OAN host uses Nazi youth book burning to push book banning

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

On August 22, OAN host Kara McKinney defended a right-wing push to ban LGBTQ books from schools, using a photograph of a Nazi book burning in her commentary. “I think banning pornographic books from school libraries is not only justifiable – it's the only moral option,” McKinney said. “It's our duty, in fact, to purge our schools of such filth.”

Before the Nazis took power in Germany, the “Institute for Sexual Science” was a global pioneer in studying homosexuality and transgender identity, and its founder, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a known advocate for LGBTQ equality. After taking power, the Nazis labeled the institute “offensive for public morals,” shut it down, and burned its contents on May 6, 1933.

From the August 22, 2022, edition of OAN's Tipping Point

KARA MCKINNEY (HOST): Now, oftentimes many of us on the right get so upset with the left that we end up digging ourselves into a hole by just trying to argue the exact opposite of what they are. For example, on something like this a typical response you might hear from someone on the right is that of course, Weingarten's tweet was wrong because only the left wants to ban books – the right doesn't want to.

But that's not entirely accurate. I think banning pornographic books from school libraries is not only justifiable – it's the only moral option. It's our duty, in fact, to purge our schools of such filth.

So what is the difference between the types of so-called book bans that the right advocates as opposed to what the left demands? Why is one good and the other bad?

Now, one might pause here and say that both are wrong because you can't legislate morality – which is hilarious and flat-out wrong, because every law from murder, all the way down to what's a fair share to pay in taxes are all moral questions at their heart.

For too many years the right has abandoned their moral high ground on such matters in order to accept the opposing sides' lies about there being some magical value-neutral space to discuss important issues without any harkening back to religious or traditional principles. And all that did was create a vacuum of Judeo-Christian principles which was consequently filled by various left-wing ideologies masquerading as almost pseudo-religions at this point.