Rep. Dan Crenshaw wants to turn the page on cancel culture.
The Texas Republican wrote a children’s book, Fame, Blame, and the Raft of Shame, that “explore[s] cancel culture and the effect it has on society,” drawing on experiences from Crenshaw’s life.
“Intent is a really important question that I don’t know if people ask these days,” he told Fox News. “Did the person intend you harm, or did they just make a really dumb joke that just didn’t land right? Are they being canceled and yelled at because of something they did or said that was maybe clumsy and maybe stupid — and maybe they should apologize for — but they didn’t mean any harm toward anybody? Cancel culture often jumps to that conclusion: that the person is intentionally bad, intentionally meant that microaggression … and it’s just not true.”
ELIZABETH WARREN TO RELEASE CHILDREN’S BOOK ABOUT A WOMAN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT
The book, released Tuesday, centers on an underwater city that is protected by seaweed. People who disobey the rules are banished from the city on a “raft of shame.” The book draws from Crenshaw’s lived experiences and biblical themes, such as one story teaching about intentions and forgiveness that was inspired by Crenshaw’s rocky relationship with comedian Pete Davidson.
“While today’s culture presents canceling others’ opinions as the solution to their problems, they don’t realize that a culture of canceling eventually cancels culture entirely,” Brave Books, the publishing company said when describing the book, the fourth in a series by the Texas Republican.
Brave Books told the Washington Examiner in an email Tuesday that it is “so proud to partner with Congressman Dan Crenshaw to tackle the crucial issue of cancel culture which is ripping this country apart.”
“Our children need to be taught that freedom of thought and freedom of expression are worth fighting for,” the email read. “The exchange of ideas, even ones that we don’t agree with, are what made this country so great. If you take that away with cancel culture then you lose the essence of what America is about.”
The end of the book has Bible verses, as well as exercises for children and their parents to talk about the messages in the book. Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, said the biblical messages in the book are important in overcoming cancel culture.
“Faith is about grace, right? Showing grace even in the face of your enemies,” Crenshaw said. “That’s also the very clear message of forgiveness. And Christianity, of course, is linked with a sense of grace. So it’s easy to use the Bible, and I think necessary to use the Bible, as a way to guide sort of our moral actions and how we forge relationships with one another.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Others associated with U.S. governance have written children’s books containing political themes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is set to release a children’s book about a woman running for president, and Chelsea Clinton wrote a feminist book for young children in 2017.
