I Thought Only Fascists Did That…

How the so called right and left really love censorship

Florida and Texas are among the states whose education departments banned a long list of books. Some of the books in Texas include the Bible, Brave New World and an Anne Frank graphic novel. The irony, obviously lost on many people, shows yet again a profound lack of context, history or any good sense. The information must be free to have a sane discussion. Banning anything only makes it worse.

We're more civilized about it now...

The common response I hear is, “Well, they can buy the books if they want!” That’s not the point. The difference between having a teacher instruct on challenging material, and simply reading alone is very different. Moreover, what’s missing from that argument is the teacher’s expertise, especially if they were a lit, or writing major. That and they are more likely to explain difficult material in a measured way as opposed to just handing a book to a 15 year old, wishing them luck. My parents are immigrants and are unfamiliar with American or English literature. The only way I’d have read Slaughterhouse Five, the Great Gatsby, Brave New World, the Diary of Anne Frank or 1984 was in school.

I know that some of you reading this are saying, “Yeah! Those right wingers! How dare they?” Ahh, but wait! The so called liberal (or aptly called liberal, depending on your point of view) is also a big fan of censorship. The concept of “fake news” and its said protections are a cancerous by product of Hilary Clinton losing an election to a clown that she set up to beat and lost. It’s been widely documented that Clinton, John Podesta and Robby Mook concocted the false Russian narrative on election night. It was being peddled, not very subtly, during the campaign when it was apparent that Trump’s momentum during the primary was undeniable.

Democracy by ommission. Robby Mook and the lie that changed the world.

As a result, entire careers and livelihoods have been destroyed by the liberal bias against journalists and news hosts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. There has been a significant backlash in the mainstream press against anyone decrying the Covid narrative, the war in Ukraine, the utter selling out of the country and the abject failures of the Democrats and Joe Biden to pass any meaningful legislation. The labelling of levelers of the slightest criticism against the Squad, Bernie Sanders or Nina Turner are met with a deafening, shrill howl and pointing fingers. Now, our paranoiac pablum has spread to other countries, most notably U.S. allies.

Being played like a cheap violin.

The ridiculous part of all of this is how people are still taking sides, feeding into the oligarch goals of keeping us against each other and not punching up. As we move into this brave new world (yeah, I said it!) it’s imperative to check our emotions. If I’m angry at the guy who won’t get a vaccine, or thinks Hilary should run again, I have to look up and check to see who’s pulling my strings. I guarantee it’s someone who got bailed out during the last three crisis’ and not the apparent subject of my rage.

As I always say in these tender moments, quit watching TV.

Abe Abdelhadi hosts the Bitter Truth with Abe Abdelhadi on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.