Where was this opinion column about book banning?

March 3, 2024 7:11 PM

I remember reading SEVERAL years ago, an opinion column sparked by an anti-censorship event at a public library. Here's how long ago this was: the columnist was complaining about the event and calling it pointless because book banning attempts NEVER HAPPEN, there were only (some miniscule number) of events in the past several years. Does anyone else remember this column? Where did it appear?

I feel like this was a column in an industry publication like Library Journal, Inside Higher Ed, or the Chronicle of Higher Education.

posted by bq to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Not an industry publication, but was it possibly Kevin Drum? This or this?
posted by kiblinger at 8:48 PM on March 3

Response by poster: No, I'm sure this happened BEFORE the recent spate of book protests, possibly before 2016.
posted by bq at 8:57 PM on March 3

Best answer: WSJ, 2009, "Finding Censorship Where There Is None" (archived link)? "The ALA grants on its Web site that "most of the books featured during [Banned Books Week] were not banned. [...] There's something odd about a national organization with a $54 million budget and 67,000 members reacting so zealously against a few unorganized, law-abiding parents whose efforts, by any sensible standard, are hopelessly ineffective." By Mitchell Muncy ("Mr. Muncy is chief operating officer of the Institute for American Values. From 1996 to 2008, he was editor in chief of Spence Publishing.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:58 PM on March 3 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I'm sure I read the same article! Could it be this? Questioning the Dogma of Banned Books Week
posted by toastedcheese at 4:28 AM on March 4 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you. I believe it is the Muncy article I was thinking of.
posted by bq at 8:24 AM on March 4

Mr. Muncy is chief operating officer of the Institute for American Values

because of course he is.
posted by flabdablet at 10:33 AM on March 4 [7 favorites]