Media Hoax: No, the Diary of Anne Frank Has Not Been Banned From Florida Schools
“Anne Frank’s diary gives a child’s face to the Holocaust’s incomprehensible truths. It often constitutes what the @HolocaustMuseum calls ‘the first, and sometimes only, exposure many people have to the history of the Holocaust.’ Who would want to ban it?” – Nat Geo writer David Beard tweeted.
Not a week goes by that the mainstream media and their allies in the Democratic party don’t work hand in hand to misinform the public in an effort to push false narratives about their political opposition.
This week has certainly been no exception to that rule, with the Associated Press among the numerous media outlets that have distorted a Florida high school’s decision to remove from their library a book that was very loosely based on the Diary of Anne Frank on the grounds that it minimized the Holocaust and depicted Frank as a young lesbian girl who fantasized about seeing women’s breasts.
Katie Couric was among the many so-called “journalists” who shared the story:
Illustrated Anne Frank book removed by Florida school | AP News https://t.co/RwLrZMuUy7
— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) April 11, 2023
Note that the AP made no attempt to provide even the briefest of contexts in the headline, a dereliction of duty in my opinion since headlines (and the tweets that include them) are oftentimes all people will read about a story before forming an opinion. At first glance, it makes it look like the grades 9-12 Florida school in question didn’t want their students learning about the Holocaust and Frank’s experiences, so they pulled the book.
Except that’s not the situation at all.
The actual story did provide some detail, but unfortunately most of the people who linked to it and similar stories like it didn’t bother to read them, which we’ll get into in a minute.
But first, here’s what the AP reported:
A high school along Florida’s Atlantic Coast has removed a graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank after a leader of a conservative advocacy group challenged it, claiming it minimized the Holocaust.
“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed from a library at Vero Beach High School after a leader of Moms for Liberty in Indian River County raised an objection. The school’s principal agreed with the objection, and the book was removed last month.
The book at one point shows the protagonist walking in a park, enchanted by female nude statues, and later proposing to a friend that they show each other their breasts.
They later noted that other books written about Frank including copies of Frank’s diary were readily available in Indian River County School District libraries and that state law requires public schools to teach about the Holocaust:
Other books about Anne Frank and copies of the published diary she wrote chronicling her time hiding from the Nazis with her family and other Jews in German-occupied Amsterdam remain in the school systems’ libraries. The Jewish teenager’s diary was published in 1947, several years after she died in a concentration camp, and it has become a classic read by tens of millions of people around the world.
By law, Florida schools are required to teach about the Holocaust, and nothing has changed in that respect, [school district spokeswoman Cristen] Maddux said.
Not surprisingly, other media figures and Democrats didn’t read the fine print on the story, and ran with the false narrative that the AP and other “news” outlets painted with their deceptive headlines.
National Geographic writer David Beard was among them:
Anne Frank died 78 years ago in a Nazi concentration camp.
A Florida school has banned an illustrated edition of her life story after a conservative advocacy group objected.https://t.co/WmKMkLfERu @AP— David Beard (@dabeard) April 10, 2023
Anne Frank’s diary gives a child’s face to the Holocaust’s incomprehensible truths. It often constitutes what the @HolocaustMuseum calls “the first, and sometimes only, exposure many people have to the history of the Holocaust.” Who would want to ban it? https://t.co/CdNO6qSlrM
— David Beard (@dabeard) April 11, 2023
Rolling Stone/NY Magazine journalist Jay Michaelson, also a CNN contributor, was on the same wavelength:
First they came for the books about Black lives, and I said nothing because I'm not Black… Then they came for the books about trans lives, and I said nothing because I'm not trans… Then finally… https://t.co/TkosrjpuZr
— Jay Michaelson (@jaymichaelson) April 8, 2023
A tweet from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow insinuated that people should read between the lines:
“'Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation' was removed from a library at Vero Beach High School after the conservative group Moms for Liberty raised an objection. The school’s principal agreed with the objection, and the book was removed last month.”https://t.co/HEdUIC2bdS
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) April 10, 2023
Failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried also chimed in, using a misleadingly-headlined story from WFLA:
Meanwhile, in Florida…https://t.co/lBQPW6onxZ
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) April 7, 2023
Self-described Democratic National Committee member Thomas Kennedy proclaimed this was just further proof of the supposedly dire “free speech” issues in Florida:
If you are wondering about the state of free speech in Florida, a school district just removed an illustrated novel based on the diary of Anne Frank because conservatives deem it offensive. https://t.co/2mCxYO1Sfi
— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) April 10, 2023
Progressive trial lawyer “Trial Lawyer Richard” called it an outright banning:
Florida is continuing its book banning. Today a book about Anne Frank is banned. This is reprehensible. pic.twitter.com/rZyK1Re9qL
— Trial Lawyer Richard (@TrialLawyerRich) April 6, 2023
The Iowa Safe Schools group labeled it “Holocaust denial”:
#MomsForilliteracy strikes again. Make no mistake – their book banning tirade will not stop with LGBTQ literature. Holocaust denial is back in vogue 🤢
"(the Moms for Liberty organizer) has around 250 titles they hope to challenge in the future."https://t.co/omkVJYKsS6
— Iowa Safe Schools (@iowasafeschools) April 10, 2023
There were some media outlets who ran the AP story but provided some important context in their tweets:
A Florida high school banned a graphic novel based on Anne Frank's diary following an objection from a group called "Moms for Liberty." The book at one point shows the protagonist walking among female nude statues.https://t.co/3TSnuIjEcA
— 13WHAM (@13WHAM) April 11, 2023
“Banned,” I should note, is a rather strong word considering the book at the center of this “controversy” is still available on Amazon and elsewhere, presumably in public libraries all across Florida.
