에미상 후보에 오른 코미디 작가 베스 콥은 의회 청문회에서 트럼프 행정부 하의 검열 위험성에 대해 논했습니다.
그녀는 대통령이 농담에 민감하게 반응한 결과 심야 토크쇼가 폐지된 사례를 언급하며, 여론 형성 및 정부 정책 비판에 있어 표현의 자유와 코미디의 중요성을 강조했습니다.
Bess Cobb, an Emmy-nominated comedy writer, discusses the dangers of censorship under Trump’s administration during a congressional hearing.
She highlights how the president’s sensitivity to jokes led to the cancellation of late-night shows and emphasizes the importance of free speech and comedy in shaping public opinion and critiquing government actions.
소개 및 배경:
베스 콥은 에미상 후보에 오른 코미디 작가이자 뉴욕 타임스 베스트셀러 작가로, 8년 동안 지미 키멜 라이브의 작가로 활동했으며 작가 조합상(Writer’s Guild Award)을 수상했습니다. 그녀는 5분간 발언할 기회를 얻었습니다.
콥은 자신은 로스쿨에 진학하지 않은 코미디 작가이며, 로스쿨에 가지 않은 수백만 미국인을 대표하게 되어 영광이라고 말했습니다. 그녀는 수정헌법 제1조에 관한 청문회에서 발언하게 된 것이 놀랍다고 언급했습니다.
트럼프와 검열에 대한 경험:
콥은 취임 첫날 “표현의 자유를 회복하고 연방 검열을 종식시킨다”는 대통령 조치를 발표한 트럼프 대통령과의 경험을 이야기합니다. 그녀는 트럼프 대통령이 마음에 들지 않는 발언에 대해 어떻게 생각할지 우려했었기에 이 조치가 안도감을 주었다고 말했습니다.
콥은 2017년 트럼프 대통령의 트윗에 농담으로 답글을 단 후 트위터에서 차단당한 개인적인 경험을 공유했습니다. 나이트 재단(Knight Foundation)은 트럼프 대통령이 자신과 다른 여러 사람을 차단 해제하도록 소송을 제기했습니다.
코미디에서의 역할과 행정부의 대응:
코브는 2012년부터 2020년까지 ‘지미 키멜 라이브’의 작가로 활동하면서 민주당원, 공화당원, 유명인사를 포함한 모든 사람에 대한 농담을 구상하는 책임을 맡았다고 설명합니다. 그녀는 대통령이 심야 코미디 작가들에게 최고의 관객인 동시에 최악의 관객이라고 지적합니다.
코브는 트럼프 대통령이 농담을 하는 사람들을 침묵시키려 했던 전력이 있으며 소셜 미디어에 올라온 농담에 대해 불만을 표출했다고 언급합니다. 이러한 행태는 소셜 미디어를 넘어 ‘스티븐 콜버트 쇼’에서도 나타났는데, 콜버트가 트럼프에게 지급된 1,600만 달러 합의금에 대한 농담을 한 후 이 프로그램이 영향을 받았다는 주장이 제기되었습니다.
트럼프 행정부는 ‘지미 키멜 라이브’의 오프닝 멘트가 대통령의 심기를 거스르자 잠시 방송을 중단시켰는데, 트럼프 대통령이 소셜 미디어 ‘트루스 소셜’에서 코미디언들의 ‘캔슬’에 대해 즐거워하는 모습을 보였음에도 불구하고 행정부는 방송 중단에 대한 책임을 부인했습니다.
대통령은 Truth Social에서 지미 키멜 쇼가 폐지된 것에 대해 기쁨을 표하며, ABC 방송이 필요한 조치를 취할 용기를 냈다고 칭찬하는 한편, 지미 팔론과 세스 롤린스를 비롯한 다른 심야 토크쇼 진행자들을 “완전한 패배자”라고 비난했습니다.
검열의 더 넓은 의미:
지미 키멜과 스티븐 콜버트가 진행하는 심야 코미디 쇼는 권력에 맞서 진실을 말하고 수백만 미국인들이 뉴스를 접하는 방식을 형성하는 데 중요한 역할을 하며, 비판과 반대의 강력한 목소리를 대변합니다.
