Subscribe
Notify of
guest

14 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
11 months ago

For the time is coming when men will not tolerate wholesome teaching. They will want something to tickle their own fancies, and they will collect teachers who will pander to their own desires. They will no longer listen to the truth, but will wander off after man-made fictions. For yourself, stand fast in all that you are doing, meeting whatever suffering this may involve. Go on steadily preaching the Gospel and carry out to the full the commission that God gave you.

2 Timothy 4.4

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
11 months ago

For the time is coming when men will not tolerate wholesome teaching. They will want something to tickle their own fancies, and they will collect teachers who will pander to their own desires. They will no longer listen to the truth, but will wander off after man-made fictions. For yourself, stand fast in all that you are doing, meeting whatever suffering this may involve. Go on steadily preaching the Gospel and carry out to the full the commission that God gave you.

2 Timothy 4.4

Andrew Dalton
Andrew Dalton
11 months ago

If we can’t stomach novels set in countries that have dark and ugly stains on their records, I have bad news for anyone writing fiction about America.

America is hardly alone. Maybe there are a few undiscovered atolls in the Pacific, we could write about those. And does this mean that War and Peace is cancelled? Is Dostoevsky off reading lists everywhere?

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
11 months ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

Indeed. Considering Solzhenitsyn died just 15 years ago, his depiction of the Gulag seems to have been forgotten by those such as Gilbert who profess to value literature.
He suffered greatly for the cause.
She’s doing it as a career move, to enhance her profile which she will see as being of greater value than the loss of her latest scribblings.

N Satori
N Satori
11 months ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

There is more to Solzhenitsyn than the staunch critic of Soviet Russia. His later years, after his return to Russia were not quite so glorious. He became very anti-Western and even pro-Islam.If you haven’t already, try reading Cathy Young’s essay Solzhenitsyn: The Fall of a Prophet (Quillette 21 Dec 2018) for a more rounded view of his later life.

N Satori
N Satori
11 months ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

There is more to Solzhenitsyn than the staunch critic of Soviet Russia. His later years, after his return to Russia were not quite so glorious. He became very anti-Western and even pro-Islam.If you haven’t already, try reading Cathy Young’s essay Solzhenitsyn: The Fall of a Prophet (Quillette 21 Dec 2018) for a more rounded view of his later life.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

Ah dude, those islands are sinking into the sea. Using that as a setting would be pretty triggering to us folks really super duper worried about climate change.

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
11 months ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

Indeed. Considering Solzhenitsyn died just 15 years ago, his depiction of the Gulag seems to have been forgotten by those such as Gilbert who profess to value literature.
He suffered greatly for the cause.
She’s doing it as a career move, to enhance her profile which she will see as being of greater value than the loss of her latest scribblings.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago
Reply to  Andrew Dalton

Ah dude, those islands are sinking into the sea. Using that as a setting would be pretty triggering to us folks really super duper worried about climate change.

Andrew Dalton
Andrew Dalton
11 months ago

If we can’t stomach novels set in countries that have dark and ugly stains on their records, I have bad news for anyone writing fiction about America.

America is hardly alone. Maybe there are a few undiscovered atolls in the Pacific, we could write about those. And does this mean that War and Peace is cancelled? Is Dostoevsky off reading lists everywhere?

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago

“The idea that a novel about a family fleeing religious persecution from Communists is in any way “pro” Russia is not only absurd — it’s also the exact same argument of potential “harm” wielded by the crusading book banners in American schools.”

I think we need to have an adult conversation about books being banned in schools. In Florida, parents are actually getting input into these decisions and restricting some extremely offensive and sexualized material.   

Restricting access to books can be very fraught and can lead to some abuses and overreach. That’s why we need an adult conversation – because children can’t. Censorship is never good, but parents also have the right to challenge the gatekeepers, who have approved some material that is very offensive and inappropriate.

Here are a list of some books being restricted.

Rhymes with Witches
Boy meets boy
Boy girl boy
Antiracist Baby
This Book is Gay

This list is short and doesn’t capture the nature of books being restricted, because many of the most graphic and sexualized books have banal titles.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago

“The idea that a novel about a family fleeing religious persecution from Communists is in any way “pro” Russia is not only absurd — it’s also the exact same argument of potential “harm” wielded by the crusading book banners in American schools.”

I think we need to have an adult conversation about books being banned in schools. In Florida, parents are actually getting input into these decisions and restricting some extremely offensive and sexualized material.   

Restricting access to books can be very fraught and can lead to some abuses and overreach. That’s why we need an adult conversation – because children can’t. Censorship is never good, but parents also have the right to challenge the gatekeepers, who have approved some material that is very offensive and inappropriate.

Here are a list of some books being restricted.

Rhymes with Witches
Boy meets boy
Boy girl boy
Antiracist Baby
This Book is Gay

This list is short and doesn’t capture the nature of books being restricted, because many of the most graphic and sexualized books have banal titles.

Cynthia W.
Cynthia W.
11 months ago

You can get the nonfiction book about the Lykovs from the library. What I found most striking was the extraordinary destitution and filth in which they lived.

Cynthia W.
Cynthia W.
11 months ago

You can get the nonfiction book about the Lykovs from the library. What I found most striking was the extraordinary destitution and filth in which they lived.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago

Ya. This is a pretty pathetic example of cowardice.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
11 months ago

Ya. This is a pretty pathetic example of cowardice.

Andrew D
Andrew D
11 months ago

Oh well, there’s enough existing decent literature to see me out.

Andrew D
Andrew D
11 months ago

Oh well, there’s enough existing decent literature to see me out.

Nathan Ngumi
Nathan Ngumi
11 months ago

It is quite unfortunate that Elizabeth Gilbert had to self-censor. But there is no solidarity among writers so no one would have stood with her against the cancellation mob.

Arthur G
Arthur G
11 months ago
Reply to  Nathan Ngumi

It would have been pretty easy to explain that the book is actually anti-Soviet/Russian.

Arthur G
Arthur G
11 months ago
Reply to  Nathan Ngumi

It would have been pretty easy to explain that the book is actually anti-Soviet/Russian.

Nathan Ngumi
Nathan Ngumi
11 months ago

It is quite unfortunate that Elizabeth Gilbert had to self-censor. But there is no solidarity among writers so no one would have stood with her against the cancellation mob.

Richard Abbot
Richard Abbot
11 months ago

At last, an upside to cancel culture.

Richard Abbot
Richard Abbot
11 months ago

At last, an upside to cancel culture.

Betsy Arehart
Betsy Arehart
11 months ago

If we had had the self censorship culture of today in the 1870s, there never would have been Impressionist art. Of course, those artists did give each other support, something which it appears today’s artists do not do.

Last edited 11 months ago by Betsy Arehart
Betsy Arehart
Betsy Arehart
11 months ago

If we had had the self censorship culture of today in the 1870s, there never would have been Impressionist art. Of course, those artists did give each other support, something which it appears today’s artists do not do.

Last edited 11 months ago by Betsy Arehart
Derek Smith
Derek Smith
11 months ago

Elizabeth Gilbert is the flakiest of the flakes, but even she knows which way the wind is blowing. If she had released the book, she would have been cancelled, and so self-immolated before the inevitable happened.

Derek Smith
Derek Smith
11 months ago

Elizabeth Gilbert is the flakiest of the flakes, but even she knows which way the wind is blowing. If she had released the book, she would have been cancelled, and so self-immolated before the inevitable happened.