5 ms·
What books were banned by "the left"?
by dmbche 3y ago
What books were banned by "the left"?
- mellosouls 3y agoI was commenting on "restrictions on speech", of which book banning is a historically symbolic example but less relevant in the modern age. In the West the left has dominated restricting speech.
- _a_a_a_ 3y agoLike the famously left-wing Nazi's bookburning?
- throw0101b 3y ago> Like the famously left-wing Nazi's bookburning? Like the famously left-wing CCP book burning: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_censorship_in_China#Mao_Zedong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_censorship_in_China#Mao_Z... Authoritarians exists on the left as well: * https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/psychological-dimensions-left-wing-authoritarianism/620185/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/psychologi...
- mellosouls 3y ago"of which book banning is a historically symbolic example" so yes, that's why I used the word "historically" and... "(it dominated in previous times like the McCarthy era)" ...noted the dominance of the right in previous decades.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y ago[flagged]
- spondylosaurus 3y agoI'd even argue that the wave of anti-drag legislation hitting the US right now is an attack on free expression akin to free speech. (What gives state legislature the right to ban me from putting on too much makeup and lip syncing to Madonna?)
- mansion7 3y agoIt's the very peculiar, very strenuous insistence that children watch, and participate, as men cavort in women's clothes in a sexually charged manner. Followed by the vilification of people with quite reasonable concerns as "transphobes" (a fireable, deplatformable, censorable offense) and "Nazis" (who have been deemed acceptable targets of unprovoked violence). But for that, most Americans would go back to not caring. Regrettably, some don't understand the concept of boundaries or restraint, or think it doesn't apply to them. Possibly because we have many in the media/entertainment industry, government, and education system telling them that they're right.
- spondylosaurus 3y agoWhat? You're implying a lot of things here, so I'm struggling to follow all of them, but I find it especially odd to suggest that being anti-Nazi is somehow unfair to them or otherwise unprovoked. I can think of at least one rather conspicuous example of a time when Nazis "started it," so to speak. Some of my relatives didn't make it out of that one.
- lostlogin 3y agoYour comment read better when it was just ‘What?’ I’d suggest just moving on - a look at comment history has a couple of similar comments.
- spondylosaurus 3y agoYeah, you weren't kidding about their comment history. A looooot of talk about Nazis and their ilk. (Something something doth protest too much?) Noted on the brevity though, lol. I really gotta stop engaging these types in any serious capacity and save myself the blood pressure spike.
- mansion7 3y agoYou say family members died because of Nazis, then trivialize actual Nazism by insinuating that I may be one, because I dislike people casually using that term! It sounds as though blood pressure medication isn't the only type of medication you may require.
- UberFly 3y ago"More - any outlet or organisation deemed too left or incompatible with right wing values is in danger of being shot up by right wing extremists" Come on now. Deep breaths.
- lostlogin 3y ago> Neither the US nor the UK media have any significant consistent left representation. Do you mean people, or publications? The likes of The Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post are pretty good and have existed a while. I’d say they were centre-left at most, but that is a political statement that the right would likely disagree with.
- dmbche 3y agoWhat speech is restricted? I have nothing I can't say as long as it's not hateful/diffamatory, and if I do say it I can be sued for damages. What are we referring to?
- jl6 3y agoDo research papers count as books? https://unherd.com/2023/04/did-city-uni-censor-my-gender-research/ https://unherd.com/2023/04/did-city-uni-censor-my-gender-res... This one’s hilarious/tragic because the censored paper was researching censorship.
- indy 3y ago"the left" is perhaps too broad a group, but definitely amongst the progressive liberal left there are now examples of editing particular books to remove problematic terms. I'd consider this an even more insidious attack on free speech than outright banning books.
- lostlogin 3y ago> “the left" is perhaps too broad a group When a political system has two parties, this is exactly what one would expect. The book ban proponents and book editors are likely a tiny fraction of the population. However in a two party system, they are part of their party. This is what you get.
- throw0101b 3y ago> What books were banned by "the left"? Not banning but altering would be one form of censorship, e.g., "Roald Dahl books rewritten to remove language deemed offensive": * https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-boo... "Why I Decided to Update the Language in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Children’s Books": * https://lithub.com/why-i-decided-to-update-the-language-in-ursula-k-le-guins-childrens-books/ https://lithub.com/why-i-decided-to-update-the-language-in-u... "D&D: WotC’s New Batch Of Errata Removes Racial Alignments, Retcons Drow": * https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2021/12/dd-wotc-removes-racial-alignments-retcons-drow-in-new-batch-of-errata.html https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2021/12/dd-wotc-removes-raci... To quote George Orwell's 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." The past is being rewritten (as opposed to leaving the original language and simply putting a forward in explaining things).
- tshaddox 3y agoWeren’t all of those changes done willingly by the publishers/copyright holders of those works?
- throw0101b 3y agoMaybe, maybe not; it's hard to tell: how many folks are willing to stake their livelihood on saying "no" to a potential mob of progressives that will 'cancel' them? Saying to them "what is written is written; make your own (new) stories with the words you want".
- tshaddox 3y agoThen it sounds like you’re just describing normal persuasion, rather than using state power or violence. At that point, the heart of the disagreement isn’t over methodology (“censorship is bad”) or broad human rights (“freedom of speech is good”), but simply over whether you personally like the first version of the book or the new version.
- djur 3y ago
- cubefox 3y agoFree speech is not just about not banning books. Things like cancel culture and social media censorship are mainly left-wing phenomena.
- revelio 3y ago[flagged]