The Moms For Liberty Twitter account also explained their rationale for requesting the book be removed and the reasons why it ultimately was:
“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed in Indian River County FL schools for “minimization of the Holocaust.”
Florida state standards dictate that all teaching of the Holocaust must be historically correct, specifically 6A-1.094124 (3)(b). It was decided that… pic.twitter.com/ZpQZ2YMvs5
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) April 10, 2023
Twitter user Theo Jordan shared images from the book so followers could draw their own conclusions about the appropriateness of the book being made available to high school teenagers:
And I don’t know if that district made the right call, but let’s call a duck a duck here, alright? Something few are willing to do these days because being hateful is much more fun and convenient.
Anne Frank’s diaries are still available in those libraries. This one just isnt.👇 pic.twitter.com/q32L0S5E6T
— Theo Jordan (@Theo_TJ_Jordan) April 11, 2023
And the fact this district didn’t want this book in its libraries while retaining 100s of copies of her diaries is no more not allowing the teaching of Anne Frank than an AP course jam-packed with queer theory, intersectionality, and radical feminism is “African-American History” pic.twitter.com/r9wD2iHdox
— Theo Jordan (@Theo_TJ_Jordan) April 11, 2023
The man has a point.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Understandable mistake. It’s the Diary of BARNEY Frank that’s been banned.
I couldn’t get through Barney’s diary because it was almost totally illegible. The humidity in those bath houses really smears the ink.
Overt attempt to not only sexualize Frank but paint her in lesbian colors. The fixation on sex by the Left as usual. But… keeping with the original diary is .. ah… what?….. “fascist”?
I don’t remember if I ever read this entire book, or just excerpts of it, but if I did I was in something like fifth grade. So are the lesbian passages in the real book (they would have gone over my head), or were they invented out of whole cloth for the comic? It’s sort of necessary to know this, to judge how egregious the comic book was or wasn’t.
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I think they were in there. But not in a lesbian context. There were also parts about her describing her private areas and stuff about a boy as well. The context is a girl hitting puberty while being confined to an attic with only a few people around her and no one to talk to about the changes to her body and her curiosity about other’s bodies but her diary.
They were not in all editions as her father didn’t want that stuff in at least the first several editions. It wasn’t added until much later if I recall correctly.
Also, this was NOT a focus in the book. Just a couple paragraphs here and there.
It’s not like she was lusting after the other girl in the attic the whole time.
The other girl in the attic was her own sister, so it’s highly unlikely that Anne would fall for that.
I believe the play adaptation intimates that Anne was interested in Peter, the son of the other family that shared the annex with them. So much for forcing homosexuality into the story.
The left will go out of its way to portray historical figures as lesbian/gay/whatever. They’ve been doing it for years, with little or no actual evidence to support their assertions.
I thought it was boring, one of those assigned books that somebody foists off on students as important. Probably it still is.
It could have been a lot worse. Silas Marner comes to mind.
You just gave me a flashback to 9th grade.
There is truly nothing quite as repulsive as the leftist propaganda media spewing idiotic lies to their audiences. What is deplorable is that those ovine audiences cannot bother themselves to find out if the libels, slanders and calumny are true, they just mindlessly accept the lies as true. They truly inhabit an altered blue-pill reality.
People who shut down free speech and hire sensitivity writers to rewrite classics don’t actually care about book banning. They love banning books. Ones that offend them.
Well, what they actually love is trying to control what people think.
Nice strategy the woke weirdos have. First they create A dumbed down, graphic novel version of the original work. Then add in a bunch of woke depictions of their conjecture and wish casting of sexual ideas or themes. Now the Moms see it, get riled up and get it removed. Suddenly the d/prog and woke weirdos pounce to exclaim ‘they just banned X’.
