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Opinion: Current weather: A blizzard of snowflakes in the red states
Opinions
Opinion: Current weather: A blizzard of snowflakes in the red states
By Dana Milbank
Columnist | Follow
Yesterday at 5:31 p.m. EST
{snip}
“The sense that this has gone too far has triggered a backlash that is so much more censorious and silencing than what it purports to counter,” Suzanne Nossel, the head of PEN America, tells me. “You have legislative bans on ideas, historical perspectives, terminology, books. If you think about the hierarchy of infringements on free speech, there’s just no question that legislative prohibitions on ideology are the top of the list. … It’s an effort to frighten and intimidate teachers and administrators and dictate how they teach at penalty of fines and discipline and ostracism and firings.”
Groups such as “Moms for Liberty” and “No Left Turn” have proposed lists of books to be banned. In Texas, the Republican chairman of the House General Investigating Committee sent schools a list of 850 books related to race, gender and sexuality that could “make students feel discomfort.”
In addition to PEN America and the ALA, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Coalition Against Censorship are tracking the book bans, gag laws and other attempts at stifling speech. But it’s difficult to keep up. Virginia’s new Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, created a tip line so informants can report on teachers teaching anything “divisive.” Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, launched a statewide hunt for “pornography” (that is, books about gender and sexuality) in schools.
Among the works that have been on the chopping block: August Wilson’s “Fences,” an Oscar-nominated PBS documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” about James Baldwin, the bestseller “The Hate U Give” — and a coloring book with African Adinkra symbols. ... Canceling a coloring book? Who’s a snowflake now?
______________________________________________________________________________________
Opinion by Dana Milbank
Dana Milbank is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious in politics. Twitter https://twitter.com/Milbank
Opinion: Current weather: A blizzard of snowflakes in the red states
By Dana Milbank
Columnist | Follow
Yesterday at 5:31 p.m. EST
{snip}
“The sense that this has gone too far has triggered a backlash that is so much more censorious and silencing than what it purports to counter,” Suzanne Nossel, the head of PEN America, tells me. “You have legislative bans on ideas, historical perspectives, terminology, books. If you think about the hierarchy of infringements on free speech, there’s just no question that legislative prohibitions on ideology are the top of the list. … It’s an effort to frighten and intimidate teachers and administrators and dictate how they teach at penalty of fines and discipline and ostracism and firings.”
Groups such as “Moms for Liberty” and “No Left Turn” have proposed lists of books to be banned. In Texas, the Republican chairman of the House General Investigating Committee sent schools a list of 850 books related to race, gender and sexuality that could “make students feel discomfort.”
In addition to PEN America and the ALA, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Coalition Against Censorship are tracking the book bans, gag laws and other attempts at stifling speech. But it’s difficult to keep up. Virginia’s new Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, created a tip line so informants can report on teachers teaching anything “divisive.” Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, launched a statewide hunt for “pornography” (that is, books about gender and sexuality) in schools.
Among the works that have been on the chopping block: August Wilson’s “Fences,” an Oscar-nominated PBS documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” about James Baldwin, the bestseller “The Hate U Give” — and a coloring book with African Adinkra symbols. ... Canceling a coloring book? Who’s a snowflake now?
______________________________________________________________________________________
Opinion by Dana Milbank
Dana Milbank is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious in politics. Twitter https://twitter.com/Milbank