to control information) and I two points…one, the inaccuracy of the list is OBVIOUSLY relevant..to assert that it isn’t is the most ludicrous! Secondly, Harry Potter and the Sorcer’s Stone (book 1) was originally published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (unfortunately they feared American’s were too dumb to get the historical reference to philospher’s stone) in 1997…that is one year AFTER 1996. Seriously people…try google, it’s not that hard to use!
The funny part is that we’re still talking about the bogus list of books instead of about Palin’s political record, her stance on issues, or the book-banning efforts that were the point of the paragraph quoted from the TIME article.
I agree that the sourcing for this story is nearly non-existent. Surely it can’t be too difficult to find public records from 1998-2002 or at least one source other than her political opponent to support the claim.
Not to mention the fact that “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, the Tarzan series, and “Flowers for Algernon” are extremely unlikely candidates for banning.
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/06/the-bogus-sarah-palin-banned-books-list/
Check it out…this is an amazing amount of spin being “leaked.” Scares me that Time magazine is carrying this drivel. Let’s get onto issues, not Snopes material!
How about Governor Sarah offering $150 for all severed wolf legs??? That’s a real touch of class!
Instead reporting unconfirmed reports about banning books, what about the unsolved murder of three Gay members of Barack Obama’s church? The murders happened last year in the time frame of 40 days, between Nov. 2007 to Dec. 2007, when Obama was running for president. Each murder has gone unsolved and they were killed execution style, all on different dates.
How many people do you know that have had church members murdered in 40 days? Especially gay males.
There is an article in the archive files on the Anchorage News website from 02/01/97 which states the accusation toward the Librarian but the name is different, Mary Ellen Emmons. I think we have a he said she said going on with this whole topic and I agree it really doesn’t have anything to do with the issues.
The purported list is all rubbish: typical of state of our politico for way too many years.
see the snopes commentary at:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp
ALL FOUR of the Harry Potter books were in fact not published until after 1996 when the censorship question was allegedly asked.
(1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, first published 30 June 1997 in England as the Philosopher’s Stone, and in October 1998 as the Scorcerer’s Stone
(2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, published July 2, 1998
(3) Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, published July 8, 1999, and,
(4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, published July 8, 2000
No, I was just quoting the times piece, honest…
Why? If it is false?
It seems that perpetuating a rumor can be done by merely repeating it.
How about starting off the headline with falsehoods printed by Time about Palin?
It seems too, that the very same people that email this stuff and comment on it as if it is true, couldn’t quite get the energy to email or blog about Reverend Wright, domestic terrorist associations and Black Muslim associations.. so much for keeping “petty” politics..
As for me, it’s a lot more dangerous to America to have a PRESIDENT that is racist and a black supremist than a vice president who asked a question of a librarian..
But that is the M.O. of the socialists, everything is “relative” including wrong doing.. wrong is relative..
Look, we freed 25 million people from a tyrant but if anyone makes money off of it, it’s “wrong”…
World War II could not have been won without someone making money on it.. sorry folks.. those that make the stuff that keeps us free do have balance books too.. God.. we’re so mindlessly ignorant or mindlessly collective either way, we all lose.
Try http://www.fatheromalley.com for some straight talk and true findings, not “scarlet letter” rumors by the “puritan” left. Bwahahahahaahah….
http://www.fatheromalley.com
Love to all,
Father O’Malley
On this subject, I like this blog the best:
http://www.kennamdahl.wordpress.com
Palin tried to ban the Bible.
It’s sad that people are arguing over a fake list of banned books, and whether or not the Harry Potter series could have been on it.
Like a few people mentioned here, there are actual issues to discuss. Let’s not be distracted by the sloppy and biased “reporting” of Time Magazine. Honestly, I’m no fan of either McCain or Palin, but quoting someone she defeated is pathetic.
If Palin would discuss the “real” issues, then perhaps we’d find something else to talk about. But she refuses unless it’s a pre-written speech. I wonder why.
I personally think Sarah Palin is the best thing to happen in politics in a very long time.
Let us not forget this stark contrast: Sarah sold the private jet when she came into office as governor and put the money back into the state fund–AS OPPOSED TO NANCY PELOSI–WHO MADE THE GOVERNMENT GIVE HER A NEW DELUXE JET BECAUSE THE OLD ONE WASN’T BIG ENOUGH!!
Check out what really happened at Snopes.com
Sarah Palin sold that jet at a loss through a private broker. She did put it on eBay… but no one bought it.
Mr. Timothy Horrigan,
Why do you say that Palin was for banning the books on this list? As you said on your website, “Somebody named Andrew AuCoin put together the following list which was posted in various places including the blog Librarian.net. The provenance of the list is uncertain”
You say this like this is a proven fact. In fact Sir, did you actually speak with somebody named Andrew AuCoin and ask for proof of the man’s statement that Palin demanded that those books be banned? I would like to know.
As a matter of fact, Palin never asked for any specific books be banned. She never put together a list of books she wanted banned.
What happened was that when she first became Mayor in 1996 she asked the libarian what she would think if someone wanted a book in the library banned. The librarian responded that she would be against that.
Palin never told the librarian that she wanted any specific book banned, much less the list of 89 books that you lie about on your web site.
“If anyone cares I have the whole list of 89 books here on my web site:”
The Harry Potter books as was mentioned elsewhere, were not even published when Palin as a new Mayor proposed the question about banning books to the Librarian.
“Much is being made of the fact that there are books published after 1996… however, Palin’s executive experience as mayor continued through 2002. None of the books postdate 2002 (aside from “The New Teenage Body Book” which was updated in 2008… but presumably she would have been banning the 1999 edition.)”
Are any of you Alaskans? Or Wasilla residents? I have lived here since 1976, and a very close personal friend worked for Palin’s campaign, and then became her right hand man. I also owned a bookstore at this time and have been contacted by these “news sources” and for the record, this is all bogus. Sarah was an excellent mayor and these stories about nothing are driving me nuts. Sarah used to be a regular customer of mine, my kids baby-sat her kids, and since they can’t find any real dirt on her, I think the “news” makes it up! We need to just admit that these stories only belong in the National Enquirer.
why wouldn’t she just use the published banned books list as her basis? she probably submitted that entire list in 1996, sans the harry potter books and any others that were yet to be published… went through the firing incident, and the later books were added, well, later? it really doesn’t matter if the harry potter books were there in 1996 or not, that’s just the defendents reaching for anything they can try and justify as logic. the theory of “those books were there in ‘96 so the whole thing must be fake” is just illogical. keep in mind we’re not looking at the list as it was in 1996, we’re looking at the 2008 version. she obviously used the 1996 version.
Who cares if the list is accurate, the fact she had SUGGESTED BANNING BOOKS is sacrilege and an affront to the constitution!
It would’ve been nice if #23 (rewop) would have left a link to that article he/she found!
Who cares what books she wanted banned the point she that she tried to ban books. SHE WANTED TO BAN BOOKS!!! That’s the point. And that is the activity of a fascist. Palin is incredibly dangerous to an already weakened democracy if you still consider it a democracy.
I get the list was fake and no books were ever banned…but the fact she asked the hypothetical question and fired the librarian in question for not supporting her is bad enough in my opinion. Just add it to the list.
first three Harry Potter books were published in the US in 1998