By the time the real story comes out that a warped, sexualized, graphic novel version was in fact banned not the original work the lie has spread, the woke weirdos belief that the center/right wants to ban books is reinforced and the media coverage dies out.
Clever strategy. Lesson is don’t let your School board select any graphic novel versions prior to extensive vetting. That’s the only way to avoid the ‘book banning label’.
I agree with everything you say in your post. It’s a good observation and a well-written summary.
I am curious why someone downvoted your post and for what reason. Is someone from the other liberal media platforms lurking here?
It doesn’t matter, but I do want to compliment you on your critical thinking skills.
It’s a great comment, but we are assailed with childish people (on both the Only Trump and the Trump skeptical side) who downvote based on who supports Trump (or not, as the case may be). Ignore down votes, they mean less than nothing now that they are being handed out for wrong-think.
It’s entirely possible that the downvote was accidental, because LI’s comment system doesn’t allow for changing wrongly-made votes.
Good point! The buttons are rather close together, too, particularly difficult to use if on a phone or other small device.
Yes, I’ve had that happen to me.
Thanks for your kind words. TBH I don’t worry about down votes which don’t include a post offering a competing idea. Without that competing idea being posted a down vote is the internet equivalent of some rando flipping you off on the street.
Once upon a time they were called “comic books”. Now they’re “graphic novels”. They’re still just pabulum for kids (and now adults) who can’t read.
Graphic novels are a long-form medium. Think novel vs novella or short story. Many are serious works of art. Hardly “pablum”. Check out Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come and Superman: Peace on Earth.
It is true that graphic novels are distinct from comic books, but they are inferior (“pablum”) to the original since they inherently involve interpretation of the author’s work.
When you read a graphic novel of The Hobbit or The Odyssey, you are reading it through the lens of an intermediate. It’s kind of like eating pre-chewed steak.
So you’ve read The Odyssey in the original Greek? If not, you’ve read it through the lens of an intermediate.
As usual, the left goes for the big lying headline knowing that when the facts come out no one will care because the damage has been done. Hello, RINOs, this has been their MO for years and none of you have ever done anything about it.
Ahhh. The old Katie Couric “some people say…” set up again
Why do Democrats love pedophilia so much??
Good question.
A prime pillar of the Progressive religion is hedonism – pleasure without consequence.
A great many groomers aren’t really doing pedophilia. They’re just conditioning the children to never think of sex as anything but pleasure, no matter in what sort they engage. Pedophilia is sort of a happy coincidence for them.
That was my thought: yeesh these people are not only obsessed but they demand that we be obsessed as well.
Rumors were rampant in nextdoor,com in my county about a school board meeting to ban The Diary of Anne Frank and other books.
The truth was the school board was only doing a routine updating of policies changing “cell phones” to “mobile communications devices” and updating policies and procedures for objecting to books not in the state approved curriculum and assigning responsibilities to principals and administrators.
American school children for multiple generations read chapters from the diary without the Holocaust demeaning visual novel.
As an actual Jew I 100% approve of what that school did. If the Holocaust is to be taught my demands is that it be taught respectfully not as a LGBTQ agenda item that turns a young girl questioning the changes in her body into she has a raging love affair with her sister.
The media is disgusting not only for it’s agenda but for housing nothing but disgusting people.
If you are willing to exploit revulsion of the Holocaust by slandering people as Holocaust deniers you are as revolting as any Holocaust denier.
Next time I see holocaust denial in the news I can’t just take the presses word for it thanks to these revolting evil and disgusting vile pieces of excrement.
The Re-Imagining of Anne Frank.
Anne Frank walking between a row of nude statues? Just when you think lefties can’t descend anymore they lower the bar. I read her diary in high school and trying to turn her into a symbol of homosexuality is demonic. THAT sick book was banned and not Anne’s first person account of her ordeal. May she and her family, RIP.
I don’t recall if the original school board announcement said anything about this graphic novel not being “age appropriate” or not, but bringing such an issue in—as of course, all the enemies of Gov. DeSantis did—misrepresents the substance of the parents’ objection: it misrepresents the Holocaust and it misrepresents the character of Anne Frank. Basta! That’s more than enough to get it excluded from school libraries, where students are probably more likely to read a comic book version than the real thing if presented with the alternative. It is badly misleading about a subject too important to be abandoned to caricature. Is the school board saying that the real Diary, with the brief entries that have apparently occasioned the cartoonist’s fantasies, is to be withheld from the scrutiny of high school seniors? Apparently, they are not. Pulling this trivialized version of one girl’s life during a great historical tragedy need have little to do with speculating whether Anne would have grown up to become a lesbian, although there is precious little in the full Diary to support it. The sex issue is a canard. So stop mentioning it.