The cast of CNN Tonight was all in agreement on Tuesday that conservative attempts to “ban books” are “fascist,” similar to Nazism, and worse than the current trend of leftists re-writing books they did not write. At no point could anyone point to a book that was actually banned.
The genesis of the conversation was Salman Rushdie condemning both the attempts to control school library content on the right and revisionism on the left. For, The Atlantic’s James Surowiecki, the revisionism is wrong, but “But I think the bigger thing is the bans on books in school libraries and in schools that-- places like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, where some libraries, they've talked about shutting down libraries. I think that's far more consequential and far, far grimmer. So I'm glad he was, went after that.”
Re-writing books is actually “far, far grimmer,” because the original book disappears and sometimes for the dumbest reasons, such as the promotion of gender neutralism. Any book that is removed from a school library can still be accessed elsewhere and in its original state.
However, facts weren’t of the highest priority for this discussion. S.E. Cupp offered up a false equivalency when condemning both sides, “it's very disorienting to live in a time where these rights are under assault I think from the left and the right at the same time. The book bans are awful, regressive, fascist, terrible -- terrible. But the revisionism too is terrible, not just because it's, you know, sanitizing. It's pretending this time did not exist.”
Senior political analyst John Avlon agreed with Surowiecki that conservatives are worse. After calling the revisionists “Orwellian” for their obsession with modern sensibilities, Avlon labeled conservatives “even more Orwellian,” claiming, “The extremism on the right in this case is political. It's governmental. It's book bans, it's speech codes, often in the name of free speech, which makes it even more Orwellian. And he's taking aim at both. And I think that itself is incredibly clarifying.”
Errol Louis followed up by focusing exclusively on conservatives, “I was looking and it's, this is the 90th anniversary. It was May of 1933 when they burned 20,000 books at a plaza you know Bebelplatz in Berlin. And you know we knew even then and it later of course became horribly true. They weren't just trying to burn ideas. They were going to come for the authors of those ideas and the people represented in those books and that's exactly what the Nazis did.”
Godwin’s Law fulfilled, Louis continued, “And so you know this is not just like, sort of, a cultural preference and we don't want to hear about LGBTQ in this town. This is really a lot at stake and people should make sure that they understand that and get involved in the fight.”
Another reason why lefties re-writing books is far worse is that these conversations rarely touch on the kind sexually explicit books that are being removed while ignoring all the fake news on books like Roberto Clemente biographies.
This segment was sponsored by Consumer Cellular.
Here is a transcript for the May 16 show:
CNN Tonight
05/17/2023
10:42 PM ETJAMES SUROWIECKI: But I think the bigger thing is the bans on books in school libraries and in schools that-- places like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, where some libraries, they've talked about shutting down libraries. I think that's far more consequential and far, far grimmer. So I'm glad he was, went after that.
S.E. CUPP: Well, I think everyone at this table takes First Amendment rights pretty seriously. But I got to tell you, it's very disorienting to live in a time where these rights are under assault I think from the left and the right at the same time. The book bans are awful, regressive, fascist, terrible -- terrible. But the revisionism too is terrible, not just because it's, you know, sanitizing. It's pretending this time did not exist. Well, it's important to know that this time exists so we don't repeat it. And it's important for in age- appropriate ways, people learn that as they grow up. And I mean, it's very weird to be my age and, you know, lived in a time with so much democracy, some joke a little too much democracy, you know, to see these kinds of assaults happening now.
JOHN AVLON: But I think that's what was great about Rushdie's comments. Someone who's been such a free speech warrior.
CUPP: Literally.
AVLON: Lionized, literally, lionized by many on the right in particular who question whether, for example, The Satanic Verses could be published today. And here in that statement, he's taking aim at the far-left and the far-right and the feedback loop that exists. And noting the crucial differences, the extremism on the left tends to be of a cultural sort, right? We're going to rewrite this to account for sensitivities, and there's something Orwellian about that.
The extremism on the right in this case is political. It's governmental. It's book bans, it's speech codes, often in the name of free speech, which makes it even more Orwellian. And he's taking aim at both. And I think that itself is incredibly clarifying.
ERROL LOUIS: I mean, he's an important warrior, literally put his life on the line for what he believes in, wouldn't question that at all. I think, though, he's a little pessimistic. You know, I mean, I wanted to hear a call to arms. And I think we should, you know, sort of do everything we can to remind people that there are organizations that you can join and you can support and you can, you know, and not just the big ones like -- the American Library Association or PEN America or the—
CUPP: ACLU.
LOUIS: -- Civil Liberties Union, but there's like the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. There's all kinds of groups that are out there and it's really important.
AVLON: Yes.
LOUIS: I was looking and it's, this is the 90th anniversary. It was May of 1933 when they burned 20,000 books at a plaza you know Bebelplatz in Berlin. And you know we knew even then and it later of course became horribly true. They weren't just trying to burn ideas. They were going to come for the authors of those ideas and the people represented in those books and that's exactly what the Nazis did.
CUPP: That’s right.
LOUIS: And so you know this is not just like, sort of, a cultural preference and we don't want to hear about LGBTQ in this town. This is really a lot at stake and people should make sure that they understand that and get involved in the fight.
