As Twitchy reported earlier this week, the mainstream media had a field day over a school in Florida banning “The Hill We Climb,” a poem written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The source for the story was a statement posted to Twitter by Gorman herself, and it looks like no “journalists” thought to contact the school for comment.
The claim was debunked by the following morning, and the school put out a statement to parents explaining that they’d reviewed the book and decided it was more appropriate for middle schoolers than elementary school kids. The book was literally moved from one shelf in the library to another shelf in the same library, and elementary schoolers could still check it out if they wanted.
On Friday, Washington Post opinion columnist Greg Sargent called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “absolutely shameless” for “lashing out at the media” over this poem hoax. “Just preposterous,” says Sargent.
Utterly shameless: Ron DeSantis is lashing out at the media for reporting on the removal of the Amanda Gorman book, calling it a "poem hoax." Again, *one single objector* got this poem removed, simply by slapping the label "hate" on it. Just preposterous:https://t.co/eFHkNuEgf4
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 26, 2023
This keeps getting lost, but the Amanda Gorman poem wasn't the only thing that got removed. Also removed: "Love to Langston" and "The ACBs of Black History." These books were expressly written to introduce black history to kids in lower grades!https://t.co/eFHkNuEgf4 pic.twitter.com/o3lMchapnP
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 26, 2023
DeSantis's directives are designed to encourage lone parents-turned-activists to hunt for offending books to purge. Local functionaries are complying.
In another county, one person got 20 books by Jodi Picoult and 8 by Nora Roberts pulled from schools:https://t.co/eFHkNuEgf4 pic.twitter.com/coxQ6URg5n
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 26, 2023
But Sargent’s tweet still says a parent “got this poem removed.”
The book was moved from the elementary school library to the middle school library. It wasn’t banned.
— @amuse (@amuse) May 27, 2023
Yes, the piece explicitly concedes this. You saw that before tweeting this, right?
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 27, 2023
No, we just saw what your tweet said about it being “removed” — you saw that it wasn’t removed before you wrote the tweet, right?
Utterly inaccurate. What Desantis said is that they moved it from the grade school library to the high school library.
— Mark Wright (@Quindel1plex) May 27, 2023
The book was simply put in an age appropriate library as it was found inappropriate for K-3. Your tweet is, at best, misleading pic.twitter.com/A06ojSFGrM
— Julie Quan TN Republican (@juliequan_tngop) May 27, 2023
Yes, the piece explicitly concedes this. You saw that before tweeting this, right?
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 27, 2023
Sargent sure is spending a lot of time on a Saturday morning shaming those duped by his misleading tweet.
The piece says this, and goes on to argue why it's nonetheless not exonerating. Instead of mindlessly, robotically tweeting what someone else said, have an independent thought instead.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 26, 2023
How about not tweeting something mindlessly and robotically anti-DeSantis just because you’re a liberal? The book was not “removed.” The tweet is a lie. How about deleting the tweet and correcting it instead of insulting people for not reading your obviously biased piece?
The Big Lie technique – you guys just repeat the lie over and over.
Book was moved from K-6 shelves to middle school shelves.
Remains available to every kid in the school.@NoteNeeded pic.twitter.com/2N3tO5tXJq
— GeroDoc (@doc_gero) May 27, 2023
Again, you do NOT do any research. The book was moved from one shelf to another in the same library – and is still available to ALL students at the school. The establishment media and you want to believe this so badly you still push it after it has been completely proven false.
— Charlie Johnston (@JohnstonPilgrim) May 27, 2023
You do know that moving it from one bookshelf to another bookshelf is not removing or banning.
It's like if the Gulag Archipelago was inadvertently on the K-3 shelf and they realized it belonged at a higher grade level.
Plus anyone can still check it out, even kindergarteners.
— ManintheArena (@Vingancia) May 27, 2023
Greg, the only thing utterly shameless is you still trying to push this lie.
— Silence and Frost (@secjr112) May 27, 2023
Why should we read an opinion piece when the tweet linking to it is bogus? “I didn’t say the book was removed!” keeps saying the guy whose tweet said the book was removed. Lie in the tweet that will get thousands of impressions and then correct the record in the opinion column which nowhere near as many are going to read.
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Related:
Journalism! AP story about book ‘banned’ at Fla. school debunks headline https://t.co/9EA7UYaskp
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 25, 2023
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