심야 쇼 폐지는 단순히 농담을 통제하는 것뿐만 아니라, 행정부와 그 기업 동맹에 대한 비판을 통제하는 것이기도 합니다. 국가는 권력을 이용해 어떤 말이 수익성이 있는지 판단하고, 종종 수정헌법 제1조보다 이윤을 우선시합니다.
행정부의 동기와 영향:
스티븐 콜버트 쇼의 폐지와 지미 키멜 라이브의 일시적인 방송 중단은 행정부의 규제 보복을 피하려는 의도에서 비롯되었을 가능성이 높으며, 코미디언들의 자신에 대한 비판에 대한 대통령의 개인적인 감정 또한 영향을 미쳤습니다.
연방 정부 최고위층의 표현의 자유 검열은 권력층에 있는 미국인들이 표현의 자유를 제한하도록 부추겼고, 그 영향은 주, 지방, 교육위원회 수준까지 파급되어 저자와 같이 직접 검열을 경험한 개인에게까지 영향을 미쳤습니다.
도서 금지에 대한 개인적인 경험:
저자는 가족 및 친구와 이야기할 가치가 있는 주제는 하원 법사위원회의 고위 위원들과도 이야기할 가치가 있다고 생각하며, 아동 도서 작가로서 아이들에게 책을 읽어주고 검열되지 않은 피드백을 받을 수 있다는 점이 좋습니다.
저자의 책들은, 특히 첫 번째 책인 《버팔로 플러플》을 포함하여, 성공을 거두었으며, 《버팔로 플러플》은 뉴욕 타임스 베스트셀러 1위에 올랐습니다. 그들은 여러 주에서 교육청과 출판사 간의 파트너십을 통해 수천 명의 초등학생들에게 책을 읽어줄 수 있었습니다.
하지만 몬태나 주의 한 시골 마을에서 예정되어 있던 학교 방문은 취소되었습니다. 이전에 특정 책들을 도서관에서 금지시키려는 운동을 벌였던 학부모들이 교육감에게 이메일을 보내 작가가 정치 풍자 작가로 활동하며 쓴 농담들을 첨부하고, 작가가 아이들에게 책을 읽어주러 오면 소란을 피우겠다고 협박했기 때문입니다.
작가는 취소로 피해를 입은 아이들이 자신의 아이들과 비슷한 나이였고, 책을 읽고 미술 활동을 하며 작가의 방문을 준비하고 있었는데, 만약 학부모들이 실제로 위협을 실행에 옮겼다면 아이들은 무서운 일을 겪었을 것이라고 말합니다.
그녀의 책과 리더십이 전하는 메시지:
작가의 책, 《버팔로 플러플》은 겉으로는 거칠고 씩씩해 보이지만 사실은 겁 많고 연약한 버팔로에 대한 이야기입니다. 버팔로는 친구들의 사랑과 지지를 받습니다. 작가는 이러한 책과 이야기를 통해 버팔로가 아이들에게 책을 읽어주려는 본능을 드러낼 수 있다고 믿습니다.
표현의 자유를 억압하는 것은 약하거나 취약해 보이는 것에 대한 두려움에서 비롯됩니다:
저자는 진정한 지도자는 자신을 희화화할 수 있는 능력만큼 강하다고 주장하며, 정부에 대한 농담이 오히려 불리하게 작용하는 시대에 사는 것은 웃을 일이 아니라고 말합니다. 하지만 저자는 정부의 표현의 자유 탄압에 분노하고 상심하는 사람들로 둘러싸여 있기에 희망을 잃지 않습니다.
교육 및 아동에 미치는 영향:
여러 주의 학교 사서들은 도서 금지를 둘러싼 교육위원회의 싸움 최전선에 서 있으며, 내용에 상관없이 아이들이 흥미를 느끼고 읽고 싶어 하는 책, 예를 들어 등장인물이 두 명의 엄마를 가진 책 같은 것을 아이들에게 읽혀주고 싶어 하는 마음을 억누르지 못해 지치고 좌절감을 느낍니다.
미국 전역의 아이들은 배경과 사회경제적 지위가 다르더라도 책을 접할 때 보이는 반응과 호기심은 비슷하며, 비슷한 질문을 하고 자신의 강아지 이름 같은 개인적인 이야기를 나눕니다.
정치적 저항과 검열에 맞서는 수단:
라스킨 의원과 스캔론 의원처럼 대통령의 개인적인 공격과 행동에 맞서 싸우려는 의원들이 있어 그의 권력을 견제할 수 있다는 희망을 주고 있습니다.
