Tag: literature

Washington Teacher Fired for Reading ‘the N-Word’ from a Passage in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

In what some believe to be another case of political correctness gone awry, a teacher at West Valley High School in Spokane, Washington, claims he was fired for reading the “n-word” aloud during a class discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s iconic novel about racial injustice in the Jim Crow South.

The former West Valley High School teacher, Matthew Mastronardi, was secretly recorded by a student while reading a passage from the school-approved text that uses the n-word in its historical context.

In a series of posts on X, Mastronardi explained that while he teaches Spanish, he had overheard two students discussing how they were instructed to skip over “the n-word” while reading the novel in their English class.

Mastronardi wrote, “I was astonished and expressed disagreement, saying, ‘That’s silly; it undermines the book’s historical context and disrespects the author’s intent to use accurate language.’ A girl asked me in front of the class, ‘Would you read the word?’ I replied, ‘Yes, I would read every word.’”

“A male student immediately handed me the book and said, ‘Okay, do it.’ I knew the situation was serious with 30 students watching, wondering if I would read,” Mastronardi continued. “Nervous but committed, I saw it as a teachable moment about context and literary honesty in reading. I read a passage aloud, including the word ‘nigger,’ unaware I was being recorded.”

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BEYOND PARODY: Anniversary Edition of George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Includes ‘Trigger Warning’ by American Professor

A new anniversary edition of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel ‘1984’ has been released and it includes a ‘trigger warning’ in the introduction that was written by an American professor.

Apparently, progressives in higher education don’t understand the concept of irony.

Trigger warnings are one of the progressive concepts that sprang out of liberal academia in recent years and assumes that the reader is so mentally fragile that they need a warning for material that could somehow traumatize them.

The College Fix reports:

75th anniversary edition of ‘1984’ contains trigger warning by American U. professor

Courtesy of Dolen Perkins-Valdez, who according to her website has “established herself as a pre-eminent chronicler of American historical life” and teaches literature at American University, the intro makes note that “there are no Black characters at all” in the novel.

For a “contemporary reader” such as herself, Perkins-Valdez (pictured) says this gives her “pause.” She also says a “sliver of connection” is difficult with a book that “does not speak much to race and ethnicity.”

On the June 2 edition of the show “America This Week, Live,” host Walter Kirn had co-host Matt Taibbi in stitches pointing out the paradox of such an introduction in a book whose themes include the use of language and freedom of thought…

“So, this version of ‘1984’ has a trigger warning […] here it goes: Dolen Perkins-Valdez [says] ‘I’m enjoying the novel on its own terms, not as a classic but as a good story. That is, until Winston [Smith] reveals himself to be a problematic character.’

“‘For example, we learn of him he dislikes nearly all women. And especially the young and pretty ones. Winston’s views on women are, at first, despicable for the contemporary reader. He is the kind of character that can make me put a book down.’”

Just unreal.

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A Papal Biographer Shills For War With Russia

Earlier this month in The National Catholic Register, Pope John Paul II’s biographer, George Weigel, called Russia, “a modern Moloch, the bloodthirsty Canaanite god against whom the prophets of ancient Israel railed” – in a breathless criticism of President Trump’s Ukrainian peace efforts.

On February 12, 2025, he penned a rant syndicated by The Denver Catholic, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Denver. Titled Russia’s Sacrilegious War on Ukraine, the piece advocated continued war in Ukraine until Russia loses:

There is no happy or just solution to Putin’s aggression that does not end with Putin losing. How that happens is subject to debate. But Putin must lose, both for Ukraine’s sake and for Russia’s…. for America’s sake, and for the world’s.

Weigel has served on the board of the CIA cutout, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), with Victoria Nuland. His advocacy helped save the organization in 1993, when it was almost (and should have been) shut down at the end of the Cold War.

The Trump administration has suspended funding for NED, and Elon Musk called it an “evil organization [that] needs to be dissolved.”  Arguably, more than any other Washington entity, NED is responsible for inciting civil unrest around the world to serve the purposes of corrupt people.

For over a decade, Weigel has acted as a reliable mouthpiece for NED in its efforts to cause war in Ukraine. Mostly, he has provided a Catholic pretext for awful stuff, based on a tangential association with a long-dead pope.

Whatever its initial intentions – and they were chiefly benevolent – by 2025 NED had become the driving force in a Frankenstein foreign policy that that took its initial design to its rational conclusion: chaos and death.

The details of the Ukraine conflict are rarely covered in the Western media, but they are available to piece together from open sources. In 2010, Ukraine elevated Viktor Yanukovych to president in a democratic election. As reported at the time:

A total of 3,779 observers, including 650 from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, were dispatched to monitor the election. Ukraine’s presidential election, the fifth since the country regained its independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, was democratic and “organized in a transparent manner,” the OSCE said today in an e-mailed statement.

