To take our minds off the recent fighting in the Middle East, the economic turmoil at home, and the possibility of another season of anything involving the Kardashians, let’s read a book. That is, if those evil mean illiterate nasty Republicans let you!
Over the past year or so, parents have been finding out there’s more being taught in schools besides the 3 Rs (which, if you want to get technical, is really an R, a W, and an A), and it’s pissed them off a little bit. Then again, who needs to learn math, English, and science when there’s albino bisexual midget quadriplegic slam poetry to learn?
As a result of these revelations, Republican governors like Ron DeSantis and Kim Reynolds have rolled out what the Left has called “book bans.” Leftists also proudly proclaim “We Read Banned Books” if the Facebook and The Social Media Network Formerly Known as Twitter posts and laminated stickers are any indication. The Right has pushed back saying they’re not book bans because the books are still available, just not to certain students.
So, what’s the truth? As you might expect, it’s a lot more gray than you’d think.
book bans
What the Left thinks it means – efforts by the Right to ban books because they don’t like them and want students to be ill-informed
What it really means – keeping creepy shit out of the hands of those unprepared to deal with the subject matter
Recent American history has not been kind to fans of the written word, such as your humble correspondent. We’ve seen books burned, trashed, destroyed, and otherwise maligned by people whose intentions may have been good on the surface, but were really just the motivations of some crazed dickweed with a Paul Bunyon-sized ax to grind. For a long time, it was the more religiously-bent among us who enjoyed making a bonfire out of Bonfire of the Vanities, but around the 1990s, the Left started getting into the act, not with torches, but with Political Correctness.
It started with Huckleberry Finn, a literary classic that entertained young and old alike since its initial publishing. But when PC became a thing, the book fell into disfavor for its frequent use of a term I won’t repeat here because a) it’s offensive, and b) I’m not Michael Richards. After raising a stink about the word, Leftists sought to remove it from schools to fight racism. Context and time period didn’t matter because even though the words were written several decades before these dipshits were born, they were offended now! And back then, just like today, when something offended them, it had to be eliminated. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the adventures of Huck and Jim were safe.
That’s the kind of book bans the Left doesn’t want us to talk about or acknowledge. They want us to think about the Right burning books or wanting Harry Potter books removed from school libraries because concerned parents think it promotes witchcraft and the occult. While the overt push for book bans is still being done, quiet book bans are also taking place, either through complete disinterest in the subject matter or author or through a shame campaign forcing people to choose between reading some books and being on “the right side of history.” Unfortunately, shame works all too well, especially in today’s society where we’re more narcissistic and status-conscious than ever before. And if it’s not something about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, it just ain’t important, amirite?
In the current sense, book bans are being done by both sides, just for different reasons. The Left wants books (and sometimes even authors) memory-holed for not staying in lock step with the current ideology. The Right…well, let’s just say they have a slightly different reason, namely the absolute stuff being passed off as elementary school and young adult literature. Such as Gender Queer, a graphic novel geared towards young adults that shows illustrations of how to give a blow job.
At this rate, the 3 Rs are going to include have to make room for one or two more, such as rimjobs. (Author’s Note: if you don’t know what one is, don’t look it up. Trust me on this.)
And then there is This Book Is Gay, also geared towards middle school students, with mentions of the gay dating site Grindr. (And I must repeat, this is being geared towards middle school students, something definitely not appropriate for anyone under 18.) Having been a middle school student once, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been ready for that kind of subject matter because I was just getting used to the changes in my own body, as well as the emotional and intellectual maturity going on. Today’s kids are even less prepared than I was to handle it. They may be more accepting of it, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for it.
As much as I criticize the Right for the crazy shit they do with regards to books, they actually have a point here. To make matters worse for the Left, DeSantis, Reynolds, and others aren’t actually banning the aforementioned books, but rather suggesting they be kept in more appropriate libraries with the option for parents and/or students to request they be checked out from said libraries. And they aren’t prohibiting parents from buying these books themselves.
If that’s a book ban, it has to be one of the shittiest ever.
On the other side of the coin, the Left’s current brand revolves around “cancel culture” so it’s not that much of a stretch to think they’re fine with banning books they don’t like. Just ask J.K. Rowling, once a Leftist darling whose books inspired Leftists to pretend Donald Trump was Voldemort, but then became a pariah for daring to think…women are women and trans women aren’t! How revolting!
Along with Rowling, you can add authors like Ayn Rand, Dr. Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Tammy Bruce, and a laundry list of Right-leaning writers who have been removed from Leftist minds by virtue (or in this case vice) of not being Leftists and, therefore, not worth their time. Amazing how the Left’s version of diversity excludes the intellectual kind.
More disturbing to me, however, is the cavalier nature of the Left redefining book bans to include what DeSantis and Reynolds are doing. But, as with most things Leftist, it’s being done for multiple purposes…or is that purposi? Anyway, the point is the Left has a vested interest in painting those parents and politicians who don’t think little Johnny should be learning how to assfuck his best friend along with his ABCs as extremist whackjobs.
The most obvious motivations are political. After all, the LGBTQIA+2R14X-ROCKINTHEUSA community is firmly in the back pockets of the Left, both figuratively and literally, so Leftists want to make them happy. Gotta keep those coffers full, right?
Which leads into another motivation: to create more of the LGBTQIA+APOLLO13CUBS2 community to perpetually keep the coffers full. The Left’s real anger over the book bans isn’t that the books are being banned, but rather that the subject matter of those books and where it’s being placed in public schools got revealed. And they would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids…err…parents. If nobody found out, Leftists would have been able to keep it going and create an assembly line of kids who parrot Leftists squawking points without even so much as a second thought.
Including those who continue to parrot the “Republicans are banning books” lie.
The Left have caught themselves in a trap of their own making. On the one hand, they’re putting these books into public school libraries without telling anyone outside of their ideological and work bubble to ensure they get there. Then, when called out on it, they lie by omission by conflating books like Gender Queer with other controversial, yet far more innocuous, books. But when parents and groups like Moms for Liberty show up to school board meetings and try to read from these books, the board tries to shut them down and Leftists go after the parents. If there’s nothing wrong with the books, why try to silence those who want to share the intellectual wealth, as it were?
Because it’s never about the books themselves. It’s always about the ideology.
I’m of the mindset that the best way to handle controversial topics is to bring them into the light of day. Not only does it offer the best possible way to provide a way forward and foster understanding, it exposes the bad faith actors. Although the Right still has their book banning assholes, the Left is doing their best to keep pace. Blaming Ron DeSantis, Kim Reynolds, or any Republican Governor for taking steps to keep inappropriate subject matter out of the hands of kids not yet ready to process it exposes the bad faith actors on the Left and only serves to make their arguments against said Governors weaker by compassion.
And, no, “because DeSantis is a meanie head” isn’t an argument. Even if you stomp your feet and threaten to hold your breath.