코미디 작가로서, 권위주의 체제 하에서 유머는 진실을 말하는 효과적인 도구가 될 수 있다고 믿으며, J.D. 밴스와 같은 작가들이 공론장에서 자신의 견해를 표현할 권리를 옹호하는 말에서 위안을 얻습니다.
역사적 배경 및 결론:
냉전이라는 역사적 배경이 언급됩니다. 민주주의 수호자들이 폭압 세력에 맞서 싸웠고, 반체제 인사들을 검열하고 교회를 폐쇄한 쪽은 선한 편이 아니었으며, 다행히도 전쟁에서 패배했습니다.
민주주의와 표현의 자유를 수호하는 것의 중요성이 강조되며, 미국에 대한 지속적인 축복을 기원하고 질의응답 시간을 갖겠다는 말로 증언이 마무리됩니다.
Detailed Summary
Introduction and Background
Bess Cobb is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and New York Times best-selling author, who has written for Jimmy Kimmel Live for eight years and won a Writer’s Guild Award. She is recognized to speak for five minutes.
Cobb mentions that she is a comedy writer who did not attend law school and is honored to be representing the millions of Americans who did not go to law school. She finds it surprising that she is speaking at a hearing about the First Amendment.
Experience with Trump and Censorship
Cobb discusses her experience with President Trump, who on his first day in office announced a presidential action called “restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship.” This was a relief to her because she had concerns about how he felt about speech he didn’t like.
Cobb shares her personal experience of being blocked by President Trump on Twitter in 2017 after she replied to one of his tweets with a joke, and the Knight Foundation sued him to get him to unblock her and several others.
Role in Comedy and Administration’s Response
Cobb explains that when she wrote for Jimmy Kimmel Live from 2012 through 2020, she was responsible for pitching jokes about everyone, including Democrats, Republicans, and celebrities. She notes that the president is both the best and worst audience for late-night comedy writers.
Cobb mentions that President Trump has a history of trying to silence joke tellers and has complained about jokes on social media. This behavior went beyond social media when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was allegedly affected after Colbert told jokes about a $16 million settlement paid to Trump.
The Trump administration was involved in the brief removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air after the show’s monologue displeased the president, with the administration denying responsibility for the cancellation, despite the president’s apparent glee on Truth Social about the literal cancellation of comedians.
The president expressed his excitement about the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show on Truth Social, congratulating ABC for having the courage to do what had to be done, and also criticized other late-night hosts, including Jimmy Fallon and Seth, calling them “total losers.”
Broader Implications of Censorship
Late-night comedy shows, such as those hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, play a vital role in speaking truth to power and shaping how millions of Americans absorb the day’s news, making them powerful voices of criticism and dissent.
The cancellation of late-night shows is not just about controlling jokes, but also about controlling criticism of the administration and its corporate allies, with the state using its power to shape what is profitable to say, often prioritizing the bottom line over the First Amendment.
Administration’s Motivations and Effects
The removal of Stephen Colbert’s show and the temporary cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live were likely motivated by a desire to avoid regulatory retaliation by the administration, with the president’s personal feelings about comedians’ criticism of him also playing a role.
The censorship of free speech by the highest office in the federal government has emboldened Americans in positions of power to restrict free speech, with the impact trickling down to the state, local, and schoolboard levels, affecting individuals such as the author, who experienced censorship firsthand.
Personal Experience with Book Bans
The author believes that topics worth discussing with family and friends are also worth talking about with the ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee, and being a children’s book author allows them to read their books to children and receive uncensored feedback.
The author’s books, including Buffalo Fluffle, have been successful, with the first book becoming a number one New York Times bestseller. They have been able to read to thousands of elementary school kids in various states through partnerships between school districts and their publisher.
However, a scheduled school visit in a rural community in Montana was cancelled after a group of parents, who had previously campaigned to ban certain books from the library, emailed the school superintendent with jokes the author had written in their life as a political comedy writer and threatened to cause a scene if the author came to read to the kids.
The author notes that the kids who were affected by the cancellation were around the same age as their own children, and they had been preparing for the author’s visit by reading the book and making art projects, but instead would have been subjected to a scary event if the parents had followed through on their threat.