In 2013, Yanukovych would make the mistake of not signing an association agreement with the European Union and, instead, entertaining a regional economic alliance with Russia. John McCain and other prominent American politicians flew to Kiev to rally support for the EU.

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Kamala Lands $20 MILLION Book Deal And People Have Questions…

All time worst presidential loser Kamala Harris is set to make $20 million from a book deal, and may sign an exclusive contract with Netflix, according to a report citing a Harris insider.

The book is set to recount her side of the story regarding what went down in the White House, when Harris replaced Biden as the nominee.

The Daily Mail notes that the source told them “Virtually the moment Kamala lost to Trump, the offers began pouring in from the publishing world for her to do the definitive book on what really went on between Joe and Kamala,”

“They are throwing around advance numbers in the $20 million range, maybe more with other publishing rights,” the source adds.

$20 million just happens to be the exact amount of debt Harris’ campaign ended up with.

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DEI Fellows and the Weird Wish Lists of Literary Gatekeepers

As big companies like Walmart shuffle their DEI initiatives out of view, others are holding fast and keeping them out front. Last week, Penguin Random House, one of the world’s biggest book publishers, posted a job listing for a “DEI Fellow.” The notice reads:

For a one-year role, the Penguin Random House DEI team seeks a Research and Partnerships Fellow. [sic] to work on our Latinx Voices project in collaboration with One World.

Relaunched in 2017, One World is home to award-winning and bestselling authors who are collectively leading the cultural conversation. Our authors include Ta-Nehisi Coates, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Trevor Noah, Cathy Park Hong, Bryan Stevenson, Nikole Hanna-Jones, and Victor LaValle.

Our ideal Fellow will be a passionate advocate for Latinx authors and readers, responsible for researching, and then building connections with, Latinx organizations, influencers, media, and audiences. You’ll report into the Associate Director, DEI and work closely with both the DEI and One World teams on the Latinx Voices project, an initiative focused on connecting the company, authors, and titles with Latinx audiences and better supporting the publication of Latinx authors. One World, relaunched in 2017, is home to award-winning and bestselling authors who are collectively leading the cultural conversation.

Among the essential requirements listed are a strong “knowledge of Latinx audiences and community” and “proficiency in Spanish.” That’s not a statement of racial preference in hiring, but it’s close enough. Worse still is the fact that resources will be committed toward only assisting authors who belong to a specific minority group. It is outright unfair to everyone else, and any author who benefits from this effort will never be able to state with confidence that they were elevated based on merit rather than group membership.

Penguin’s DEI Fellow job listing is just one example of how deep the DEI problem goes in the publishing industry.

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The Complex Legacy Of George Orwell

George Orwell, one of the most influential political writers of the 20th century, is widely recognized for his searing critiques of totalitarian regimes in his novels Animal Farm and 1984. Orwell’s portrayal of state control, propaganda, and the manipulation of truth has resonated with readers across the political spectrum. However, Orwell’s personal political ideology and his critiques of totalitarianism are far more complex than is often acknowledged. Rather than being a passive observer or simply an opponent of dictatorship, Orwell was deeply involved in the socialist movements of his time, aligning himself—whether accidentally or intentionally—with Trotskyist circles. Orwell was a powerful voice of the left, despite being a target in the war among socialist factions.

Orwell’s Political Ideology and Alignment with Trotskyism

While Orwell is best remembered for his criticism of authoritarianism and totalitarianism, it is essential to understand that he was, first and foremost, a committed socialist. Despite never formally joining a political party, Orwell was an active and vocal participant in the socialist movement. This may surprise those who associate Orwell solely with his critiques of state tyranny. Indeed, Orwell’s disdain for the left dictatorship did not extend to all forms of socialism, and his political writings often reflect an internal critique of socialist regimes rather than a wholesale rejection of socialist principles.

Orwell’s critique of Stalinist totalitarianism is best understood as part of a broader ideological struggle within the socialist movement itself. Specifically, Orwell’s critiques echo the views of Leon Trotsky, a key figure in early Soviet history and one of Stalin’s most prominent critics. Trotsky was a revolutionary Marxist who played a crucial role in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war. He was instrumental in founding the Red Army, which secured the Bolshevik victory over the anti-communist White Army during the Russian Civil War. However, Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution” set him at odds with Stalin, who favored the consolidation of socialism in one country—namely, the Soviet Union—before pursuing global revolution. Trotsky’s insistence that socialism must be spread worldwide made him a figure of suspicion within the Soviet hierarchy. In the early 1920s, Stalin consolidated power, leading to Trotsky’s exile in 1929. Despite this, Trotsky continued to oppose Stalin’s policies from abroad, particularly through his writings.

