Recommended Reading: Tucker Carlson, Book Banning, and Content Moderation

This Week's Recommended Reading on Substack: Jared Yates Sexton, Karim Zidan, Erin Reed, Andrea Grimes, Steven Beschloss, Judd Legum, and Noah Berlatsky.

Apr 24, 2023

The Week's Recommended Reading on Substack:

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writes that “there are too many unanswered questions at the moment, but we need to both look at what those questions are while preparing for where this might take us.”

Dispatches From A Collapsing State | Jared Yates Sexton

BREAKING NEWS: TUCKER CARLSON IS OUT. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The story of how Tucker Carlson became the most-watched host on cable news is fascinating. This is an individual who has worked for all three major networks and has, at every stop, both completely changed himself and remained, underneath it all, the exact same. He is as dangerous as anybody in the media ecosystem and equally as influential…

a year ago · 27 likes · 4 comments · Jared Yates Sexton

Karim Zidan

writes that “while Carlson’s departure means that the UFC has lost one of its most potent conservative platforms, the organization’s love affair with right-wing media continues to endure.”

Sports Politika

UFC's love affair with right-wing media endures despite Tucker Carlson's exit

“That’s probably the nicest Sabre-toothed skull you’re ever going to see.” Those were the words spoken by Dana White as he gave Tucker Carlson and his Fox News camera crew a tour of his office in September 2022. The behind-the-scenes clip was part of an interview series with White that spanned a wide range of topics such as the Ultimate Fighting Champio…

a year ago · 4 likes · Karim Zidan

Erin Reed

reports that “one aspect of the law grants the state increased authority and jurisdiction in child custody cases involving gender-affirming care and the potential discontinuation of such care. However, misinformation quickly circulated among conservative social media accounts, falsely claiming that the bill permits the state to remove children from parents who do not affirm their gender.”

Erin In The Morning

No, Minnesota's Trans Refuge Bill Won't "Take Kids From Parents" - But It Was Written To Stop Other States Doing That

a year ago · 84 likes · 7 comments · Erin Reed

andrea grimes

writes "all of these people (mostly men) working to ban and block access to medication abortion by legitimizing absolutely batshit-and-a-half legal finagling? They are all friends and good ole’ boys and longtime colleagues and school chums and they are all working together to do this thing on purpose and coordinating their filings and rulings and appointments and arguments."

Home with the Armadillo

Medication Abortion Access Protected For Now

Here’s another edition of Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday, a weekly roundup of the top headlines, tweets (for now!), toks, takes, and more in abortion news. You can always email me (andrea.grimes@gmail.com) or DM me on instagram with action items, takes, and news clips…

a year ago · 8 likes · andrea grimes

Steven Beschloss

writes that “I am always reluctant to connect America’s current troubles to the historical realities of Nazi Germany. But I have to admit that book banning, especially in this virulent and methodical way, is one of those forms of behavior that triggers thoughts of the 1930s when thousands of books written by Jews, communists and others were burned in massive bonfires.”

America, America

Banning Books, Suppressing Thought and The Rejection of Empathy

Banning books is one of those behaviors that is so beyond the pale, so wrong-headed and egregious an attack on freedom and democracy that I almost can’t write about it calmly. Denying people the right to read whatever they want? Allowing a tyrannical minority to decide for the majority what books are acceptable and …

a year ago · 101 likes · 10 comments · Steven Beschloss

Judd Legum

reports that "nothing in the rules empowers the Challenge Oversight Committee to remove books from shelves based on bills that have been proposed but not enacted. The Challenge Oversight Committee meets in secret and produces no public report explaining its actions."

Popular Information

Florida school district bans dozens of books based on proposed bill

Schools in Clay County, Florida, are withholding dozens of books from students, citing legislation that has been proposed but not approved by the state legislature or signed into law. In a spreadsheet published by the Clay County school district listing the status of challenged books, 55 titles were categorized as "Pending Legislative Update." A spokesp…

a year ago · 267 likes · 100 comments · Judd Legum

Everything Is Horrible

writes "most social media platforms are run by the same type of libertarian-ish tech bros who run Substack. They have mostly resisted aggressive content moderation for the same reasons Substack is resisting it; they have simplistic free speech utopian views, don’t want to spend money on moderation, and hope to monetize content from bigots and fascists."