Message of Her Book and Leadership
The author’s book, Buffalo Fluffle, is about a buffalo who appears tough and blustery but is actually a frightened and vulnerable individual who is supported and loved by his friends. The author believes that the impulse to censor free speech comes from a fear of being seen as weak or vulnerable.
The author argues that a true leader is only as strong as the joke they can take at their own expense, and that living in a time when a joke about the government is a liability is not funny. However, they have hope because they are surrounded by people who are outraged and heartbroken by the administration’s attack on free speech.
Impact on Education and Children
The school librarians in various states are at the front lines of schoolboard fights over book bans, and they are tired and frustrated, wanting to be able to give kids books they are excited to read, regardless of the content, such as characters having two moms.
The kids across America, from different backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses, are the same in their reactions and curiosity when engaging with books, asking similar questions and sharing personal stories, such as the names of their dogs.
Political Resistance and Tools Against Censorship
There are members of Congress, like Representative Raskin and Representative Scanlon, who are willing to fight against the president’s vendettas and actions, giving hope for a check on his power.
As a comedy writer, it is believed that jokes can be an effective tool for speaking truth under authoritarianism, and there is comfort in the words of authors like J.D. Vance, who spoke about defending the right to express views in the public square.
Historical Context and Conclusion
The historical context of the Cold War is referenced, where defenders of democracy fought against tyrannical forces, and it is noted that the side that censored dissidents and closed churches were not the good guys, and thankfully lost the war.
The importance of defending democracy and the right to express views is emphasized, with a call to continue blessing the United States and a conclusion to the testimony, looking forward to questions.
녹취록:
00:00:00 – 00:00:29
Our next panelist is Bess Cobb. Miss Cobb is an Emmy nominated comedy writer and New York Times best-selling author of Buffalo Fluff, a series of children’s books and as well as the memoir Nobody Will Tell You This But Me, a New York Times book review, Editor’s Choice. She wrote for eight years for Jimmy Kimmel Live, for which she won a writer’s guild award.
00:00:24 – 00:00:48
She has written for the Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards, the Almith Dinner, and the 2020 Democratic National Convention. She is a contributor to The New Yorker and This American Life. Miss Kelb, you’re recognized for five minutes. >> Thank you so much, Representative Scandlin, Ranking Member Rascin, the members of Congress here today.
00:00:44 – 00:01:11
I’m honored to be here uh representing the millions of Americans who did not go to law school. Um so what am I doing here? I’m a comedy writer. I wrote for Jimmy Kimmel Alive for eight years, as ranking member Scanland said, and I’m an author who recently got back from a national tour for my picture book series, Buffalo Fluff.
00:01:05 – 00:01:31
So, the fact that I am sitting here in a navy blue business suit in the Capitol building, surrounded by my esteemed co-panelists, uh, at a hearing about the First Amendment means something has gone very, very wrong. I got to say, I didn’t see this coming. I thought we were entering a new golden age of free speech.
00:01:25 – 00:01:50
On January 20th, 2025, President Trump on his very first day in office for the second time announced a presidential action called quote restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship, which was a big relief because I had some concerns about how he felt about speech he didn’t much like.
00:01:44 – 00:02:11
My first brush with this president happened in 2017. At the time, I was doing a recurring joke bit on Twitter before it was owned by the world’s richest and most online man, Elon Musk. Every time the president freeassociated his feelings in all caps, I would reply as his concerned mom, “Sweetie, you’re clearly having a lot of big thoughts all at once.
00:02:06 – 00:02:32
You need to do your five deep breaths, etc.” It was all fun and games until one night, the president blocked me after I wrote a joke that hurt his feelings. I was confused at thought and at first and thought the account had mercifully been deleted. But it turned out that the man in the Oval Office couldn’t take a joke and wanted to make sure he didn’t have to hear one either.
00:02:28 – 00:02:52
The Knight Foundation sued him to get him to unblock me and several others without my involvement, though I thank them. The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ended up having to rule on this, and the Supreme Court took the issue up, too. He quite literally made a federal case of a joke.
00:02:46 – 00:03:11
The problem here is not that jokes bother this president. It’s that he is in the habit of looking for ways to silence the joke tellers. I should tell you a little bit about one of my former jobs. When I wrote for Kimmel from 2012 through 2020, I was responsible for pitching about everyone, Democrats, Republicans, Kardashians.
