We often discuss the deafening silence of professors and writers in the face of campaigns to cancel or censor conservative writers. Indeed, many have supported blacklisting and censorship. That disturbing silence is evident this week after Amazon appeared to deplatform Ryan Anderson and his best-selling book, “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement.” Now various conservative sites are objecting that a documentary on conservative Justice Clarence Thomas has been reportedly removed from Amazon’s streaming service — a glaring omission during Black History Month. Amazon has not responded to inquiries as to why the Thomas documentary is no longer available, so it is not clear if this was an intentional or negligent act. Given the controversy over the Anderson book, the sudden unavailability has triggered objections.
A search this morning still found no availability of the book. I have not read the book and I am unfamiliar with Anderson’s arguments. However, my concern is not with the merits of its arguments but the effort to prevent others from reading such arguments.
The intentional removal of the book would be another raw example of private censorship. This is the very danger that I discussed in my recent testimony before the House on efforts to use private companies to implement a system of viewpoint controls. There is a great divide on the issue of how to define gender and how legally to address different genders. This book is part of that national dialogue. However, instead of responding to such book with counterarguments, many want to silence the author to prevent others from reading or hearing his views.
A similar controversy arose last year when Target pulled the book “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” after a single Twitter follower objected. Target later yielded after a national backlash and allowed people to buy the book.
The Thomas controversy is still unfolding but again there is a concern about Amazon’s manipulation of access to opposing views. It appears that you can find a DVD version if you put in the term “DVD” but critics have noted that it is difficult to find as opposed to documentaries on justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A search say that the video is unavailable for streaming. It is hard to judge the controversy at this early date. However, Thomas has been repeatedly snubbed by the Black History Museum and other groups due to his conservative ideology. He should be celebrated during Black History month. I strongly disagree with some of Thomas’ views but his life is a remarkable story of achievement.
Clarence Thomas was born on the Georgia coast in Pin Point, Georgia, on June 23, 1948. He grew up speaking Gullah, the creole dialect. His home was a one-room shack with dirt floors and no plumbing. He grew up without a Dad, who left him at two. As a result, at the age of seven he and his younger brother were sent to live with their grandfather, Myers Anderson, and his wife in Savannah, Georgia. He used his Catholic education to overcome segregation and prejudice to eventually go to Holy Cross and gained admission to Yale, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania law schools. After a series of legal positions, he became the chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1982 and later became just the second African American to join the Court.
That would seem an incredible life to highlight during Black History month.
What concerns me most is that members are sending letters demanding to know why cable companies are still allowing people to watch Fox News while they say nothing about removing books like Anderson’s. Indeed, as previously discussed, members in the recent House hearing repeatedly stated that they support free speech but not a single Democrat expressly opposed calls for Fox News to be taken off the air.
Yet, when it comes to censorship, members are neither silent nor subtle. When Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey came before the Senate to apologize for blocking the Hunter Biden story before the election as a mistake, senators pressed him and other Big Tech executive for more censorship. Rather than addressing the dangers of such censoring of news accounts, Senator Chris Coons pressed Dorsey to expand the categories of censored material to prevent people from sharing any views that he considers “climate denialism.” Likewise, Senator Richard Blumenthal seemed to take the opposite meaning from Twitter, admitting that it was wrong to censor the Biden story. Blumenthal said that he was “concerned that both of your companies are, in fact, backsliding or retrenching, that you are failing to take action against dangerous disinformation.” Accordingly, he demanded an answer to this question:
“Will you commit to the same kind of robust content modification playbook in this coming election, including fact checking, labeling, reducing the spread of misinformation, and other steps, even for politicians in the runoff elections ahead?”
“Robust content modification” has a certain appeal, like a type of software upgrade. It is not content modification. It is censorship. If our representatives are going to crackdown on free speech, they should admit to being advocates for censorship. Indeed, leading academics had the integrity recently to declare that they believe that “China is right” about censorship.
It now appears that Amazon “robustly” removed a best-selling book on gender because it objects to the conclusions reached by the author. The response from Blumenthal and other members? Crickets.
Are you also going to complain if an online bookstore chooses to sell books about Christianity but not about Islam?
These are private businesses, and they can make their own choices about what to sell. The real problem here is that Amazon is too big. It should be broken up so that other companies can compete.
