“Book Bans,” “Social Media Censorship,” and Our Tongues
One often hears school libraries’ decisions to remove certain books labeled “book bans.” Some object: Such removals don’t actually ban the book; the book remains available at bookstores, and often at public libraries. It’s just that the school system has decided not to make the book available to its students as something that the system endorses as worth reading. (Note that this argument can be independent of whether the libraries’ actions violate the First Amendment; the legal question is unsettled, but independently of the legal question one might argue that such actions should still be condemned.)
One also often hears social media platforms’ decisions to block certain posts, or remove certain accounts, labeled “censorship.” Some object: Such actions don’t actually use the law to punish speech, or even make such speech unavailable. It’s just that the platform has decided not to make the book available to its users as something that the platform endorses as worth hosting. (Note that this argument can be independent of whether the platforms’ actions violate the First Amendment; they likely don’t, at least absent government coercion, since they aren’t state action, but independently of the legal question one might argue that such actions should still be condemned.)
Here’s my narrow observation for this post: One way of thinking about these controversies has to do wi
Article from Reason.com
