Amanda Jones (photo, left) is a school librarian in Louisiana.
She’s also president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, and in that capacity, spoke against censorship at a meeting.
Two men who didn’t like what she said went on social media and called her “a pedophile who wants to teach 11-year-olds about anal sex.” Now, she’s taking them to court, saying she’s taken enough abuse from people like them. She also filed criminal complaints against them. (Read story here.)
That isn’t political speech, and if you say that about an identifiable person (as opposed to a group), it better be true. If it isn’t, you’re wide open to a libel lawsuit.
NBC News says (here), “Nationwide, school districts have been bombarded by conservative activists and parents over the past year demanding that books with sexual references or that discuss racial conflict, often by authors of color or those who are LGBTQ, be purged from campuses. Those demands have slowly moved toward public libraries in recent months. Many conservative activists have referred to people who defend the books as ‘groomers,’ comparing them to child molesters.”
The two men in question will now have their chance to prove in court that Ms. Jones is a pedophile. If they can’t, they should pay her for the damage they inflicted on her reputation (and the threats of physical assault against her). It would be up to a jury to decide how much.
If someone has concerns about a book, they should discuss the book, not engage in character assassination against someone defending the book. This is how you shut down hate speech that has no place in public discourse.
And, as Salman Rushdie put it (here), “If you don’t like a book, read another book.”