Amazon filed an amicus brief in favor of the lawfare harassment of a baker who didn’t produce goods for homosexual ‘marriage’ celebrations. Their pose in this matter doesn’t surprise me. Find me a liberal who isn’t an intellectual and moral fraud.
Anonymous, is it your contention that there would be no outcry if a bookseller banned books favorable to Islam? I have a little thought experiment for you…Google the Christian cake maker and see if “banning” is allowed for the “non-woke”.
Jonathan: Now that you have moved from CBS and the BBC to FoxNews you will be surrounded by an alternate universe where the facts don’t count–just the conspiracy theories of its hosts. I guess you finally came to the realization that “birds of a feather should flock together”.
Now you and many other conservatives are complaining that Justice Clarence Thomas is being “snubbed” by the Black History Museum and not “celebrated” during Black History month. There’s probably a good reason. Many in the Black community consider Thomas an “Uncle Tom”. because, as the longest serving black Justice on the Court, he has refused to support issues important to the Black community–like affirmative action and voting rights. In 2013 Thomas voted with the majority to strike down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that allowed Republican controlled states to impose new voter ID rules in an attempt to disenfranchise black voters. This allowed Republicans to gain control of the House and Senate in the 2014 elections. Thomas and his wife Ginni have been loyal Trump supporters. Ginni has been active in GOP politics for years. She supported Trump’s unfounded claims of massive voter fraud and urged her friends and former clerks of her husband to join Trump’s rally at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote. She later had to distance herself from what turned out to be a violent insurrection. Justice Thomas has also supported Trump’s false claims. Early in the month the Court refused to hear a case (GOP of Pennsylvania v. Veronica Degraffenreid) to accept an appeal from Pennsylvania Republicans challenging a state court ruling that allowed absentee ballots to be received and counted up to three days after election day. .In a blistering 11-page dissent Thomas said: “For one thing, as election administrators have long agreed, the risk of fraud is ‘vastly more prevalent’ for mail-in ballots”. Now Thomas knows that the Trump campaign and other groups filed 86 lawsuits challenging the election results–including the widespread use of mail-in voting. The courts rejected all the lawsuits because Trump could never offer any evidence of widespread fraud. But Thomas persists in the false claim that fraud is “vastly more prevalent” in mail-in voting. For one. I don’t think Clarence Thomas deserves any place in the lexicon of Black historical figures who spent a lifetime fighting for equal rights for Black people. Thomas is no Justice Thurgood Marshall!
No wonder you are anonymous…your raging anti-factual horse manure puts a light on you. Do you realize what a crackpot you come across as by Slandering Justice Clarence Thomas ?. He did not get where he is with affirmative reaction , and because of that you go with the uncle tom drivel. Yep you go shallow and low right off. So is obammy an uncle tom ?…he is half white and dithered up 8 years of Americas time playing the race card and pandering to corporate oligarchs. Same oligarchs that gave him millions in advance for a worthless book and that mansion on martha’s vineyard in the elite social fascist kindom. If that ain’t an uncle tom by your definition…well we know.
Phergus: Unlike a lot of you out there I don’t hide behind “anonymous” or other monikers, like “Phergus”, that might expose my non-sensical conspiracy theories that would never see the light of day in any newspaper “Letters to the Editor”. For the record, in the comment your refer to I neglected to insert my actual name. I hope this clears up any confusion. As to Justice Thomas you claim that he “did not get where he got with affirmative action”. This is plainly untrue. Throughout his entire career path Thomas benefited from racial preference. He was admitted to Yale Law School in 1971 under an explicit affirmative action plan that sought to admit black students–up to 10% of the entering class. Check it out if you don’t believe me. He was even offered generous financial aid. Thomas worked hard at Yale and deserves credit for what he accomplished despite all the overt racism he experienced. But later Thomas became vocal in his opposition to the civil rights movement and in particular affirmation action programs–the very programs he benefited from. This got the attention of people in the Reagan administration and he was appointed to several positions and eventually an appointment to the Supreme Court by President Bush to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Marshall. But Thomas never could fill Marshall’s shoes because he turned his back on the civil rights movement, the decades of lawsuits, protests and lobbying that removed racial barriers for individuals like him. That’s why he won’t be honored any time soon during Black History month. It’s hard to explain how a man who was active in the the civil rights movement in his youth could evolve into the most conservative member of the Supreme Court–voting to strike down the very programs he personally benefited from. I leave it to others to explain. The point here is that I am not “slandering” Thomas but simply pointing out his contradictions. Before you go off on some tangent again just remember. You have a right to your opinions but you don’t have a right to your own facts. Who really is the “crackpot” here?