Trotsky’s critique of Stalinism included accusations that Stalin had betrayed the original goals of the Russian Revolution. According to Trotsky, Stalin had established a bureaucratic dictatorship rather than a dictatorship of the proletariat, as envisioned by Marxist theory. He argued that Stalin’s regime represented, not the rule of the working class, but the rise of a privileged bureaucratic elite, a “nomenklatura,” that dominated Soviet society. In addition, Trotsky accused Stalin of fostering a cult of personality, suppressing political opposition, and betraying the internationalist principles of socialism.

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‘Amazon Files’: Emails Show Amazon Caved to Pressure From White House to Suppress Books Critical of Vaccines

In addition to pressuring social media platforms to censor content during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration also worked with Amazon to suppress books questioning the safety or efficacy of vaccines, according to internal emails obtained through a series of subpoenas, Fox Business reported.

The emails — dubbed “The Amazon Files” — were included in a report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

In a June 21 post on X (formerly Twitter), Committee Chair Jim Jordan shared a list of 43 books that Amazon initially added to a newly created “Do Not Promote” class of allegedly anti-vaccine books.

The No. 2 book on the list — “Vaccine Epidemic” — was co-authored and edited by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) CEO Mary Holland, CHD General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg and Louise Kuo Habakus.

The first book on the list is, “Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History” by Dr. Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk.

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Biden Admin Asked Amazon To Hide Vaccine-Critical Books During Pandemic

The Biden Administration pressured Amazon to hide books for sale on its platform that were critical of vaccines during the pandemic, it has been revealed.

The findings were presented by the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in documents that show Amazon reduced the visibility of titles that the government deemed overly critical of big pharma shots.

The documents show that some books were simply generally critical of vaccines, with several written by medical professionals. Some were even just reviews of scientific studies.

The Federal government compiled a “Do Not Promote” list, to which more than 40 titles were added.

In a series of X posts, Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan explained how internal emails from Amazon contain employees revealed that “the impetus for this request is criticism from the Biden Administration.”

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Was George Orwell defending the Left, the Right or was he simply defending freedom?

No writer’s legacy and approval is so fought over as George Orwell, whose final – and most celebrated – work Nineteen-Eighty-Four was published seventy five years ago this month.

The most influential piece of political fiction in history, such is the success of the dystopian novel that its themes have been recited to death by columnists, often by people I imagine he would have loathed (including me). 

Orwell’s nightmare became a particular focus of conservative commentators from the 1990s with the rise of ‘political correctness’, which might be seen as both a form of politeness and at the same time a way of policing opinions by changing the language. As Orwell’s Newspeak was described, it was to ensure that dissent cannot be voiced because ‘the necessary words were not available’. Newspeak, along with thought police and doublethink, has become a part of our political vocabulary, while even the proles have Big Brother to entertain them. No one can doubt that Orwell has won the final victory, and the struggle for the writer’s soul forms part ofDorian Lynskey’s entertaining and informative The Ministry of Truth, a biography of Nineteen-Eighty-Four which was published at the time of the last significant anniversary. 

Lynskey, a hugely gifted writer who specialises in the relationship between arts and politics, is very much on the Left and sees the modern parallels with the Trumpian disdain for truth, although the great man himself is now often more cited by the Right. Indeed the anniversary was recently celebrated by the free-market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs with a new edition and an introduction by my friend Christopher Snowdon.

Orwell was a paradoxical man, contradictory, sometimes hypocritical (aren’t we all?). In the preface to his book, publisher Victor Gollancz wrote that ‘The truth is that he is at one and the same time an extreme intellectual and a violent anti-intellectual. Similarly he is a frightful snob – still (he must forgive me for saying this), and a genuine hater of every form of snobbery.’

As Lynskey writes: ‘Until the end of his life, Orwell acknowledged that microbes of everything he criticised existed in himself. In fact, it was this awareness of his own flaws that inoculated him against utopian delusions of human perfectibility.’

Such awareness is surprisingly rare among intelligent journalists and commentators, especially when ideology takes a grip – and Orwell was introduced to this reality in quite brutal form.

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On the 75th Anniversary of Orwell’s ‘1984’, Five Predictions From The Book That Came True

75 years ago, George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ was published. In the book, writing became the ultimate act of subversion and we started to see that happening in real life during the pandemic. Fortunately, enough people fought back and a few places, such as Substack, remained where we could express our opinions.

Professor Jean Seaton, Director of The Orwell Foundation, said:

“In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell posed the most terrifying of all questions: could people be brought to really believe (rather than merely pretend to believe) the lies they are told? Seventy-Five years later we are at the start of a roller-coaster experiment with our minds as we battle, rather feebly, to manage the information technologies that already do much to control us and our societies, alongside the resurgence of authoritarianism”.

The pandemic certainly showed us that people could be brought to really believe the lies that they were told.

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