For me, this is the sort of censorship that causes problems for liberals.
It depends on a view of the world that whites should be ashamed of their whiteness and their history and that people of different colours are so weak they cannot allow any light humour to be written about them: apparently the study's authors were troubled that the Japanese were called, wait for it, Japanese.
These concerns may fly in ivory towers and where people walk on eggshells. But it falls like a lead balloon where much of the rest of the world lives. It's the sort of thing that makes Republicans more determined to vote for their candidates.
As night follows day, the banned books will now sell in larger quantities in the second hand market. And frankly, I'd never heard of them before today. I wonder if anyone much was purchasing them. Own goal.
There's no shame in being white. Or black. Or whatever. And for me, the world is a better place when people can make light-hearted fun of one another. Broad highways make for a healthier flow of traffic. Let the market decide.
I hope academics have better things to do with their time.
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