Unfortunately, Phergus, Turley’s program keeps putting “Anonymous” on my comment. My actual name is Dennis McIntyre, a frequent commentator. Just for the record.
The courts rejected all the lawsuits because Trump could never offer any evidence of widespread fraud.
They were rejected on procedural grounds.
Thomas is no Justice Thurgood Marshall!
Well, no. Marshall once said to his clerks that if he died, just prop him up and keep on voting him. Thomas is a man with a discrete perspective on constitutional interpretation. Marshal was a triumph of the taxidermist’s art.
Evidence – lack thereof actually – was cited in many of the 60 cases Trump and his advocates lost on the election. Deco’s ignorance about things he comment son is laughable.
Trump appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, said in dismissing one Pennsylvania challenge: “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
Many in the Black community consider Thomas an “Uncle Tom”.
And that should interest a serious curator just why? In law and government, he’s the most consequential historical figure there has been to date to come out of the black population. You exclude mention of him (while including Anita Hill, who was apart from her association with Thomas someone of scant interest), you’re not serious about history. Scroom, and take their salaries away.
I again post words that the White Liberal Left refuses to hear from Malcolm X. I have substituted the word that Malcolm used for Blacks do to this Blogs moderation protocol.
“The worst enemy that the Blacks have is this white man that runs around here drooling at the mouth professing to love Blacks and calling himself a liberal, and it is following these white liberals that have perpetuated problems that Blacks have. If the Black wasn’t taken, tricked or deceived by the white liberal, then Blacks would get together and solve our own problems. I only cite these things to show you that in America, the history of the white liberal has been nothing but a series of trickery designed to make Blacks think that the white liberal was going to solve our problems. Our problems will never be solved by the white man.”. Malcolm X —————
There are many famous Blacks of more superior knowledge than you that have praised Justice Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Bob Woodson and Jay Parker just to name a few. You (?Anonymous?) state that many in the Black Community consider Justice Thomas as a Uncle Tom, please tell us who they are, or another words back up your statement. You further make a statement that Justice Thomas has no place in the Black lexicon of historical figures, I can find only one word that fits you and your opinion, “aphasic”.
We may finally find out more about our voting systems. A county in Arizona has finally been ordered to turn over some of their machines and the ballots involved as well so that proper auditing can take place.
The story of Clarence Thomas’ journey from the very bottom level of our society to where he is today really is an amazing story and one that all people could learn from.
And no, I am not a conservative.
Justices are not supposed to be advocates for “things important to” any community. That’s why Justice wears a blindfold.
Anon, without a voter ID required how many times did you vote this year. A voter ID protects the legitimate voter against those who would falsify their vote. If you went to a bank and tried to withdraw cash without your ID you would be correctly identified as a bank robber. Clarence Thomas would be correct in declaring you a bank robber. Trying to vote without an ID makes you a vote fraudster. When your a California politician you need the votes of the people who can’t get an ID because they can’t prove that they are American Citizens. If the value of your vote as a citizen is diluted by the vote of a non citizen than you lose the one thing that protects you from government control. You can give up your protection if you want but I will not give up mine.
I guess holier-than-thou Amazon doesn’t view Justice Thomas as a black person or a person of African American descent/heritage despite who he is – simply because he isn’t a dyed in the wool D and decides cases based on the USA Constitution and laws (rather than blindly following the D agenda), etc. Any author who doesn’t pander to the LBGQRSTUV mantra won’t be selling books on “woke” Amazon.
“the LBGQRSTUV mantra”
In the time since you wrote that, I think the eternally aggrieved class has added “WX&Y.”
Further discussion is futile and entirely bereft of rationale or purpose as the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) are simply waiting and watching America expire.
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Constitution 101
ABSOLUTE
The Constitution and Bill of Rights are absolute and immutable.
