Hogwash is Happening Again
I know a lot of stuff has happened over the past few weeks – some brat inspired a bunch of other brats to march in favor of turning the whole world into a communist hellhole – I mean, in favor of stopping climate change. The DemonShits have decided to open a “formal” impeachment inquiry based on a conversation some asshole overheard, and the President helpfully released a transcript of said conversation to prove that the so-called whistleblower and all his asshole Democrat friends are full of shit.
So all this is happening, and I nearly forgot that it was Banned Books Week, which seems to happen at the end of September now. This year, it runs from the 22nd to the 28th. Seven whole days of blue haired lefty land whales bitching about how some library in rural Wherever doesn’t want to keep tranny porn on their YA shelves.
Of course, if you’re a longtime reader of this blog, you know how I feel about Banned Books Week. Here is my original post on the matter:
In short, this whole event is total and utter bullshit. None of the books the left celebrates during this week have been meaningfully banned, and not very many of them are "banned" under their ridiculous and decidedly WRONG definition.
Interestingly enough, there hasn't been a whole lot of promotion for Banned Books Week this month. I used to be a Barnes & Noble member, but that expired a couple of months ago. I still get emails from them, and not one of them has said anything about Banned Books Week. I also subscribe to a lot of other book-related newsletters (of which I really need to fix, because all my emails are inundated with way too many newsletters). None of them, save for an email from Powells (and I forgive them because Powells is an EXCELLENT bookstore - if you ever find yourself in Portland, OR, I highly recommend visiting their flagship location. Or, you can visit their secondary location in Beaverton). That email is basically the only reason for me even remembering that it was Banned Books Week.
So that's good, I guess. I don't like censorship, but the whole concept of Banned Books Week is deeply deceitful at best. The removal of a book from a given library is not the end of the world, and is hardly censorship. If you can get the book from another library, a friend, or a store, you're good. You don't have the right to read anything for free.
This week, Quillette published something rather interesting. A writer from New Zealand has claimed that his book was banned.
My Book Defending Free Speech Has Been Pulled
recently completed a book defending free speech. Emerald Press scheduled it for publication but then decided not to proceed. Here's what it said about the book in Emerald's September 2019 catalogue: In Defense of Free Speech: The University as Censor Author James R. Flynn, University of Otago, New
So, basically, his publisher decided not to publish the book, because they thought it might hurt someone's feelings, and it might fall afoul of the UK's truly hideous and draconian hate speech laws.
That doesn't mean the book was banned. De-platformed might be a better term, but it wasn't banned. That being said, it's truly sad that the publisher, Emerald Press, decided to cuck out. I truly think they just didn't want to publish it because a great deal of the people working there just disagree with it.
The book was originally going to be called In Defense of Free Speech: The University as Censor and sounded really good. There's nothing stopping him from shopping the manuscript around in hopes of finding a publisher that isn't as leftist and cowardly. The author plans to rename the book A Banned Book: Free speech and universities. I hope he finds a publisher, and I am sure he will. As I said, that doesn't mean the book is banned.
25 years ago, Thomas Sowell published an article called "Hogwash is Happening", all about the ridiculousness of Banned Books Week. I didn't link to it in my original post, but I'm linking it here. Thanks to SafeLibraries.org for posting the article, of which was originally published in the Washington Times (seriously the only newspaper worth reading).
Hopefully the Banned Book Week will go away, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The left loves playing the victim.