While listening to a French podcast about the life of Lenny Bruce a few months ago, I thought to myself that “you couldn’t distribute this in the United States today.” Of course, I then read on the FIRE website that reporter Jad Sleiman had been fired from his job at a public radio station because of his night job as a comedian. The “New Victorians” are certainly not afraid to show who they are.
Greg brings needed nuance and a ready knowledge of the subject to this important subject. Virtually no newspaper that I read, and I read a lot, makes the distinction between age-appropriate placement decisions and banning. At the same time, the censorious intentions of sensitivity readers is never discussed.
I am disheartened by the need to break the discussion into right versus left though. What we are seeing is an assault on the universalist values that formed a consensus after the Second World War. This includes all of the achievements rooted in these values. Under today’s neo-religious values system, Harry Truman would not have desegregated the military. There would be no “Brown v. Board of Education.” Now, if some succeed, we will have separate but equal as imagined by Baskin Robbins.
We are being denied our common humanity and the brotherly love that springs from it.
Thank you Greg for your thoughtful essay. I look forward to more.
Maybe, the grift of "cancel culture" or "wokeism" or "DEI" and "ESG" are all cut from the same cloth. Seems to to me. We know, you don't, so listen and learn. Sound "Fauci" familiar?
I am among the few people who actually enjoys Twitter under Elon’s regime. I see so much more acknowledgment of reality there than when censorship ruled. Trying to turn Substack into the old Twitter would kill it. If someone doesn’t want to see something in either place, fucking block it yourself you lazy wuss.
This recent story of a list of books supposedly removed because of the Florida law is wholly unverified. It evidently originated with an advocacy group which furnished a list to the Orlando Sentinel, which in turn published it without any independent verification. There’s no telling how the list of “removed” titles were collected, but the process could simply have involved “removals” reported by teachers who opposed the law because it curtailed their authority. There’s simply no telling, and until there is I think the notion teachers were forced to or thought they had to remove Dickens and Dante can be taken with a grain of salt. Just my two cents.
You claim your book was banned by Orange County Public schools then you link to a website that links to "700 titles that lacked a "lowest approved grade" designation upon review" and your book is not on the list. Your book is found on Osceola County's list of "rejected" books but the article clearly states this designation does not mean the book is "banned" like you claim, and a teacher can request a review of the book to get it approved. Be a little more honest with your readers and fix the error above.
People love telling other people what to do, especially those who are inferior or are just too stupid to think the way they do. In the great circle of life it just depends on who has the upper hand at the time. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Resist. Or knuckle under.
Psychologically speaking, the behavior of critical theory activists is similar to that of Puritans because it is about superego aggression (driven by moral values)and/or narcissistic aggression carried out in the name of moral concerns. The aggressors are generally True Believers, and in both cultural contexts, people with authoritarian, repressive values. Both superego aggression and narcissistic aggression justified by moralistic arguments were also prominently featured in the Inquisitions perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and more recently by Islamists.
I really enjoyed the balance of this article. I think this age suffers from an unwillingness to look at both sides of an issue to have an informed discussion without name-calling.
While listening to a French podcast about the life of Lenny Bruce a few months ago, I thought to myself that “you couldn’t distribute this in the United States today.” Of course, I then read on the FIRE website that reporter Jad Sleiman had been fired from his job at a public radio station because of his night job as a comedian. The “New Victorians” are certainly not afraid to show who they are.
Greg brings needed nuance and a ready knowledge of the subject to this important subject. Virtually no newspaper that I read, and I read a lot, makes the distinction between age-appropriate placement decisions and banning. At the same time, the censorious intentions of sensitivity readers is never discussed.
I am disheartened by the need to break the discussion into right versus left though. What we are seeing is an assault on the universalist values that formed a consensus after the Second World War. This includes all of the achievements rooted in these values. Under today’s neo-religious values system, Harry Truman would not have desegregated the military. There would be no “Brown v. Board of Education.” Now, if some succeed, we will have separate but equal as imagined by Baskin Robbins.
We are being denied our common humanity and the brotherly love that springs from it.
Thank you Greg for your thoughtful essay. I look forward to more.
Maybe, the grift of "cancel culture" or "wokeism" or "DEI" and "ESG" are all cut from the same cloth. Seems to to me. We know, you don't, so listen and learn. Sound "Fauci" familiar?
Wow, that Rising segment sure was something!
I am among the few people who actually enjoys Twitter under Elon’s regime. I see so much more acknowledgment of reality there than when censorship ruled. Trying to turn Substack into the old Twitter would kill it. If someone doesn’t want to see something in either place, fucking block it yourself you lazy wuss.
This recent story of a list of books supposedly removed because of the Florida law is wholly unverified. It evidently originated with an advocacy group which furnished a list to the Orlando Sentinel, which in turn published it without any independent verification. There’s no telling how the list of “removed” titles were collected, but the process could simply have involved “removals” reported by teachers who opposed the law because it curtailed their authority. There’s simply no telling, and until there is I think the notion teachers were forced to or thought they had to remove Dickens and Dante can be taken with a grain of salt. Just my two cents.
You claim your book was banned by Orange County Public schools then you link to a website that links to "700 titles that lacked a "lowest approved grade" designation upon review" and your book is not on the list. Your book is found on Osceola County's list of "rejected" books but the article clearly states this designation does not mean the book is "banned" like you claim, and a teacher can request a review of the book to get it approved. Be a little more honest with your readers and fix the error above.
In Puritan America, ostracization amounted to a death sentence. Take a ride on the Hutch.
People love telling other people what to do, especially those who are inferior or are just too stupid to think the way they do. In the great circle of life it just depends on who has the upper hand at the time. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Resist. Or knuckle under.
That's an interesting coincidence: in 2016 I posted a paper titled "The New Victorianism".
https://openanthropology.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/forte_new_victorianism1.pdf
Psychologically speaking, the behavior of critical theory activists is similar to that of Puritans because it is about superego aggression (driven by moral values)and/or narcissistic aggression carried out in the name of moral concerns. The aggressors are generally True Believers, and in both cultural contexts, people with authoritarian, repressive values. Both superego aggression and narcissistic aggression justified by moralistic arguments were also prominently featured in the Inquisitions perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and more recently by Islamists.
I really enjoyed the balance of this article. I think this age suffers from an unwillingness to look at both sides of an issue to have an informed discussion without name-calling.