Tag Archives: censorship

School Panics about Dr. Seuss Discussion

By Robin Bates | Published: January 16, 2023

A school administrator objected when a class discussion of Dr. Seuss’s “Sneetches” veered into questions of race.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged discrimination, Dr. Seuss, Prejudice, Sneeches | Comments closed

Child Spy Rats Out English Teacher

By Robin Bates | Published: November 16, 2022

The child spy tip line in Virginia received a complaint about how a teacher was teaching “Beowulf.” Meanwhile, a Texas school has banned Neil Gaiman’s works.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, Book banning, culture wars, Glenn Youngkin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Sexism, teaching | Comments closed

Book Bans Leave Children Defenseless

By Robin Bates | Published: April 25, 2022

Parents seek to protect their children through book bans. Instead, they make them more vulnerable to a changing world.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Arundhati Roy, Beloved, Bluest Eye, book bans, God of Small Things, Khaled Hosseini, Kite Runner, Toni Morrison | Comments closed

The Fascist Right Goes for Sendak

By Robin Bates | Published: April 17, 2022

The authoritarian Christian right has now begun going after public libraries, one of which recently had Sendak’s “In the Night Kitchen” pulled.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged authoritarianism, Fascism, In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak | Comments closed

Pushing Back against the Purity Police

By Robin Bates | Published: February 21, 2022

While not as bad as fascists for censoring reading materials, leftwing purists present their own problems.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged cancel culture, Harper Lee, Kate Clanchy, Robert Hayden, To Kill a Mockingbird, virtue police | Comments closed

Are Liberal, Conservative Bans Equal?

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2022

Are liberal and conservative banning practices equal. Despite some similarities, no.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Book banning, Flannery O'Connor, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Toni Morrison | Comments closed

Let Kids Read Politically Incorrect Books

By Robin Bates | Published: February 2, 2022

A Vietnamese-American authors surveys the books he loved growing up. Some were politically incorrect.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged banned books, Closer Quarters, Hergé, Larry Heinemann, Tintin | Comments closed

Black Poetry–Next on the Right’s List?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 31, 2022

Many iconic African American poems could discomfit certain white audiences. Will the right target those as well as black history?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "i am accused of tending to the past", "Ballad of Birmingham", "Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till", "Song for a Dark Girl", African American History Month, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, racism | Comments closed

Time to Reread Fahrenheit 451

By Robin Bates | Published: January 27, 2022

With attacks on school libraries and school curricula, it’s time to read “Fahrenheit 451” again.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Art Spiegelman, banned books, Fahrenheit 451, Maus, Ray Bradbury | Comments closed