Anti-intellectualism is taking over the US
Taking the example of Tucson, Arizona where a book mentioning her work has been banned, Patricia Williams sounds the alarm on the rise of academic book bans in the United States in an article in The Guardian. She also alerts to sackings of teachers who have used or promoted books seen as inappropriate, or who have carried out actions that authorities have labelled as “activist”.
Williams considers that a key factor in what she describes as anti-intellectualism is the sense of privilege and superiority that allows people to judge works without having carried out any study at all.
She finishes with mention of protest group Librotraficante (Book Trafficker) that is working to bypass Arizona’s public school book bans.
Also published on Medium.
