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Behind the Blue Wall: Banning Books by “Bad” People
It’s not even Wednesday and I’m already loaded up with topics for Friday’s episode of the “Behind The Blue Wall” podcast (Live from AEI Friday morning, by the way!) The pod is about living as a conservative in the bluest corner of America, which isn’t always easy but is always entertaining.
Thanks to stories like this: “Maine bookstore dumps books by author accused of sexual harassment”
The story is exactly what it sounds like: Quill Books & Beverage in Westbrook, ME has removed books from its shelves by men accused of sexual harassment. Here’s the tweet thread making their case:
That last one is the most interesting: “a safe space commitment that extends to our shelves.” Just imagine what that would look like if they took this notion to its logical end. No J.D. Salinger (pedophile), no William Golding (attempted rape) and, perhaps worst of all … no Ted Kennedy! Where will kids go to get their books about Ted and his dog, Splash? (No joke. He named his dog “Splash.”)
The list of awful people who wrote amazing literature is nearly endless. I guess the gang at Quill could just sell the Bible and a few cookbooks (assuming they weren’t written by Martha Stewart or Paula Deen), but that doesn’t seem like a smart business strategy.
Or a worthwhile bookstore, now that you mention it.
Published in General
Before or after Chappaquiddick?
Tear out the five books of Moses, murder and fugitive.
And the Koran is alleged to have been recorded by a mass murdering pederast. Saint Paul organized the worse kind of getting stoned. All those slaveholders having relations with their property were rapists.
What about bookstore owners? Has their moral probity been gauged? Shouldn’t their background check be posted at the door and available on the web? Did they ever leave their dog on the roof of their car while driving on vacation?
Have these people really given a moment’s thought as to what a “safe place” as they define it entails? My kids were raised on the creed that the world is a dangerous place to be approached with caution. Look both ways? Try, assume every driver is trying to do you harm!
I can’t wait to see the new drivers test.
I’ve never heard of any of those people. They could have just taken the books off the shelves and probably no one would have noticed… which is the point.
This reminds me of the time my mom brought me to the socialist commune bookstore that had a section called ‘Che’s Picks’.
She didnt understand why I wanted to leave a bookstore so fast.
Me neither. And I don’t intend to make the effort. Still, I noted the word “accused”–so guilty until proven innocent–and did wonder about the extent of the alleged “sexual harassment.”
So I guess they’ve put Johnson’s Intellectuals and Scruton’s Fools, Frauds and Firebrands in the window display, right?
Where the hell are the libertarians on this one? Here we conservatarians are, ready to join the fight. But the libertarians aren’t rushing the beaches and getting shot up to establish our beachhead.
This may be the next war that they’re not fighting.
No doubt preparing the way for the total shutting down of thoughts they don’t like. Either label it hate speech or find something unsavory about the author and you have your excuse. And they do it while calling us fascists.
I’ve been in some freakish bookstores in Maine.
Are the shop’s owners aware that a quill is an animal product, plucked with violence and without consent. Their business’s name is oppressive.
A libertarian take would likely form around the book store owners right to run their book store any way they like, and the solution is to shop elsewhere.
I wonder if there are any Trump books on the shelves?