Ex-President Barack Obama is facing a backlash on social media for his vocal opposition to book banning. This subject has ignited fervor since explicit content was reportedly found in public school libraries.
Using Twitter as his platform, Obama sent a letter to the “committed and diligent librarians across America.”
In this letter, Obama acknowledged influential authors such as Mark Twain and James Baldwin as integral to his upbringing. He pointed out that many “banned books” were either written by or featured “people of color, indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community,” labeling this strategy as “misdirected.”
“The inclination seems to silence opposing viewpoints rather than to challenge, learn from, or strive to comprehend them,” the letter states.
The former president tweeted, “Some of the books that profoundly impacted my life, and countless others, are under scrutiny by individuals who disagree with certain thoughts or perspectives. Librarians stand on the front lines, persistently striving to offer the broadest array of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas to all.”
However, the comments section on Twitter was filled with ridicule towards Obama’s viewpoint. Critics shared illustrations from some of the most controversial “banned books,” which included sexually explicit content.
Robby Starbuck, a former GOP congressional candidate from Tennessee, targeted Obama and a specific book, “Gender Queer,” which includes illustrations of gay sex. He wrote, “If you’ll sit down and read ‘Gender Queer,’ then defend its availability to children, I’ll run national ads to let people know. You won’t do it because you know it would appall mainstream folks that your party wants children to read it.”
Another response suggested, “Were you a big fan of Gender Queer? Did it mold your life? Removing inappropriate content from schools, isn’t book banning.”
A different user even encouraged President Joe Biden to read these books to children publicly, insinuating it would be appropriate for him.
Many critics argued that Obama’s statements were intentionally misleading.
One such post read, “You are so adept at crafting language to sway the uninformed electorate into believing the issue is about book banning. It’s about restricting children’s access to pornographic material and not compelling them to read books promoting left-leaning ideologies through required sex education…”
Previously, First Lady Jill Biden voiced a similar opinion to Obama, stating that no books should be removed from school libraries regardless of their content.
Biden said, “All books should be in the library. All books. This is America. We don’t ban books,” by The Daily Wire.
