The bottomless self-pity of American conservatives [View all]
The last decade has seen conservatives making great political hay mocking liberal undergrads. Taking a handful of examples wildly out of context, right-wing provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos sneered endlessly about how these students wanted "trigger warnings" before exposure to traumatizing ideas or "safe spaces" where they supposedly wouldn't have to hear hard truths. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro sold mountain ranges of merch mocking supposed liberal "snowflakes" whose feelings can't handle empirical reality.
Today the shoe is on the other foot. Now it is conservatives who now want to be protected from discomfort — and we're not just dealing with blue-haired liberal arts students who fit the snowflake stereotype if you squint. This time, actual government institutions with real power are involved, and right-wing self-pity is bottomless.
Take the recent spree of conservative book banning. Numerous school districts in Utah, Missouri, Florida, and Virginia have pulled books from libraries, typically in response to pressure from right-wing parents whipped into a froth by conservative elites like Virginia governor-elect Glenn Youngkin (R). Texas state Rep. Matt Krause complied a list of 850 books deserving of suppression because they "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
Books by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Ernest Gaines, and especially the graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir are common targets. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott explained why he was demanding education officials draw up a list of books to be pulled from schools: "As you are aware, a growing number of parents of Texas students are rightfully outraged about highly inappropriate books and other content in public school libraries." Our little Chets and Khrystals need to be protected from books with sexual or upsetting content! (One hopes they don't have cell phones or computers with an internet connection.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bottomless-self-pity-american-conservatives-110109527.html
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