Institutions writers could once count on to defend them…now race to see who can kowtow most obsequiously to the censor-morons.
– “Censorship Ascendant”
Until a few years ago, traditional top-down censorship was largely a thing of the past, something I wrote about annually at the beginning of Banned Books Week to remind people that it could happen again. As recently as 2016, I used the occasion to write,
…top-down state censorship…is very rare now in the United States, and has been for decades; the majority of “challenges” now (despite the celebration’s name, it’s pretty rare that books are actually removed from public collections) originate not with state officials or other “authorities”, but with individuals seeking to “protect the children” from thoughts their parents don’t want them to have…
Of course, none of that is true any longer. Top-down censorship has returned with a vengeance, mostly implemented by fascist corporations acting on behalf of governments. But in the US, politicians in many states have implemented traditional censorship in school libraries, even to the point of threatening librarians with criminal charges. The “Thought Control” tag, which formerly appeared only once in a while, has had several entries a month since this new book-burning fad took off last November. Meanwhile, the “cancel culture” censorship which has been growing for years has grown so pervasive that even the somewhat pro-censorship New York Times can no longer endorse it. I’m honestly unsure where this will end; we’re well into uncharted territory my librarian self would’ve found unbelievable. So if you haven’t been paying attention, I suggest you peruse the aforementioned “Thought Control” tag, and revisit the columns I’ve quoted from below. Because there’s only one thing about this situation which is certain: like all authoritarianism, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
We are watching the advent of a new dark age, and in such times no light is entirely safe from being snuffed out by zealots, speech-cops and bureaucrats whose ideal model for human society is the anthill. – “The Convergence of Censors”
Every two-bit dictatorship has recognized that all it needs to do to justify thought control is parrot Western “hate speech” idiocy. – “The Return of the Censor”
Though lily-livered fools have been demanding they be “protected” from ideas they don’t like for several years now, it’s terrifying how quickly this terrible idea has moved from the lunatic fringe to the mainstream. – “Suppression”
[Many young adults] not only display an ovine passivity in the face of censorship, but actively run to the nanny-state to hide in her skirts lest they see or hear some idea or word, or see some image, that will cause some ripple in the placid lakes of their privileged lives and perhaps actually require them to think rather than merely consuming and regurgitating the dogma they’ve been spoon-fed. – “Unwise Monkeys”
The censor-morons are loose, and they’re coming after everyone who dares to disagree with them. – “The Censor-Moron”
It doesn’t matter whether the excuse is “sin” or “feelings”, or the injured party is conceived of as an individual or collective, or the suppression comes from above or below, or the method is violence or economics; the suppression of thought and speech is evil, tyrannical and socially self-lobotomizing. – “Moral Climate”
Thinking people must not let themselves be intimidated by…self-appointed guardians of the public morality; we must speak out against all forms of censorship and speech suppression, whether advanced by guns, threats, intimidation or appeals to nebulous “harm”. – “Censor Chic”
The belief that the state or collective has the right to [censor] is an abomination; it is nothing less than the dogma that the state owns every individual, body and soul, and has the right to torture or maim those individuals as it pleases. – “Crippling Thought”
The important thing to remember when listening to any demand for censorship is that no matter what excuse the censor presents to attain his goal, he is ultimately lying. It’s not really about “public safety”, or the “children”, or “community standards”, or whatever else he may claim; it’s about the fact that his leaky mind is unable to keep unwelcome thoughts out, so he demands that society do it for him. – “Thought Control”
