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A book about KKK-related music found at library raises interesting question

Gabriel_Logan said:
...at a college library? Do you think 1920's KKK sheet music is going to make Millenials white supremacists?
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And people don't realize 1920s KKK sheet music isn't that far removed from My Old Kentucky Home and Camptown Races.

Racist tin-pan alley sheet music was a mainstream thing with cultural ramifications to consider and research.

It was a mainstream music in the late 19th to early 20th century and influenced music that followed.
 
Of course it belongs in a library

Hiding it won't change our shitty past. Students, independent researchers, and writers use sources like this all the time.

The music only serves to underscore the terrifying normalcy of that bullshit. It's a meaningful detail that helps create a fuller historical picture.
 
Keep it in the library, but put it in a special section and maybe not let it be loaned out? That'd be my thought process on the matter. You wouldn't necessarily want a 10 year old accidentally picking a book like that up, but there is no reason why someone doing research on history shouldn't have access.
 
KojiKnight said:
Keep it in the library, but put it in a special section and maybe not let it be loaned out? That'd be my thought process on the matter. You wouldn't necessarily want a 10 year old accidentally picking a book like that up, but there is no reason why someone doing research on history shouldn't have access.
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Why wouldn't you want a 10 year old reading a book designed to educate people on how a racist movement attempted to sugar coat itself and re-write history and true intentions? I'd rather every kid learned about that process in school.
 
Machina said:
Create a whole new section called "contemptible bullshit". Ayn Rand's work can go in there as well
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Who decides what goes there?

Just put it in the sheet music section. Easy peasy. Those that need to use it can, those that don't, well they won't.

Dudes in here using the tired ass Won't Someone Please Think of the Children. That's weak reasoning.
 
norm9 said:
Who decides what goes there?

Just put it in the sheet music section. Easy peasy. Those that need to use it can, those that don't, well they won't.

Dudes in here using the tired ass Won't Someone Please Think of the Children. That's weak reasoning.
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It's perfectly reasonable in this situation. This isn't "he may see a boobie", it's possible indoctrination material.

That said, I don't think we need any sort of strict rules or regulations for this kind of thing. It could be handled at the library level as to what goes into these sections. Think something doesn't belong in that section? Don't put it there. If someone comes in and complains about appropriateness maybe rethink that decision.
 
Burn it. Hate group literature should be illegal. We know enough about how propaganda works now to understand that any exposure will cause a certain amount of converts. Its too dangerous. All hate group media, including Fox News and Brietbart, should be illegal.
 
KojiKnight said:
It's perfectly reasonable in this situation. This isn't "he may see a boobie", it's possible indoctrination material.
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Everything is possible indoctrination material. Beyond the scary books of the past like Anarchist Cookbook, Satanic Bible, etc that are available at the library at this very second, we have potential books that might change your worldview about Wicca, vegetarianism, pro military, history from the nazi viewpoint, and scary Harry Potter books, and Huck finn with the n-word,etc.

Sulik2 said:
Burn it. Hate group literature should be illegal. We know enough about how propaganda works now to understand that any exposure will cause a certain amount of converts. Its too dangerous. All hate group media, including Fox News and Brietbart, should be illegal.
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Who decides this? Just someone you can agree with?
 
There are still people in this thread that haven't read what the author's intentions are for this book. Such a prime example of people joining a bandwagon without doing their due diligence.

The OP needs to be updated to reflect what is said in "A Note to the Reader."

Even the OP didn't even take the time to research the book.
 
Sulik2 said:
Burn it. Hate group literature should be illegal. We know enough about how propaganda works now to understand that any exposure will cause a certain amount of converts. Its too dangerous. All hate group media, including Fox News and Brietbart, should be illegal.
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What about a book documenting historical music by and about the kkk including anti-kkk songs and in which the author's note (prefaced by a quote from Malcolm X) states that the Kkk is America's Taliban?
 
Burning books is never a good idea.

This reminds me of a time I went to a flea-market in southwest Virginia. Along with a lot of racist advertising I found an old LP called "Songs of Segregation." It was not an anti-segregation album, to be clear, this was a celebration. Should have bought it as a historical curiosity, but wasn't interested in explaining it to guests at my apartment.

The crazy thing about the racist advertising is that they weren't antiques, they were reproductions meant as posters or for framing. The ladies selling it tried to tell me that their main customers were black people. Maybe, but this was near Patrick County where there was an active KKK branch so I was skeptical.
 
norm9 said:
Everything is possible indoctrination material. Beyond the scary books of the past like Anarchist Cookbook, Satanic Bible, etc that are available at the library at this very second, we have potential books that might change your worldview about Wicca, vegetarianism, pro military, history from the nazi viewpoint, and scary Harry Potter books, and Huck finn with the n-word,etc.



Who decides this? Just someone you can agree with?
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Again, I didn't even advocate removal, only that questionable books be put aside in a special section and not allowed to be taken out of the library. If for some reason a particular library thought those books belonged there, go for it. I didn't even advocate restrictions on who goes into that section... Just that it's clearly marked.
 
If you burn it you threaten to do something to it that could never happen to it sitting lamely in a dusty library corner

burned books are cool. Remember? If you want someone to read a book, saying "the ideas in here are too dangerous, you can't look at them, shield your eyes" is one of the best campaigns you could lead.
 
Aytumious said:
We could have a government agency in charge of deciding what needs to be destroyed. Maybe call it the Ministry of Cultural Purity or something similar. Things that are deemed harmful to the herd can simply be purged out of existence for the betterment of society.
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So you think that everything that has ever been made should be hoarded forever then?
 
You reprehensible would-be book burners should maybe try reading the damn book.

Here, I'll even help you out, this is the first thing in it:

BlVolJT.jpg
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Some of you need to take a long fucking look in the mirror.
 
