It's For Our Protection

Magazine rack: a pre-2020 relic.

At the doctor's office I like to browse through magazines that I would not otherwise read.

There are medical journals that I don't have access to, alumni magazines, and longer-form periodicals like the Atlantic and New Yorker. The racks have been cleared because of the coronavirus, and we're the poorer for it.

If you live long enough, you'll see history repeating itself, often ironically. Up to the mid-20th century books such as Ulysses, Tropic of Cancer, and Lady Chatterley's Lover were censored by the rubes, blue-noses, and anti-Communists. (Side note to the young ones: the phrase "banned in Boston" once was in common use.)

Now books are being removed from libraries and schools because of objectionable ideas, and printed material is disappearing because of the virus. It's all being done to keep us safe from physical and mental contagion.

And this time it's the smart people who are doing it.