Calling “Bullshit, Bullshit” Part I: What We Mean by “Diverse Books”
by Gayle Martin
Normally, I just choose to ignore online wannabe provocateurs and trolls. But when one of them decides to run for the school board and then decides to devote his own Facebook page to getting screen shots of posts from the Free to Read Rochester private Facebook group and making inaccurate commentary on them, I change my mind.
So this will be the first in a three to four part series of posts in which I call Rochester Community Schools School Board Candidate Andrew Weaver’s bullshit Facebook missives for what they are: Bullshit.
I was inspired to do this by this interview in Vox with Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow, in which she says that just ignoring disingenuous, outrageous, or hateful claims for fear of validating them, or trying to provide facts and data to refute them is “not working” in politics. And then she says, “what I think is a much more powerful response is [to] call bullshit, bullshit.” I think she’s quite right.
Mr. Weaver has been a prolific speaker at Rochester Board of Education meetings for several years. He also maintains a Facebook page called Finding the Right Answer on which he pontificates often. I can, indeed, attest to the fact that he has not, as yet, been able to find the right answer.
But before I get into that, it is necessary to have a working definition of what I mean by “bullshit.” I have based the Bullshit Guide below on the work of world-renowned moral philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University (1990-2002) Harry G. Frankfurt and his best-selling book On Bullshit (2005). It is by the definitions in this guide that I will be discussing one of Mr. Weaver’s posts.
If anyone reading this thinks this guide would be helpful to them in calling bullshit, bullshit, please feel free to use it at will. But please give Free to Read Rochester credit.
So, using this as a guide, let’s look at a sample post from Mr. Weaver’s Facebook page, with some annotations by me:
There is a lot going in this post, as you can see. But the particular bit of bullshit that I want to focus on in this post is the content and intent of the screen shot on the top right. This was taken from Free to Read’s private facebook group—of which Mr. Weaver is definitely not a member. He posted it to his public page along with several other screenshots without any redaction of names. Apparently, this post drew his ire because F2R2 has the audacity to be working on a Build a Classroom Library initiative this summer. We are collecting gently-used books so that in the fall, we can give them to any new teachers to the district so they can have a well-stocked classroom library for their students. A group member had posted this in our group after donating to this initiative, thanking me for giving her a sticker for her Little Free Library. Here is the text of the her post:
Thanks to Gayle A. Martin for taking some books off my hands for the teacher's classroom initiative and leaving me this awesome sticker that I promptly put on my library!
I've recently had quite a few people drop books that don't adhere to our diversity requirements (that are posted on the window of the library), so maybe this sticker will drop another hint! I'm considering making the mission statement larger/more prominent in hopes I will receive fewer 'chicken soup for the soul' & contemporary romance types of books & more books in line with our DEI priorities. People are weird. lol..
Mr. Weaver’s commentary begins by calling me a “Political Activists” (sic) and goes on to say that I am “still driving the idea that teachers are free to have any book they want in their classroom library.” Both of these statements are perfect examples of the explanation of “What is Bullshit” above. Neither are really a lie, but both certainly “lack a connection with concern to the truth” and are “[indifferent] to how things really are.” The first assertion that I am political activist is a mischaracterization at the very least. I am a suburban mom and retired English teacher who always has been, and always will be, passionate about reading and about supporting public schools. If donating books to new teachers makes me a political activist, then anyone who has ever helped public school teachers “clear the list” by buying things from a teacher’s back-to-school wishlist is also a political activist. Or, perhaps Mr. Weaver is referring to the fact that I have spoken at school board meetings about book challenges and students’ rights. In that case, he seems to be confusing my motivations for speaking with his own. Unlike him, I have no “political” aspirations and do not plan on ever running for office.
The second assertion is more interesting because in saying that I am “still driving the idea that teachers are free to have any book they want in their classroom library,” he is not misrepresenting my intentions or making a false statement about “the way things are.” I will always advocate for teachers having whatever books they think are appropriate for their students in their classrooms (because I trust teachers and their expertise and I know Rochester teachers are not just thoughtlessly putting “whatever” books on their shelves). What he is trying to misrepresent or obfuscate, however, are his own assumptions about me, about Free to Read and what our mission is, and about teachers. First, he obviously does not trust the teachers in Rochester schools to make professional judgements and use their expertise to pick appropriate instructional materials. (Although it is true that a brand new out-of-college teacher may not have gained that expertise yet, the board members of Free to Read are almost all either former or current educators with over 100 years of combined experience and multiple degrees in English, reading, curriculum, and/or informational literacy.) He also is making an assumption of what kind of books we are asking for, apparently assuming we are asking for only the most controversial books when that, in fact, is something we are specifically not asking for during this initiative. There is no way any of us would want to throw a young probationary teacher to the wolves by providing highly controversial books for their classroom libraries. We truly support teachers, including by shielding them from possible public ridicule on Mr. Weaver’s blog, or from being secretly recorded in class and then having that recording posted on his YouTube page.
It is true that Free to Read supports diverse classroom, school, and public libraries. The problem is that Mr. Weaver seems to assume “diverse” means only books by and about marginalized or under-represented groups, specifically ones that he personally finds offensive. That is a mischaracterization of what we, and most educators, mean by “diverse,” and it is directly related to the false narrative that some political operatives want to paint of teachers being “radicals” or even “groomers.”
So, when we say we support “diverse” libraries what do we mean? A “diverse” classroom library is one that includes:
fiction, nonfiction, and reference titles
a wide variety of genres
a wide variety of topics to interest all kinds of students
a variety of reading levels, book formats, and book lengths to accommodate readers at all developmental levels
older titles (more than 5-years-old) and newer titles (less than 5-years-old)
representation of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups, as well as representation of neurodiverse authors/characters, various family structures, and LGBTQ+ authors/characters.
And what kind of books have we received so far that Mr. Weaver assumes will be so offensive and in need of oversight? Here’s a sampling:
Some of our scandalous books we will be donating.
Stay tuned for Part II in this series coming soon.
(All opinions expressed in blog posts are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Free to Read Rochester)