KojiKnight said:
Again, I didn't even advocate removal, only that questionable books be put aside in a special section and not allowed to be taken out of the library. If for some reason a particular library thought those books belonged there, go for it. I didn't even advocate restrictions on who goes into that section... Just that it's clearly marked.
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I get what youre saying but I don't agree with this viewpoint either. You can find a person to complain about just about any book. The whole library is a place of questionable content depending on the who.

Eta- The ONLY reason I might possibly make it a reference only item is because of the risk of some of the people in this thread who want to deface, damage, or burn it. I worry more about y'all (not you in particular, you in the general sense) than the contents of the book.
 
Conciliator said:
If you burn it you threaten to do something to it that could never happen to it sitting lamely in a dusty library corner

burned books are cool. Remember? If you want someone to read a book, saying "the ideas in here are too dangerous, you can't look at them, shield your eyes" is one of the best campaigns you could lead.
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I think most of the appeal of 4chan style racism to young people is that it's edgy and forbidden and something adults try to shield them from. Unfortunately once they get drawn into that they're easily coopted into the real thing.
 
In the note, the author pretty much created this book to show how extremist groups try to appeal to the majority of citizens by making itself look like it has positive ideals while hiding the more sinister side of their operations. I don't understand why the book needs to be burned or hidden. I think it's a good reference in the study of extremist groups and how they try to appeal to the close-minded, uneducated common person.
 
Hold on a second.

Kraftwerk said:
People are debating whether something such as this should be even at a public library? Others asking for it to be burned. Some other individuals defending it by stating that no matter how much you hate it, books shouldn't be banned because we need to study them and also have them as a reminder of things that happened.
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Who? When? Can I get a citation on any of this?

Who is asking for it to be burned? Where are these debates taking place?
 
Htown said:
Hold on a second.

Who? When? Can I get a citation on any of this?

Who is asking for it to be burned? Where are these debates taking place?
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ITT you had people saying it should be removed, others that it should be locked up in a basement, or that it shouldn't be allowed to be checked out out of the library, or that it should be in a specific category of undesirables, and so on.

Absolutely fucking embarrassing.
 
Sulik2 said:
Burn it. Hate group literature should be illegal. We know enough about how propaganda works now to understand that any exposure will cause a certain amount of converts. Its too dangerous. All hate group media, including Fox News and Brietbart, should be illegal.
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Possibly the most poorly thought out, knee jerk reactionary post I've read this month.
 
Tiamatsword22 said:
What about a book documenting historical music by and about the kkk including anti-kkk songs and in which the author's note (prefaced by a quote from Malcolm X) states that the Kkk is America's Taliban?
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Sounds like leftist propaganda. Better burn it just to be safe. Some 10-year-old might get indoctrinated.
 
The way this was presented is pretty misleading. Saying this is a KKK book is like saying a book collecting and presenting Nazi propaganda, the context of how it was used, and the evolution of such propaganda throughout the rise and fall of the Third Reich is a "Nazi book"

This work presents, chronologically, the music associated with the Klan from 1867 to 2002, thus enabling readers to sense the arguments and attitudes of the Klan as they developed and changed over time. Because of the relative scarcity of Klan-related music, non-Klan music that mentions the word "Klan" is included. These obscure references help place the Klan in a larger social perspective and are very important in documenting anti-Klan musical reaction. In instances where a song merely mentions the Klan, usually in only one verse or in the chorus, then only that verse containing the Klan reference, plus appropriate context, is included.
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Wood Man said:
Why does anything KKK creep me out?
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because that's their entire point? to creep people out. except if you're a racist white person, you know the ghostly figure with the torch and shotgun on the horse at 3 AM in the fucking morning is really on your side....


edit: literal terrorist organization, but hey we got people in power bending over backwards to let them be "southern heritage" symbols.
 
Tyaren said:
"Where they burn books, they also burn people." H. Heine

book-burning.jpg
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The Klan burned and hung black people. So did the state.

You might have a point, but given the context, it's a bad one.

I'm not for burning or banning books. Knowledge is knowledge, and it should be preserved. But the way some people are caping for this shit so passionately is questionable to me.

Also miss me with this "doomed to repeat it" garbage. Just because the Klan aren't running around in active terror campaigns anymore doesn't mean that the situation regarding American black folks has been close to remedied. The game changed, but the rules remain the same.
 
norm9 said:
As long as it wasn't put in a dark corner somewhere which it doesn't look like, this actually puts a positive spotlight on these books and authors.
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No, it's incredibly unnecessary. Imagine being a writer and having your book removed from the rest of the library to be put in its own space. Your work is only viewed by people interested in the fact that you were black while you wrote it.

You could have had a list of recommended books and not have all the cons.
 
Oh great now my podcast feed for the next week is going to be all about how millennials don't like free speech...
 
BocoDragon said:
Oh great now my podcast feed for the next week is going to be all about how millennials don't like free speech...
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Wasn’t it proven that more Millennials would be for restrictions on free speech already?

I remember seeing that poll.

Kinda a done deal, my man.
 
entremet said:
Wasn’t it proven that more Millennials would be for restrictions on free speech already?

I remember seeing that poll.

Kinda a done deal, my man.
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Yup, but now we're gonna dredge it up as a talking point again. That is, if this story is viral beyond GAF.
 
More_Badass said:
The way this was presented is pretty misleading. Saying this is a KKK book is like saying a book collecting and presenting Nazi propaganda, the context of how it was used, and the evolution of such propaganda throughout the rise and fall of the Third Reich is a "Nazi book"
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Could a mod update the title and OP, then, so we can avoid constantly having to explain to people that this is a history book? The OP doesn't even have a source.
 
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