The rights, freedoms, privileges and immunities in the Constitution and Bill of Rights are provided, and NOT qualified, by the Constitution and Bill of Rights and are, therefore, absolute and immutable.
Without hindrance, impediments or interference, Americans have the right to fully and absolutely enjoy the rights, freedoms, privileges and immunities provided by the Constitution and Bill of Rights over any concern or thesis of Congress and/or the Judicial Branch.
The judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court, has NO power to legislate or modify legislation and enjoys as its sole duty and charge merely the power to assure that actions comport with law.*
Fundamental law may not be modified by Congress or the Judicial Branch, including the Supreme Court, or by any State, but only through exercise of the constitutional amendment process.
The freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly are not qualified and are, therefore, immutable.
The right to private property is absolute and immutable allowing only owners to “claim and/or exercise dominion” over private property, brooking no interference whatsoever by governmental entities.
The right to keep and bear arms is absolute and immutable and shall not be infringed in any aspect or facet.
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What America is facing is conquest and extinction by its direct, mortal enemy, global communism and the emerging global hegemon, communist China, which, incidentally and importantly, made clear its intent to
achieve dominion by releasing a biological weapon, “China Flu, 2020,” to improve its geopolitical position.
The prime enemy is China and communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) in America have for decades been committing actionable treason by “…adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid
and Comfort.”
The enemy is not at the gates, the enemy is inside the gates.
The enemy is egregiously violating fundamental law and is irrefutably culpable.
Listening further to the mad rantings of hysterical and incoherent zealots is no longer tenable.
The enemy, as has been the case throughout history, must be neutralized, before said neutralization is no longer possible.
America, including its Constitution and Bill of Rights, is in its final, mortal struggle for survival.
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“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and
to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
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*
“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“… men [will] do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what they forbid.”
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
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“[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”
– James Madison
Those people bought the playbook and appear to be following it line by line. Someone with enough capital needs to set up alternatives to these places, like Amazon. If you’re the only show in town —. Shareholders need to start raising holy hell
There are other places you can buy “When Harry Became Sally”: Doesn’t a business has the right to choose the products they choose to sell. Everything on Amazon can be bought elsewhere except perhaps Amazon branded products.
Quoting from “My Grandfathers Son” by Clarence Thomas; “…IN any case, their point was the fear they instilled in southern blacks, a fear that had helped to keep segregation alive. My Generation had sought to replace that fear with rage that proved over time to be intoxicating, empowering, justifiable—and ultimately self-destructive. Yet we never forgot what it felt like to live in fear of the power of a mob”… –“The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. Its weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America’s newspapers. Instead it devastated their reputations and drained away their hope. But it was a mob all the same, and its purpose—to keep the black man in his place—was unchanged…” STILL TESTIFING IN COMMITTEE Justice Thomas “…This is a circus. It is a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, as far as I am concerned, it is high-tech lynching… who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that, unless you kowtow to an old order this is what will happen to you, you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee… rather than hung from a tree.”——– Today we can substitute the singular work (Black) and come to these same conclusions about the current Woke mobs attitudes. One final quote from Jay Parker founding member of Black Conservative Movement “Put up or shut up”, which Justice Thomas realized was right “One might shut up when it doesn’t matter” “but when it really counts, we are required to put up”. viva liberté d’expression
(music to Randy Newman song called Short People)
Bent people got no reason.
Bent people got no reason!
Bent people got no reason to live!
They got little bitty eye, little bitty feet..
Little bitty voices going beep, beep, beep!
Don’t want no bent people!
Don’t want no bent people round here!
Shrier’s book is no longer available on Target’s website, despite Irreversible Damage being named “Book of the Year” by The Economist and “One of the Best Books of the Year” by The Times and The Sunday Times. It appears that once the hubbub died down, Target removed it again, hoping no one would notice.
In related news, Zoom has issued a warning to feminist Posie Parker aka Kellie-Jay Keen that she may be permanently suspended for “hate;” Parker uses Zoom to facilitate the interviews she posts on her feminist YouTube channel. Feminists object to males being classified as women, but transgender extremists and gender ideologues have great success lodging “hate” accusations against women who don’t want to shower with males or compete against them in athletics.
