The Harvard University library system is now warning students away from Web sites that express conservative political, economic, or social views. The library has a system of labels for the sites, including “bias,” “clickbait,” “unreliable,” “conspiracy,” and “hate,” among others. Targeted sites include American Thinker, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, Free Beacon, and Jihad Watch. Not one liberal web site is listed or labeled.
Chris Begala, political analyst with Begala-McGrath, is not amused. ”For the Harvard University Library to warn students away from certain Web sites,” he says, “is a joke, and it tells us just how far this [politically correct indoctrination on campus] has gone.”
Begala refers to the practice as “Orwellian.” “If you have any questions as to which Web sites you might want to avoid,” he says, “just ask the librarians?” Librarians, he notes, shouldn’t be in the business of steering students away from officially unapproved material.
Begala says the Harvard warning system is the “technological equivalent of burning books.” “When the Nazis and others throughout history burned books,” he points out, “they wanted to keep their people away from differing views. This isn’t burning a book, but it’s similar.”
Will the library ultimately block conservative sites altogether? “If you tell your students at Harvard not to go to these Web sites,” Begala speculates, “maybe the next step would be, we’re going to go ahead and block those Web sites, because we know what’s best for you.”