Former President Barack Obama has been receiving criticism for his vocal support of librarians who are actively working to protect and promote pornographic literature for young readers.
Parental groups as well as those with common sense have been pushing back against what they view as pornographic, racist, and propagandizing materials being made available in school libraries and classrooms across the country.
In a social media post on Monday, Obama expressed his opinion that “banned books” have had an impact on his life and should not be restricted.
He further argued that such books often represent people of color, indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Two such books – Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” and Susan Kuklin’s “Beyond Magenta” – have recently faced restrictions in certain districts due to graphic content including descriptions of oral sex and masturbation in the former, along with stories about sex-change mutilations and hormone therapies in the latter.
Obama suggested that censorship is driven by a desire to silence rather than engage with or understand different views from our own, a stance at odds with comments he made just last April when he called for greater censorship on social media platforms.
His newfound support for unrestricted access to literature has been met with skepticism regarding his past attempts at censorship while serving as president, which included discrimination against hundreds of conservative groups and stifling journalistic efforts.
Libs of TikTok responded to Obama’s glorification of librarians, writing, “When they accuse of ‘banning books’ they’re referring to graphic books containing pornographic content offered to kids in schools across the country. For some reason, they never show examples from the books. … Why does Obama want your kids to read porn like this in school?”
The former president has also launched a TikTok campaign defending so-called ‘banned books’ which will include videos promoting their circulation despite restrictions proposed by parents or wider demographics.
The Being Libertarian Substack account responded to this effort by pointing out Obama’s hypocrisy given his recent history of censoring speech throughout his presidency.
Dinesh D’Souza similarly asked whether these “shaping” books were ones involving deviant acts deserving of promotion among young readers.
Courage Is A Habit – an organization dedicated to combating indoctrination within schools – highlighted some of these obscene publications which Obama wishes to keep accessible through libraries or classrooms nationwide.
Overall, there appears to be much disagreement surrounding the issue of banning books from school premises; whatever one’s stance may be, it is clear that more evidence needs to be presented before any definitive conclusions can be reached regarding what should or should not remain available for young audiences across multiple districts nationwide.
