Censorship Prevails Among Those Who Decry Censorship

Banned Books Week, which begins this Sunday, ironically presents to the public a more monolithic face than the modern-day Anthony Comstocks it purports to counteract.

The four chairs of Banned Books Week include anti–Second Amendment activist Bess Kalb, who has written comedy for Jimmy Kimmel and Hillary Clinton; Marshall Romero, a self-described “transgender teenager with aspirations in politics”; and Azeemah Sadiq, whose bio lists her interests as “fighting for equity in underserved communities” and “electoral justice.” Given the heavy-handed DEI book displays one inevitably encounters at all times in any big-city library (a trip to my local library this week revealed three consecutive tables that highlight books by feminists, gays, and immigrants, respectively), the notion pushed by the American Library Association and other allied groups that libraries, schools, and other institutions overwhelmingly populated by left-wing employees do not themselves censor politically incorrect books but instead succumb to pressure by intolerant, external forces on the right seems rich.

About the Author

Daniel J. Flynn

Daniel J. Flynn, the author of The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer, is an American Spectator senior editor, visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, and YouTuber @RightWingWilderness.

Featured Tags

Manage following

First Amendment

Censorship

Banned Books Week, which begins this Sunday, ironically presents to the public a more monolithic face than the modern-day Anthony Comstocks it purports to counteract.

The four chairs of Banned Books Week include anti–Second Amendment activist Bess Kalb, who has written comedy for Jimmy Kimmel and Hillary Clinton; Marshall Romero, a self-described “transgender teenager with aspirations in politics”; and Azeemah Sadiq, whose bio lists her interests as “fighting for equity in underserved communities” and “electoral justice.” Given the heavy-handed DEI book displays one inevitably encounters at all times in any big-city library (a trip to my local library this week revealed three consecutive tables that highlight books by feminists, gays, and immigrants, respectively), the notion pushed by the American Library Association and other allied groups that libraries, schools, and other institutions overwhelmingly populated by left-wing employees do not themselves censor politically incorrect books but instead succumb to pressure by intolerant, external forces on the right seems rich.