The news of a principal of a public secondary school in the capital city is going around the world FloridaHope Carrasquilla, who was forced to resign after a conference on the Renaissance in which she showed the Michelangelo’s David, which some parents have called “pornographic”. A shocking fact, bordering on the surreal, but that The Simpsonsin the ninth episode of the second season (1991), they had already predicted.
The Simpsons episode
In the episode in question, Marge is horrified by the violence portrayed in the children’s television show Itchy and Itchy. After failing to get the production company to tone down the sound scenes, he decides to assemble an angry mob called SNUH (Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding and Help) to protest the broadcast. Meanwhile, Michelangelo’s David is sent across the United States, with a scheduled stop in the Simpsons town of Springfield, angering members of SNUH, who urge Marge to take a stand against the famous sculpture, claiming it is offensive and inappropriate However, Marge, being an artist herself, insists that it is a masterpiece but that is why she is opposed by the group who accuse her of hypocrisy. Marge finally relents and gives up on her anti-violence campaign. Finally, Michelangelo’s David arrives in the city and wins freedom of expression.
The case of Florida
More than two decades later, “history” repeats itself, albeit with a more tragic than comic ending. The incredible story is reported by the US media, evoking a ‘DeSantis effect’, the Republican governor who has launched a crusade to give more powers to parents in the management of school education and to ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in primary school. A turning point shared nationally by the Grand Old Party, which just passed a bill in the House (“censorship,” according to the Dem) to force public schools to distribute to parents a comprehensive list of books in school libraries. Giving Carrasquilla the aut aut (resignation or firing) was Tallahassee Classical School board president Barney Bishop, a staunch supporter of DeSantis’ education policies, including the campaign against “woke indoctrination.” “The rights of parents are paramount, and that means protecting the interests of all parents, whether they are one, 10, 20 or 50,” explained Bishop, refusing to formalize the reason for his resignation.
The Simpsons predicted Florida parents’ ‘pornographic’ outrage over Michelangelo’s David https://t.co/GJhTsk8Col
— The Independent (@Independent) March 24, 2023
The dismissal
The headmistress said she was convinced that everything was linked to her lesson on Michelangelo. Paradoxical in a school that calls itself a ‘classical school’ and that on its website presents itself as follows: “The Tallahassee Classical School trains the mind and improves the heart of young people through a classical education rich in content in the arts and liberal sciences, with the teaching of moral principles and civic virtue”. In addition to the David, considered one of Michelangelo’s masterpieces and one of the greatest sculptures of the Renaissance, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus or the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo himself would also have upset parents. What happened in the Florida capital is not the first such case in the US, where the culture in general, even at universities, is suffering the dangerous drift of censorship and canceling culture, even from the left.In 2022, for example, attempts to ban certain books from American public schools and libraries reached record levels, according to the American Library Association Se according to the data, more than 2,500 books were contested last year compared to 1,858 in 2021 and “only 566 in 2019”. It’s not only conservatives who raise objections (usually against LGBTQ+ content), but also progressives. For example, they targeted Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” for “racist” language. Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma have already introduced bills to ban some controversial books. A scene that seems to be a prelude to ‘Fahrenheit 451’, the famous dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury that inspired Francois Truffaut’s cinematic masterpiece. (MANAGE).
Source : IL Messaggero
