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S. Anderson's avatar

Bravo on laying out all the issues with gender ideology so clearly. This caught my attention-- "In this case, we have touted our status as trusted, credentialed experts to collect, promote, and vigorously defend children's books—some aimed at toddlers and pre-schoolers—that present as indisputably factual a controversial, scientifically unsupported and unfalsifiable metaphysical belief, one akin to those originating in any religious faith." It illustrates the thorniness of the issue, because libraries do collect books on various religions aimed at youth. Perhaps the difference is that they are filed under religion and generally understood not to be "indisputably factual."

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Craig Gibson's avatar

Michael, thanks for bringing together this summation of the myriad issues (and misunderstandings) caused by gender identity ideology as reflected in children's book selection, and the larger societal implications. You've addressed the whole range of these complexities with sensitivity and nuance--qualities often missing in current discussions and debates about this, or other contentious topics.

I am especially glad to see that you returned to the "chain of trust" concept as central to our field, and how some have abandoned the precept. Good that you also pointed out the misapplication of "misinformation" again, which is an easy label to apply to any viewpoint we don't like--we are beset with the use of term now by leading political figures, media expostulators, and many others. A moratorium on the use of the term would be a boon to better discourse.

Finally, I'll just mention the HxA precept of "Make Your Way with Evidence." You've done a super job here with marshalling strong evidence in the HxA Way. Others in the field haven't, and don't, as a regular practice. They latch into one book, one perspective, as definitive. I sometimes think HxA should amend that precept to "Make Your Way with the Best Evidence" or the highest-quality evidence available, and to use probabilistic reasoning in combination with emerging evidence to make better decisions.

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