{"id":91688,"date":"2025-05-11T03:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T03:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/91688\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T03:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T03:17:11","slug":"banning-books-is-not-only-wrong-its-pointless-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/91688\/","title":{"rendered":"Banning books is not only wrong \u2013 it’s pointless. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rather than argue about what types of speech are protected, perhaps we should be asking ourselves: who gets to judge? This is a question I\u2019ve been pondering since I sat down to write my novel Lula Dean\u2019s Little Library of Banned Books. I don\u2019t have all the answers, but I believe I\u2019ve identified a few groups who should have no say whatsoever in what the rest of us get to say, read or think.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with crusaders. A crusader might be a \u201cconcerned citizen\u201d like my novel\u2019s villain, Lula Dean, who wants libraries purged of \u201cpropaganda and pornography\u201d; or a tech CEO who believes the \u201cwoke mind virus\u201d is eating our brains. Their religious beliefs and personal convictions should determine their choices \u2013 but they should play no role in the decisions the rest of us make for ourselves and our families.<\/p>\n

Then come the cowards. Whistleblowers are the one group that should remain anonymous. Everyone else should feel free to speak their minds under their own names \u2013 and be prepared to receive feedback from the rest of us. You want to express your opinion that women are inferior? As a woman, I wholeheartedly support your right to free speech. I would also like to know who you are so I can exercise my inalienable right to avoid you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the cowards wouldn\u2019t flourish if not for the unaccountable. These are the digital media platforms that hide behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Years ago, before anyone realised the harm they could do, the US government decided these companies shouldn\u2019t be liable for content posted by users. <\/p>\n

When most platforms allowed their users to remain anonymous, it meant no one was accountable for the conspiracies<\/a>, lies and propaganda that began to spread like wildfire. Section 230\u2019s biggest beneficiaries? Bigots, dictators and\u2026 billionaires.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The richest people in the world want to control what we read, say and think. Most have never held elected office. They look after their own interests \u2013 and they do not represent ours. Many have played personal roles in creating today\u2019s internet, and they\u2019ve profited from the destruction it\u2019s wreaked. In the US, there is no longer any limit on billionaires\u2019 political donations. <\/p>\n

Not only can they silence criticism with lawsuits, they purchase entire platforms and tweak them to suit their political needs. Their lawyers are the reason Section 230 still stands. \u00a0<\/p>\n

So, while the battle to save books is critical, it\u2019s just a single front in the war for our brains. America\u2019s liberties and libraries have never been in greater jeopardy than they are at this very moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kirsten Miller is a US novelist and the creator of the Kiki Strike book series. Her latest novel, Lula Dean\u2019s Little Library of Banned Books<\/a>, is out now (HQ, \u00a39.99)<\/strong>. You can buy it from the\u00a0Big Issue shop<\/a>\u00a0on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.\u00a0To support our work buy a copy of the magazine<\/a>\u00a0or get the app from the\u00a0App Store<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Play<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rather than argue about what types of speech are protected, perhaps we should be asking ourselves: who gets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,295,77,43338,43339,7056,23740,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-91688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-elon-musk","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-financial-and-digital-inclusion","12":"tag-free-speech","13":"tag-from-the-magazine","14":"tag-online-safety","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114487036769903832","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}