Books and Magazines News

Classic children's books in a Cambridge University archive will in future be labelled with trigger warnings for content relating to slavery, colonialism and racism.

Researchers are reviewing more than 10,000 books and magazines for authors from a previous era who have not referenced enslaved or colonised or denigrated people in the right away according to modern day mores.

The archive at Cambridge's Homerton College is being reviewed as part of a move to upload texts to a digital library. In online versions, words, phrases and images deemed harmful will be flagged and content warnings placed at the beginning of each text.

Targeted authors include Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote Little House On The Prairie , for her stereotypical depictions of Native Americans.

Another is Dr Theodor Seuss Geisel, author of the Dr Seuss books, for overt blackface and cultural insensitivities.

The Water Babies , Charles Kingsley's 1863 children's classic about a young chimney sweep, is described as having the potential to harm readers without warning for comments about Irish and black people.

Publisher Picador is considering alterations to Kate Clanchy's Orwell prize-winning memoir amid accusations of supposed racial and ableist stereotyping.

The 2019 book titled Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me examines Clanchy's time teaching in UK state schools.

A PC lynch mob of critics and fellow authors formed after a reader review highlighted alleged problematic descriptions of children. The critics highlighted passages that referenced racial facial features and skin colour - as well as describing two autistic children as unselfconsciously odd and jarring company.

In response, the author said she's grateful for a chance to rewrite it:

I know I got many things wrong, and welcome the chance to write better, more lovingly

It was wrong. I don't really have an excuse, except that I am bereaved and it takes people in different ways.

I am not a good person. I do try to say that in my book. Not a pure person, not a patient person, no one's saviour. You are right to blame me, and I blame myself.

Authors who criticised Clanchy's response and questioned the award-winning merit of the book, including Chimene Suleyman, Monisha Rajesh and Professor Sunny Singh, also received criticism from social media users.

 

 

Comment: No one is safe from the woke mob

11th August 2021. See article from spiked-online.com by Joanna Williams

This, remember, is a book about Clanchy's experiences teaching a diverse array of comp kids and the lovely, life-affirming time she had doing so.

The people suggesting it is actually a thinly veiled retread of Mein Kampf are, not to put too fine a point on it, nuts. And yet Clanchy, her publisher and some of Clanchy's early defenders have bowed to these people and issued grovelling apologies for the emotional harm they have allegedly inflicted.

So much of the mob censorship we see today would disappear overnight if people and institutions grew about an inch of backbone and told the woke irritants to piss off. Why so few seem capable of doing this is a key question of this mad age of ours.

  The Hungarian Government has ordered shops to wrap children's books that depict homosexuality in a positive light in closed packaging as the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban fights against gay rights.

Under a government decree, stores will also be banned from selling books seen as containing explicit depictions of sexuality or narratives around gender change within a 200 meter radius of schools or churches. The rules similarly outlaw displays of products that depict gender roles that are different from an individual's gender at birth.

The latest steps come a month after Hungary introduced a law banning the dissemination of LGBTQ+ content in schools.

The European Commission has filed legal proceedings against Hungary claiming the rules violate the right to freedom of expression and information.

Novelist Elin Hilderbrand suffered a woke lynching on Instagram for a passage in her new summer 2021 book, Golden Girl. The passage is an exchange between two teenagers, Savannah and Vivi, where they discuss how Vivi will hide in the attic of Savannah's home without Savannah's parents knowing.

You're suggesting I hide here all summer? Vivi asks. Like... like Anne Frank? she adds. The narrator then says, This makes them both laugh -- but is it really funny, and is Vivi so far off base?

The passage was criticized through a post on the Instagram page of Little, Brown and Company, Hilderbrand's publisher. The original post, which has since been deleted, described the passage as horifically antisemitic, and demanded an apology from both the publisher and Hilderbrand.

Others accused Hilderbrand of thinking antisemitism is funny, described the passage as gobsmacked in every way with insensitivity, and disgusted.

The lynching forced the author to apologize, promising to remove the passage from all future printings. Hilderbrand wrote in her apology:

In a flashback scene in GOLDEN GIRL, p. 144, my main character Vivi compares herself to Anne Frank. I want to wholeheartedly apologize for this. It was meant as hyperbole but was a poor choice, that was offensive and tasteless. I have asked my publisher to remove the passage from digital versions of the book immediately and from all future printings.

Another similar example of book censorship targeted Casey McQuiston for her book Red, White & Royal Blue , a popular 2019 romance novel. This time the 'offending' post referenced Israel. A supporting character says:

Well, my UN ambassador fucked up his one job and said something idiotic about Israel, and now I have to call Netanyahu and personally apologize.

A Twitter user claimed the passage was unnecessary, and another insisted that the passage : normalizes the genocide & war crimes done by Israel that will always be backed up & unashamedly supported by America.

McQuiston responded that the line was "not a statement of my beliefs" but "a dig at US presidential diplomacy." She also caved to the complainers and stated that the line has "been changed from all future printings."

Previous editions of the American Library Association list have been dominated by complaints about books attempting to normalise gay or transgender relationships to children. This year marks a dramatic change and now most books have received complaints about racism issues and about divisive racial politics.

Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020

The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2020. Of the 273 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:

• George by Alex Gino
  Reasons: Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting "the values of our community"

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
  Reasons: Banned and challenged because of author's public statements, and because of claims that the book contains "selective storytelling incidents" and does not encompass racism against all people

• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
  Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be "too much of a sensitive matter right now"

• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint and it was claimed to be biased against male students, and for the novel's inclusion of rape and profanity

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
  Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and allegations of sexual misconduct by the author

• Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
  Reasons: Challenged for "divisive language" and because it was thought to promote anti-police views

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and their negative effect on students, featuring a "white savior" character, and its perception of the Black experience

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and racist stereotypes, and their negative effect on students

• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and depicts child sexual abuse

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  Reasons: Challenged for profanity, and it was thought to promote an anti-police message

Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey has apologised for suuposed harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery in one of his graphic novels for children, which has now been withdrawn by his publisher.

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future , first published in 2010, follows two cavemen who travel to the year 2222 and meet Master Wong, a martial arts instructor.

The book's publisher Scholastic announced that it would stop distributing the book and remove all mention of it from its website. Scholastic said:

Together, we recognise that this book perpetuates passive racism. We are deeply sorry for this serious mistake.

In a letter, Pilkey apologised:

But this week it was brought to my attention that this book also contains harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly apologise for this. It was and is wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people.

I hope that you, my readers, will forgive me, and learn from my mistake that even unintentional and passive stereotypes and racism are harmful to everyone. I apologise, and I pledge to do better.

One of the recent targets of the cancel culture lynch mobs is to ban derogatory terms for women from dictionaries.

However Oxford University Press [OUP], publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary have said that terms such as bint and bitch, will remain in the Oxford Dictionary of English because to remove them would amount to censorship. Speaking at an event to mark International Women's Day, Katherine Martin, head of product for Oxford Languages,said:

'Bitch' is quite a common word in English. Part of what we do as lexicographers is to show the full range of meanings that it has.

To not show any aspect of a word's use would be akin to censorship. Lexicographers want to make facts available to the public, and the more synonyms and information [a word] has, the better.

Eleanor Maier, OUP's executive editor, said context was all-important:

As dictionary makers, we have a responsibility to accurately describe how language is used and that means we should include sexist and racist terms. But it's really important for us to contextualise them. So if a term is derogatory or highly offensive, we should say it.

Books by Dr. Seuss have flooded Amazon's U.S. bestseller list after it was announced that six of the author's publications were being cancelled over ludicrous woke claims of racist imagery.

The Cat in the Hat is currently the bestselling book on Amazon's U.S. store, closely followed by One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and Green Eggs and Ham , along with several other titles by the late Theodor Seuss Geisel. In total, 15 Dr. Seuss publications were in Amazon's top 20 list on Friday morning.

This comes after Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the business running the late author's estate, said Tuesday it has cancelled publication and licensing of six of his books:

• And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
• If I Ran the Zoo
• McElligot's Pool
• On Beyond Zebra!
• Scrambled Eggs Super!
• The Cat's Quizzer.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises claimed in a statement that these books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.

Chief of Woke Staff Joe Biden notably left any mention of Dr. Seuss out of his Read Across America Day proclamation on Monday. Former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama both mentioned Dr. Seuss in their previous speeches.

 

Comment: Why the cancellation of Dr Seuss matters

5th March 2021. See article from spiked-online.com

An example of the ludicrous claims about racism in Dr Suess:

As it happens, until recently Dr Seuss books have had a reputation for encouraging tolerance. The Sneetches and Other Stories , in particular, has been praised for its messages about overcoming differences. But today's anti-racist campaigners find even the Sneetches problematic. According to Learning for Justice , an 'education' advisory group:

As a result, they accept one another. This message of "acceptance" does not acknowledge structural power imbalances. It doesn't address the idea that historical narratives impact present-day power structures. And instead of encouraging young readers to recognise and take action against injustice, the story promotes a race-neutral approach.'

You read that right. The Sneetches are apparently racist because they look at the world in a race-neutral way, and because they learn to accept one another.

The trans debate has become one of the most bitter and toxic confrontation across the whole of the social justice sphere. Maybe it is hardly surprising that some the most outspoken contributions will cross lines amongst the internet giants who are proving to be the prison warders of modern culture.

As an example Amazon has removed the bestselling book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment without giving its author, Ryan T. Anderson, any notice or explanation.

Anderson is the President of the Ethics & Public Policy Center which describes itself as D.C.'s premier think tank dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy. Anderson told the Daily Caller that he noticed the book was unavailable on Sunday. He said:

No one from Amazon notified me or my publisher, Anderson said. My publisher has reached out, but still no response.

It's not about how you say it, it's not about how rigorously you argue it, it's not about how charitably you present it, he said. It's about whether you dissent from a new orthodoxy.

Offsite Comment: Amazon: from book-selling to book-burning

10th March 2021. See article from spiked-online.com by Tim Black

Its decision to stop selling a book criticising transgenderism is part of an alarming trend.