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How far are people willing to go these days in the cause of self-punishment? We’ve already seen this ludicrous over-reaction to 10 year old Tweets made by crickets Olly Robertson now we have an author asking for her own book to be censored because someone called a small passage “casual anti-semitism.” Did she make some poor taste comment on the Holocaust? Did she make a joke about Jews being very savvy in business? No, she said this…..
“It features a short passage in which Vivi, as a child, is planning to stay in her friend’s attic. “‘You’re suggesting I hide here all summer?’ Vivi asks. ‘Like … like Anne Frank?’ This makes them both laugh – but is it really funny, and is Vivi so far off base?”
Readers on Instagram criticised its inclusion, describing it as “casual antisemitism” and asking for an apology. Hilderbrand initially responded directly, telling one reader that she “absolutely REVERE[s] the story of Anne Frank”, and describing the line as “not a throwaway quip” but “an expression of angst from someone who felt marginalized socioeconomically”.
She subsequently posted a formal apology on Instagram, in which she “wholeheartedly” apologised for the comparision to Anne Frank. “It was meant as hyperbole but was a poor choice, that was offensive and tasteless,” the author wrote. “Those of you who have read Summer of ’69 will realize Anne Frank was a courageous young woman whom I revere, and her story remains deeply influential in my life. I always strive to write in good faith. Golden Girl is a novel I wrote for my children and I want them to be proud of every word.”
I read this 3 times just to ensure that I hadn’t missed the anti-Semitic part but I haven’t because it’s not there. There’s nothing ‘offensive’ in the slightest. It’s not remotely tasteless. She was describing the act of hiding and so mentioned Anne Frank. What the hell is wrong with that? If she’d wanted to describe running away from something at speed and had said “I flew down the street like Usain Bolt,” would that have been considered racist? Who was the moron that asked for an apology? And why did this cowardly author give the request even the briefest of considerations? And why didn’t she simply tell this idiot to “f^*#k off?”
We have people smashing up statues that they don’t like and the law sits meekly in silence. We have 10 year old Tweets from a cricketer treated like the confessions of a serial killer. Now we have people popping up everywhere to demand apologies for non-existent anti-semitism (and no, I’m not saying that anti-semitism doesn’t exist but that it didn’t exist in this case.) This author is a perfect example of how scared as a society we have become when it comes to thinking, speaking and writing freely. Freedom of speech is now close to being a thing of the past. We’ve now reached the stage where supposedly intelligent people are no longer even prepared to stand up and defend themselves and their own work. The default position is now to go into cringing, hand-wringing apology mode even when they’ve done nothing wrong because they are terrified that a publisher might ‘cancel’ them or they might have speaking engagements ‘cancelled.’ Or, even worse that they might be ‘branded’ by the PC Thought Police. How can anyone read that excerpt and see anti-semitism? People are now on the lookout for things to get outraged about and if they can’t find anything real they will ‘imagine’ it. We have a world full of rats looking for victims to demonise…..yes, like those that informed on families hiding their Jewish friends during the war. The worst of it is that the ‘accused’ have had their collective spines removed and it’s immediately out with the whips and the hair shirts.
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