The New York Times argues that the recent rash of censorship reflects weakness parading as strength. Their editorial states, “A political project convinced of the superiority of its ideas doesn’t need the power of the state to shield people from competing ideas. Censorship is the desperate rear-guard action of a movement that has already lost the fight for hearts and minds.” (The New York Times, September 10, 2022, by The Editorial Board)
Erin Blakemore in the National Geographic, September 6, 2022, traces the history of censorship in the U.S. The current surge is focused on LGBTZ+ content, racism and race, sexual content and death and grief. The most challenged book in 2021 was Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, a memoir about being nonbinary.