Her name is Erika Lopez Prater, and she teaches art history at Hamline University in Minnesota. She took on the teaching position because she had lost her job altogether. In one of her classes, she showed a 14th-century painting, commissioned by an Islamic king at the time, by a painter who was also Islamic. The artwork depicts the Prophet Muhammad.

It’s not just a painting; it’s about saying something: Despite the presence of dominant movements, Islam is not a homogeneous culture, or at least it doesn’t have to be. You might think it’s an innocent voice that anyone from right to left can support. Well constructed.

Since Erika Lopez Prater isn’t from yesterday, she takes precautions. She advertises the art exhibit on the syllabus and invites anyone with questions or concerns to contact her. At the beginning of the relevant episode, she also emphasizes that anyone with a problem can step outside for a while. No consequences. Does anyone object? No one.

but after that.

After the lesson, a 23-year-old student still complains. “I’m 23, and I’ve never seen a picture of the prophet,” she says. “What breaks my heart is that I have to stand here and tell people that something is Islamophobic and something is hurting all of us, not just me.”

A contract extension has already been signed for Erika Lopez Prater, so she can continue teaching next semester. The offer will be withdrawn in a few weeks.

***

On the left side of public debate, it is fairly common to dismiss the idea of ​​cancel culture. It doesn’t exist, it’s a fabrication of the (radical) right. Fingers in your ears, chatter away.

On the right, it is common to dismiss cancel culture as an exclusively left-wing problem.

Both are nonsense, and fortunately for actual VVMU enthusiasts, there has recently been a standard work that documents and explains this in no uncertain terms: Cancel the American mind, Written by the lawyer and head of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (fire) Greg Lukianoff and journalist Ricky Schlott.

***

Discussing “systematic forms” of censorship is complicated by the lack of a working definition of cancel culture. Lukianoff and Schlott offer: “Campaigns to expel, ban, remove from platforms or otherwise punish people for expression (…) and the climate of fear and conformity that has resulted.” Organized attempts to silence others from their opinions, the end result being the theft of bread.

Lukyanov and Schlott note a significant increase in this since 2014, when a new, more sensitive generation arrived at American universities. The Netherlands is a bit behind, and thank God it is less severe here, but ultimately everything that happens in the United States is deliberately imported here.

The book discusses a number of places and sectors where cancel culture has emerged, but given its history, let’s stop at the university for a moment. Results:

At least 80% of American students say they self-censor; 81% prefer to avoid controversial topics during class; 68% no longer feel comfortable publicly disagreeing with a teacher; and 68% worry that their reputation will be damaged if they speak out. Because there are those who misinterpret this opinion.

The percentages among teachers are even more extreme: as many as 91% of professors tend to self-censor on social media, during class, and in posts.

***

What Cancel the American mind What makes it so good is that it describes a phenomenon, complete with its origins, hundreds of examples, an overview of common tactics used to silence someone, how the left and right differ in how they silence others, how individual it is, how it endangers citizens, how it endangers democracy, and most importantly, what we can do about it. Very simple: if you think the VVMU is important and are concerned about its sorry state, you should read this book. Available as Paper book, like E-book Or for those who are really too lazy to digest like Audiobook.