Michelle Goldberg: A Frenzy Of Book-Banning

[eyeroll]

1. Alright, so:  banning books: bad. Right out. No. 

2. It's a little ridiculous to focus on a few nutty, rightward parental misfires in the face of the insane leftist tsunami that's engulfing the nation...but I guess we've gotta play the hand we're dealt. Looniness is looniness, and has to be addressed wherever it crops up.

3. I'm sure Goldberg is bullshitting/spinning/misrepresenting some of this. But that sort of goes without saying anymore. I'll basically just take her word for it all, for the sake of the argument.

4. To some extent this sounds like a freedom of speech question. On that front, I'm for maximal protections. 

5. I argue, ad hominem, that the left has pretty consistently argued for narrowing speech protections, based, basically, on hurt feelings. See, bruised snowflake fee-fees are ABSOLUTELY GROUNDS FOR CRUSHING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BIGOT... But parents trying to protect their kids from twisted violence and sex...NOT A REASON!!! Not even a reason for keeping the blowjob books behind the counter, apparently.

6. If the tables were turned, we'd get standard lefty arguments like: we're not saying you can't write it--we're saying we don't have to "platform" you by putting your book in our library...bigot.

7. To some extent this is a question about "age-appropriateness," and parents deciding what sexual content their kids should be exposed to. I don't know anything about such things, but I thought it was uncontroversial that parents have some such authority. It's not like the kids can't find out basically whatever they want to find out. Parents, I'd think, ought to have some control over what's basically pushed in their kids faces...though that may apply more to classrooms than to libraries. 

(I'll bet a lot of the books in question don't just sit on the shelves--I'd bet they show up in a lot of those displays. Like "Spotlight on gender!" and "You may already be trans!" and, apparently, "Anal sex week!"...or WTH ever... But this is speculation.)

8. To some extent it may be about something like the dopey "platforming" notion...and the leftist takeover of libraries. Librarians apparently tend to be extremely Woketarian. My guess is that libraries are becoming like classrooms: strongly tilted leftward. So, to some extent, this may be a revolt against that--the first, inchoate version of a demand for objectivity/even-handedness when it comes to "curating" library collections. That is: my guess is that we're not talking about neutral libraries and neutral librarians and books that are sitting on the shelves but not being promoted...

   But, again: speculation. 

   I don't know what's happening, and I don't exactly trust Goldberg and the NYT to tell me.

   Goldberg is at least still willing to make a weak gesture at a free speech argument. So I guess that's something. At least one point in her favor.