00:03:09 – 00:03:33
This was never supposed to be a job where I’d have to know anything more about the founding documents than an off-color joke about John Hancock. For Oh god. For late night comedy writers. Hi mom and dad. For late night comedy writers, the president is our best and worst audience. He is our best audience because unlike most Americans, he watches late night television.
00:03:28 – 00:04:05
He cares about what the network men in suits say about him. He is our worst audience because his inexplicably bruised skin is very, very thin. He complained about our jokes frequently, often in real time on his own social media site he invented so that nobody could make fun of him on it. This went far beyond social media tier when this year, as ranking member Rascin mentioned, after Steven Colbert told jokes about that $16 million settlement CBS personally paid to Trump.
00:04:00 – 00:04:35
The late show with Steven Colbear was bulldozed like it was the east wing of the White House. Then months later, emboldened by the Colbear president, the administration had Jimmy Kimmel Live briefly yanked off the air when the show’s monologue displeased the president. I want to be fair. The Trump administration denies responsibility for these cancellations, much as the mafia is continuously surprised that so many people end up in the East River with cement blocks on their feet.
00:04:30 – 00:04:57
But what can we say? What we can say for sure is that this president that so prized free speech and so loathed censorship was positively giddy on Truth Social about the literal cancellation of these comedians. He was so excited he misspelled the word canled. The president wrote, “Great news for America.
00:04:52 – 00:05:20
The Ratings Challenge Jimmy Kimmel show is cancelled. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has zero talent and worse ratings than even Co Bear, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy Fallon and Seth, two total losers on fake news, NBC. Their ratings also horrible. Do it NBC. President DJT.
00:05:13 – 00:05:48
Then he got back to authorizing strikes against ISIS in Syria. To kill a late night show doesn’t just kill an enormous platform for speaking truth to power. Because late night comedy doesn’t just speak truth to power. It speaks truth to an incredibly large number of people. I believe late night hosts like Colbert and Kimmel are vital satists who shape how millions of Americans absorb the day’s news.
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At 11:30 every weekn night, millions of people all over the country just before their melatonin gummies hit listen to what these comedians have to say about what happened in America that day. And under any administration, they are powerful voices of criticism and disscent. network late night hosts like Colbear and Kimmel have used their huge platforms to make tangible incremental ideological change through satire dressed up in a suit in the hope that maybe someone who stayed up after the evening news on CBS or ABC will hear the news reflected back at them through a lens that is openly critical of the government no matter who is in the Oval Office and that can shape an electorate’s opinion and let’s be clear they’re also doing interviews with the Bachelorette. But these permanent and temporary cancellations aren’t just about controlling jokes. They’re about controlling criticism of the administration and its corporate
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bedfellows. It is the state using its power to shape what is profitable to say. And we’ve learned nothing if not this. The bottom line comes first, even before the First Amendment. I have little doubt that CBS was in part compelled to end Colbert’s show to avoid regulatory retaliation by the administration after CBS’s parent company Paramount merged with Sky Dance Media, which I believe is a trust fund for one of the Ellison kids.
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Um, and there is no doubt that this September’s retribution against Jimmy Kimmel Live was due entirely to the host’s criticism of our current president, despite the FCC’s contention that it was for mis misinformation and sick jokes, which really just grabs me by the I’m not going to say that in congressional testimony.
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There is no doubt that the president is so personally bothered by what comedians say that the FCC is willing to disappear any mouthpieces that might hurt his feelings in a shocking and according to people with many more degrees and expertise than I unconstitutional way. And here’s how that trickles down.
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The censorship of free speech we have witnessed from the highest office in the federal government has emboldened Americans in sacred positions of power from the state to the local to the schoolboard level which is where I found myself just weeks after Kimmel’s suspension. Talking about my brush with censorship this year might affect my broad appeal and livelihood as a children’s book author.
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And I have not spoken publicly about this experience until right now in this room. But I have always said that if something is worth talking about with your family and closest friends and therapists, it is worth talking about with the ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee. The best part of being a children’s book author is to actually read my books to children and to see them react and laugh and scrunch up their noses and delight and to get the kind of uncensored feedback and questions that no comedy writer room could possibly contrive. I was once asked if I thought I would win in a race with a buffalo. Two years ago, when the first book came out, I was sent basically up and down the Amtrak Northeast Regional Corridor. But this year, after the books were a number one New York Times bestseller, the publisher decided to put me on airplanes and bring Buffalo Fluff and Buffalo to the country. This fall, through partnerships between school
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districts and my publisher, I read to thousands and thousands of elementary school kids in small towns in suburbs in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and Montana. In Montana, the tour hit a snag. The evening before a scheduled school visit in a rural community in a title one school, the wonderful school librarian emailed me and my publisher.
