Columns

Army Bob: Hell freezes over when the left bans books

by Robert M. Traxler

What do the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the American Cancel Culture have in common? They both banned George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”

It must be getting cold indeed, freezing in the infernal regions, as I have lived to see American intellectuals, college and university students and professors banning books! Looking back to my youth, the religious right was roundly attacked for objecting to books, even calling for the banning of them in schools. Today the self-appointed intellectuals on our campuses of higher education are banning books; folks, you seriously can’t make this stuff up.

Where are the flower children of the 1960s-’80s? Many are busy banning books! Now old gray-haired professors are banning the classics; Homer and the like, Dr. Seuss,  The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter and more, many more. The American Library Association is justifying this by saying it is not banning books, but calling out a culture that listens to white voices over others. So I guess removing them from libraries is not banning them.

In the 1930s the German Student Union, the Deutsche Studentenshaft, burned books written by Jews, capitalists and communists. Books deemed not politically correct in the eyes of the National Socialist youth were banned by the students and faculty of 34 universities.

History condemns this action, but the current cancel culture movement is doing the same thing, not only in colleges, but also in local libraries and high schools. The folks at Amazon, not surprisingly, are contemplating banning the sale of additional politically incorrect books.

In the 1970s the American intellectual elite were outraged when a campaign was undertaken to ban “The Anarchist’s Cookbook,” a best seller in radical circles, from public libraries. The text told folks how to make Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), commit credit card fraud (a new crime in the 1970s), pass bad checks, make bombs and molotov cocktails and other weapons.

It was in support of the ‘power to the people’ counterculture movement, a staunchly anti-constitutional radical movement. Today they are leading the effort to ban books. Time to make peace with your God, the end of the world must be near.

The cancel culture and the socialists’ cheer organizations, like Amazon and Jeff Bezos, announce plans to have all-electric vehicles by 2035. But wait, is the world not going to end before that? The United Nations, New York Representative from the 14th Congressional District Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the American media have said that if carbon output is not cut by 5% per year for nine years, the world is doomed. We must believe it, it is settled science, and not to believe it makes you a science denier. Well, world carbon output is increasing and will increase every year for the next nine-plus years. It will be increased, not reduced, so it is time for the fat lady to sing, or need I say, fat genderless human to sing?

Someone forgot to tell the east coast of the United States that they and most of Florida are underwater, because the polar icecaps are melting due to global warming and inundated them with water. This is according to the oracle of the American people, the multimillionaire (a large amount earned mostly in the carbon offset scam) former Vice President Albert Arnold Gore Jr. in his book “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006. Global warming was real, it was settled science that could not be questioned; oops.

One must ask whether in American education, is it correct to be against censorship any more? Is free thinking even a thing anymore? Is freedom of expression even allowed? If this does not scare the hell out of you, it should.

In 1933 it was German students and professors who burned books in support of adopting National Socialism; will it be our students who push for censorship and politically correct thought in support of National Socialism in 2021? Are we even allowed to question the self-appointed intellectuals and leftist/socialist politicians without the cancel culture attacking us? After all, we must allow the socialists to save us, as we are all too stupid to save ourselves.

Please remember, billionaires banning books and free speech in the name of profit is not liberal.

My opinion.

12 Comments

    • Mr. Wilkens,
      Sir,
      Thanks for the comment. Facts are pesky things as they get in the way of preconceived, politically correct doctrine.
      Still love your “Cheers” line.

    • Mr. Gless
      Thank you for the comment.
      Not selling books because of social pressure is banning books, the cancel culture is pressuring publishers and colleges to not allow books to be published or sold. The Dr. Seuss books are but one example.

      • “Billionaires banning books.”
        This site does not allow the links, but every single book you’ve listed is for sale on Amazon, even If I Ran The Zoo by young Gerald McGrew.

        • Mr. Gless,
          Sir,
          Please google Amazon banning books and you will find a number of them.
          If I ran the Zoo, was not mentioned in the column?
          Thanks for the comment.

          • If I Ran The Zoo is the book that was imaginarily banned last week that prompted your penning of your opinion piece here. You’re welcome.

  • “American Cancel Culture” did not ban George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is not banned in the United States. In fact, you can order your copy today from Amazon and other booksellers including an ebook for your Kindle if you so wish.
    There was a brief period of time when the far right John Birch Society wanted it banned and in 1955, far from it being banned, even the CIA printed their own illustrated version of the novel.
    Please stop making stuff up and presenting it as fact. Just because you say it doesn’t make it so. I thought we were moving past all that silliness but I guess some people never learn.

    • Mr. Tarrow,
      Sir,
      Please read the column “One Small Voice: Censoring Dr. Seuss just goes too far” in the Town Broadcast by Ms. Lynn Mandaville.
      Thank you for the comment.

      • Mr. Traxler,
        I read and reread several times Ms. Mandaville’s column and fail to see any mention of Animal Farm being banned. So I fail to see the relevance of your mentioning that column.
        Again, please stop making stuff up. Please.
        And stop writing silly things just to see your words in print.
        Also, I see no reason to thank you for your comment.
        Especially another meaningless and two-faced thank you like those you give so freely and uselessly.

    • Mr. Jones,
      Sir,
      Thank you for the comment.
      Columnists have no control over comments in this esteemed publication.
      You are incorrect in your charge of censorship by Ranger Rick or me.

Leave a Comment