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What Will #MeToo Bookstore Do Now That Banned Author Is Cleared?
The news just broke here in Boston: Overrated, cliche-dependent hack Honored liberal literary figure Junot Diaz, best known for his book The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, has been cleared by MIT of allegations that he was sexually inappropriate and verbally abusive toward women.
The college launched its inquiry into Diaz’s behavior toward female students and staff in early May after a woman not affiliated with the school claimed on social media that the celebrated author had “forcibly’’ kissed her and two others posted that he’d been verbally abusive to them.
“To date, MIT has not found or received information that would lead us to take any action to restrict Professor Diaz in his role as an MIT faculty member, and we expect him to teach next academic year, as scheduled,” the university said in a statement. “
You may recall that Diaz was part of the conversation on an episode of Behind The Blue Wall (with special guest Tucker Carlson) when a liberal bookstore in Maine banned his books — as well as those by other authors accused of non-MeToo-friendly behavior — from its stores.
“We have a ‘safe space’ commitment and that extends to our shelves,” one of the co-owners of Quill Books and Beverage said at the time. OK … so what now? Will there be a public apology? A ceremony welcoming Diaz into the fold? Or, since it’s our duty to #BelieveAllWomen, will Quill Books just ignore the investigation by MIT and keep Diaz in the PC doghouse?
There is, obviously, another solution: Don’t be a bookstore that bans books.
Then again, given that bike lanes are part of the patriarchal oppression now (“Roads Designed By Men Are Killing Women” — actual headline), I suppose such sentiments are but forlorn hopes.
Published in General
My guess is that he’s fortunate his name isn’t Bob Smith. Or Michael Graham.
From Amazon on the author:
Winner of:
The Pulitzer Prize
The National Book Critics Circle Award
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize
A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year
One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more…
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Why would you ban books, let alone an author who receives this much admiration? If the accusations against him were false, then he should be invited to sign copies and they should put his books in the window – otherwise, they are applying Nazi tactics and might as well get a metal trash barrel, light it up and advertise a book burning event and to bring marshmallows.
Thank you for the update.