Western liberalism is evidently so free of real hardship that its otherwise comfortably spoiled adherents will fake martyrdom just to seem interesting.
See: Stephen Colbert, whose cross to bear is that CBS will no longer pay him an estimated $15 million per year to host a failing show.
See also author Margaret Atwood, whose book, the Handmaid’s Tale, which is thinly veiled erotica for bored housewives, is definitely not “banned,” though she and CBS News would have you believe otherwise.
DEMOCRATS JUST WANT MEN FOR THEIR VOTES
60 Minutes recently aired footage of Atwood torching her most famous book as if she were one of the “firemen” from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
“Here she is taking a flamethrower to her own book,” describes CBS’s Jon Wertheim. “Atwood was firing back at would-be book burners by torching an unburnable edition. It was all promotion for a charity auction to benefit PEN America, a non-profit that champions free speech.”
Wertheim continues, saying, “Atwood’s books have been banned for content deemed overly sexual, morally corrupt, anti-Christian.”
Almost nothing in this sentence is accurate.
First, the “morally corrupt” and “anti-Christian” references stem primarily from an incident in 2013, when critics challenged the inclusion of the Handmaid’s Tale as required reading in one course and optional reading in another at a high school in North Carolina. Some critics felt the book is “overly sexual,” “morally corrupt,” and “detrimental to Christian values.”
The book was never removed. It stayed exactly as it was in the curriculum.
But even in schools where the Handmaid’s Tale conflicts with local or state standards, leading to its removal from libraries or curricula, it’s still inaccurate and false to say it has been banned. It is age-restricted, which is an entirely routine and reasonable approach. We regularly age-restrict sensitive and adult content, correctly reasoning that young minds are not ready for certain themes or imagery, whether written or visual. The Handmaid’s Tale is no exception. It’s no more “banned” than the R-rated Terminator 2. It’s no more “banned” than cigarettes and alcohol, which are illegal to sell to minors. The book is no more “banned” than voting.
Are we simply working with different interpretations of the word “banned”?
You can still buy the Handmaid’s Tale anywhere books are sold. Yet, despite its ready availability, Atwood often presents herself as a victim of creeping fascism whenever school or state officials question the appropriateness of her rape-y theocracy fiction.
In Atwood’s home country, for example, the education department of Alberta’s government ordered school libraries to remove explicit content containing detailed and clear depictions of sexual acts, whether a “written passage,” illustration, or image. The order applied to all K-12 students. Although the ministry backed off slightly to remove “written passage” from its standards, Atwood is still “peeved” by its effort to protect young children and teenagers from inappropriate and sometimes obscene materials. She considers the old and even revised Alberta standards to be equivalent to a Nazi book burning, and urged her social media followers to buy copies of the Handmaid’s Tale before “they have public book burnings of it.”
Oh, come down off the cross. We could use the wood.
To understand what it truly means to be banned, look no further than conservative author Ryan T. Anderson, whose book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, was abruptly removed from Amazon in 2021 without warning or explanation.
It wasn’t until this year that Amazon reversed its decision, explaining in a mealy-mouthed statement that Anderson’s book, which takes an entirely clinical approach to the topic of transgenderism, was erroneously caught up in the company’s broader effort to protect consumers from “hate speech.” The statement doesn’t clarify why Mein Kampf was available for sale on Amazon during the years that Anderson’s book wasn’t.
Speaking of availability, do you know what you could buy on Amazon when you couldn’t buy When Harry Became Sally? The Handmaid’s Tale! You could buy it new. You could buy it used. You could even buy it in bulk.
No one is “banning” Atwood’s book. No one is burning it.
Of all people, one would expect an author to be more careful with her words, knowing full well that “banned” is neither an honest nor accurate term to describe the facts of the matter. As bad as Atwood is, 60 Minutes should feel even greater shame. You’d think a newsroom would be more careful with its reporting, but you’d be wrong.
A LEFT-WING INFLUENCER’S PRO-CCP PROPAGANDA FALLS APART ON CAMERA
Lastly, as a parting thought, it’s difficult to reconcile the idea that Atwood’s book is “banned” with the fact that it has made her millions of dollars, sold more than 10 million copies, is proudly on display in most bookstores, and even has a streaming television show that just finished its sixth and final season.
If her book wasn’t banned, what would be different?
Becket Adams is a columnist for the Washington Examiner, National Review, and the Hill. @BecketAdams