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A group of parents who had previously caused a stir at a school board meeting where they successfully campaigned to ban certain books from the library decided to ban me. They emailed the school superintendent on mass with jokes I had written in my life as a political comedy writer and told the superintendent that if I came to read my book about prairie animals and their feelings to the kids, they would show up and make a scene in front of the children until I left.
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The visit was cancelled. I should say the kids they were threatening to do this to are around the same ages as my own two boys who are four and six and a half and are watching. And I love these kids who had never had these kids in the school who had never had an author visit and had been reading the book with their teachers and making art projects about a buffalo and preparing very thoughtful questions for me would have shown up for a scary event where their parents barged in to the library and screamed at the lady in the dress holding up a picture book and doing a buffalo voice. It isn’t some great national tragedy that a story time was cancelled, but it is a harrowing indication of how a joke can be wielded against its writer by exactly the same movement that railed against cancel culture to defend jokes that punched down. For the members of the United States
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Congress who haven’t read Buffalo Fluffle, someone who went to Kennedy School in your offices should have prepped you, but I’ll I’ll summarize. The book is about a buffalo who is at first tough and blustery and rude and pushes his friends away. And then when it is revealed that underneath all his fluff, he is just a tiny frightened guy who wants to be loved, his friends support him anyway.
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They love him just as he is. And he gives them gratitude and kindness right back. It’s just left-wing commie propaganda. I believe that the impulse to censor free speech comes from exactly the fear in the book. The fear of being seen as weak or vulnerable. The fear of being seen as weak or vulnerable.
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The desire to project an air of bravado and to silence and push off anyone who might pull the curtain back on that image of imperious strongman. A true leader is only as strong as the joke he can take at his own expense. And there is nothing funny about the fact that we are living through a time when a joke about the government is a liability.
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In this room, surrounded by so many people who are as outraged and heartbroken by this administration’s culture-shifting attack on free speech, I have hope. And I want to say thank you to the school librarians in red and blue and purple states whom I have had the genuine pleasure of meeting throughout my book tours who are at the front lines of these schoolboard fights over book bands with increasing regularity.
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They are tired. They are pissed. And they just want to be able to give a kid a book they’re excited to read. even if the character in that book might have two moms, which as of this testimony is still a legal amount of moms to have. Because here’s the thing about those kids across America that I met.
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From deeply underfunded Title One schools where most students were on free lunch to immigrant communities where many of those kids were the first in their families to learn to read and speak English to fancy schools and oil money suburbs where I was offered a choice of flat or sparkling water.
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I will tell you this. The kids were the same. The kids were the same. When I read my books in auditoriums and gyms and libraries and classrooms, some fidgeted, some daydreamed into Wonderland, laughed and awed at the same parts, and when I asked if they had a question at the end to a school, they all asked me the same one.
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Why is Buffalo Fluff mad? Why is he mad? And they also frequently told me the names of their dogs. I think we know why the Buffalo Fluff in the Oval Office is mad. But as I was saying before, I am hopeful because the members of Congress in this room today like Representative Rascin and Representative Scandlin who don’t just posture and complain about this administration on social media.
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They are going to fight to stop the president from going unchecked in his vendettas against those who speak out against him. As a comedy writer and generally conflict averse coward, I do believe that jokes can be an effective tool for speaking truth under authoritarianism. So I take comfort in the words of my fellow author J. D.
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Vance when he spoke last year at the Munich Security Conference, the funniest of all conferences. He said, “In Washington, there’s a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer them in the public square. Agree or disagree.
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” I’m not sure if anyone in the room can get the vice president a meeting uh with his boss, but that little whippers snapper from Yale has some ideas.” Vance went on to the crowd in Germany. Now within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent.
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And consider the side in that fight that censored dissident that closed churches that canled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not. And thank God they lost the Cold War. Thank God indeed. And may God continue to bless the United States. I look forward to your questions.