Jon, I doubt if you’re ever going to come to grips with the fact that the Democratic Party you love and support has gone off the rails and is now Marxist and practically communist. They have no interest in freedom of anything, they want to dictate and force others to follow their philosophies. Their goal is to control all thought.
Buy Ryan Anderson’s book at Barnes & Noble. I don’t know if I’ll get around to reading it. I wanted to support the author. It’s my little protest against censorship.
“not clear if this was an intentional or negligent act.” Law professor Turley must have meant “inadvertant” or “neglectful,” because negligence implies a duty to carry the Anderson book or offer the Thomas documentary on Prime Video, and then a breach of the duty.
“not clear if it was an intentional or negligent act”: Could be intentional or neglectful or inadvertent. But not negligent, because Amazon has no duty to carry the transgender book or offer the Thomas documentary on Prime video.
Dr. Anderson is a philosopher who works for a small think tank. His book was pulled for only one reason – the woke-tards Jeff Bezos hires (who vend material written by Louis Farrakhan) fancy an academic book taking issue with the transgender phenomenon is intolerable. This is our decrepit culture.
It’s striking that the leftists have to continually block and suppress speech that doesn’t support their POV. This shows that their POV alone isn’t compelling or convincing enough to win converts without this conscious effort.
Same as cheating on elections. Can’t convince enough to vote for you through elections to win so cheating is the next step.
That would be the Republicans passing voter suppression laws.
Analnominous…….. Voter suppression laws ?. You are a daft donkey sir. Lets see we need all kinds of enhanced ID to get on a plane , to get a passport, to buy a firearm , to buy a house , to have a bank account , to drive a car ,Get utilities for your home , get a job , run a business , get unemployment , pay taxes etc etc etc …. but somehow requiring a citizen to show ID to vote is suppression ?. Without Voter ID we get….mystery Votes that elect the very politicos whom can be manipulated and bought by Chinese communists and oligarchs dark money. mystery Votes that can be created out of thin air and massaged with fake ballots and manipulated by machines …because so many voting laws were intentionally voided….. illegals were voting , chicoms were voting , fake people , dead people were voting , multiple voting by individuals and grass roots demoratzi groups ( the Chinese especially wanted what they paid for you know ) . Midnight ballot drops all for one senile pogue , strange fractional vote tallying by machines… many proven to be connected to the internet…. the list goes on. For you to not support voter ID is to support organized and willful voter fraud & manipulation. You are a tool at the minimum.
There you go again. What “voter suppression” laws?
Think “it can’t happen here”? It’s already happening here.
EXTREME LEFT WING & WOKE & SOCIAL JUSTICE CROWDS, who are n the Minority trying to impose their will on the vast majority. They all fail to abide and under stand the Constitution/Bill of Rights and Freedoms. Over time these Extreme Views will be rejected and the Left Wing/Woke/Social Justice crowd will go back to their caves. We will see a return to the Center and this chapter will go down in history as a bad experiment that went wrong
Amazon also took down a Documentary about Clarence Thomas during Black History month. They are censoring everything and everybody. Somebody SHOULD take a stand, but who has the balls??
I realized about 40 years ago that language was being ‘modified;’ and that this was key to power.
‘Censorship’ becomes ‘content modification,’ which, while silencing views dissenting from the orthodoxy-du-jour, certainly has no implications pertaining to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
Who controls the past controls the future.
Who controls the language controls the past.
Who controls the culture controls the language – and the culture is controlled by an insane minority in today’s Disunited States of America.
The conclusion reached by the author is that biology is determinative. Because, you know, science. But, hey, if you really want to dive down the rabbit hole, take a gander at a recent episode of “The Good Doctor” called “Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices” – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13945416/?ref_=ttep_ep9
Lefties smell opportunity – the chance to impose their will on the country.
They are wrong to do so, but they don’t care about justice or fairness.
All that they will allow is a monochromatic world with them in power.
A cruel, unfair, and ugly world.
Read the posts of Lefties on this blog; many of them are ugly people.
Lefties! Call em Lefties!
What kind of people call em Lefties?
Fat kids, skinny kids, even New York rites.
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I am a Right Wing Guy. My brain is against Carl Marx and The Gang of Four. The word Lefty for those Commies isn’t strong enough.