Tell Me More About the ’50s, Don Lemon!

CNN’s Don Lemon ain’t the brightest bulb in the marquee, to be sure.

Recently, he was reminiscing about how Florida today reminds him of life in the 1950s. Don was born in 1966.

“It feels like the 1950s all over again with book banning,” Lemon wailed recently “I guess they just want our kids ignorant and to control the teachers.”

Wait, who are we talking about here? Because I can definitely come up with some suspects, based on that description.

The issue about which Don got hot and bothered was the state’s education secretary, Manny Diaz, and a new law that makes it a felony for a teacher to assign or promote in the schools books that depict certain sexual conducts, such as bestiality or sadomasochism.

Now, maybe you disagree with the educational value of said topics, but there is a HUGE and obvious difference between “banning” a book, and approving/disapproving its inclusion in a school library or curriculum. I mean, you see this, right?

“Book bans” mean you can’t buy it, can’t order it, can’t possess it. And I never, ever support actual book bans. A terrible, un-American, wrong-headed tactic, no matter which side does it.

If a Floridian can find one of these books on Amazon.com or at his or her local Borders, then it isn’t “banned”.

And about the ’50s. I wasn’t alive either (1965 for me), but I’ve noticed referencing them is a kind of historical crutch for the weak-minded. If they don’t like it, it reminds them of, or must have been prevalent during, the decade of the 1950s.

Truth be told, 1950s America was a place of strong confidence in democracy and capitalism, global confidence in America, artistic groundbreaking, ardent religious revival, racial progress, and blindingly-fast technological breakthroughs.

I can see why it scares leftists.