Christian 'Soldiers' Are Coming for Oceanside’s Library Books
The book banners are coming to town, led by the “Awaken” church.
A call has gone out on social media for true believers to show up at a meeting of the Oceanside Unified School Board meeting on Tuesday, February 7th. The reason for this gathering will be to voice support for removing books from school libraries and “stop the strong gender ideology” being taught in classrooms.
These won’t be the righteous Christian soldiers marching around a walled medieval city. They are the agitators for authoritarianism, who are simply picking off what they deem to be easy targets before they get down to the serious business of undermining secular democratic institutions and maybe even exterminating non-believers.
Right now it’s library books that run counter to their doctrine; the rest of us will be expected to obey the ban once those evil thoughts have been vanquished. Next week it’s going to be homosexual “groomers,” even if statistics show that these self righteous types are more inclined to do that crime. Then will come the feminists, because their God’s order has male supremacy as it’s lynchpin. And so forth…
If you are a student of history, you know this never ends well, regardless if these soldiers are adorned with crucifixes or a hammer and sickle.
So-called parents rights groups and conservative fundamentalist activists have answered these calls nationwide to put their moral stamp on public institutions. In the 2021-22 school year, over 2,500 book bans were enacted nationally, affecting students in almost 140 school districts across 32 states. The trend of increasing book bans has continued into the 2022-23 school year as well.
Most of these complaints target books with characters of color, those that identify as LGBTQ, include basic anatomical information, and deal with issues of race or discrimination. The net for banning books keeps growing, and established literary figures are seeing their works classified as pornographic, obscene, and offensive to white people.
The so-called groomers in schools panic on the right amounts to an admission that economic arguments (vouchers, etc.) aren’t enough by themselves to undermine the institution of public education. It’s an argument that there's a moral threat present, and the quickest way to do that is by activating prejudices.
It’s also hard to ignore suggestions of scenarios involving the violent suppression of unnamed “others.” They say it’s about self defense; the rhetoric says otherwise. They say they’re being victimized because the rest of us won’t obey their doctrines.
So, guns ok; books bad.
When you ban books in classrooms, but not guns, you're admitting that you're more afraid of our children learning than you're afraid of them dying.
There is a hole in the heart of America. Too many of us are now alone and afraid. And in the worst American tradition, there’s a profit to be made and power to accrue for not-nice persons.
One local manifestation of this phenomena are the Awaken congregations behind this book banning effort. Five –soon to be six– San Diego locations offer salvation through a structured community and rock guitars, along with authority figures to salve the angst.
It’s all about paying your dues –materialism is paramount, and tithing is enforced– and following the leader. Pay up, and prosperity will surely follow, as the expensive cars ferry their leaders to the faithful.
The Awaken way of life goes beyond mere bible worship. There is an undeniable element of violence woven into their services, programs, and the social media used to promote their group. More than one of the leaders of Awaken have endorsed conspiracy theories that suggest to the uninitiated that force is needed to save the world.
One post in September 2021 by church founder Jurgen Matthesius uses a doomsday scenario about COVID that has its origins in anti-Semitic propaganda:
Two billion people dead? Globalists (code word for Jews)? A horse de-wormer for a cure? Wow. Wonder where a leader who thinks like that is herding his flock.
More History: Brad Willis’ Perspectives Substack post on Awaken is about as good as any I’ve seen. I strongly urge you to read more about the origins of this group.
Calling himself “Jurgmeister,” Matthesius, lashes out on the social media platform GETTR, a right wing alternative to Twitter and Instagram, the more mainstream platforms from which he was suspended.
(Above: Screenshot of GETTR social media post)
I hope this relatively short post has awakened readers to the underlying ideology of these wannabe book banners. If you can make it, by all means attend the Oceanside Unified School Board Meeting–Tuesday, Feb 7, 6-8pm, Chavez Middle School, 202 Oleaander Drive, Oceanside.
Here’s a guide to the rhetoric you’ll be likely to hear:
Indoctrination= teaching kids the truth.
Grooming= teaching kids not to hate.
Woke= being aware of the flaws in our system.
Socialism= they mean a government that works for the people rather than their donors.
School library books may seem like a minor issue; ignore these people at your own peril. Authoritarian-oriented religious groups have an all or nothing approach to issues, and they won’t stop with books in Oceanside.
For example, having achieved the neutralization of Roe V Wade in many states, they’re going for a total ban. A ruling by a crackpot Texas judge in a case involving a suit against FDA’s authorization for the abortion drug mifepristone as soon as February 10 would ban health care providers nationally from prescribing it for abortion.
The Biden administration’s new program for would-be immigrants from several countries, which provides a speedy online portal to request parole with an acquaintance’s sponsorship in the US has had the effect of dramatically reducing unauthorized border crossings. Are the righties happy? Nope. Twenty states with Republican attorneys general have sued the Biden administration to end this policy.
More of the same: This group is also among those organizing the now-weekly demonstrations at the Santee City Council demanding the termination of the lease to the YMCA because one panicked teenager claims to have seen the backside of a trans person.
Known extremists from all over California have been showing up at these Santee events, so be careful if you go.
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