'It is an evil book': Writer throws away her copy of 'Gone with the Wind' so not one more young girl be poisoned by it

You probably heard the hullabaloo over new streaming video service HBO Max pulling “Gone from the Wind” from its lineup due to the Black Lives Matters protests inspired by the killing of George Floyd. Say what you will about that, but Elizabeth Austin, in a piece for Washington Monthly, makes it personal and tells why she threw away the copy of “Gone with the Wind” her father had inscribed for her rather than just recycle it.

Well you sure showed him pic.twitter.com/fcLgnjOS1m

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) June 13, 2020

In her very lengthy piece about throwing a book in the trash, Austin maintains that “Gone with the Wind” is an evil book, and by throwing it away rather than giving it away or putting in the recycling, she wouldn’t be responsible for one more young girl reading the copy.

She writes:

I don’t think I’d ever thrown away a book before—at least, not one that was still intact. But this book was different. I didn’t want to be responsible for one more young girl reading Gone with the Wind. It is a pernicious book. It is an evil book. It weaves a spell that has perverted our national vision of slavery and warped our understanding of the Civil War and its long, vicious aftermath. Its sugarcoated white supremacy has inflicted grievous, lasting harm on our country for generations. Gone with the Wind is poison. And it is more toxic because the poison is concealed within a powerful—even feminist— story told in deathlessly lyrical prose.

Well, there’s one copy gone, although as Austin notes, the film version shot to the top of Amazon’s sales list after it was pulled from HBO Max, so the poison is still out there.

Only woke white women who hate their dads can save us now

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) June 13, 2020

Who wrote this? Gone With the Wind is my ABSOLUTE favorite movie, ever!

It's my go to movie when I'm sick, stuck at home due to a hurricane, it flooding, a must watch in December. It's a CLASSIC. Great story, best casting you'll probably ever see, historically accurate costumes

— Andrea Somerville (@asomer) June 13, 2020

I'm gonna throw my copy of "Deliverance" into the trash next. Not sure why, but I think it's best to throw out anything remotely Southern-themed at this point, just to be on the safe side.

— Christian Bonk (@borowski69) June 13, 2020

As sickening as so many things I have seen on Twitter, the destruction of a book, beloved before wokeness, and in no way anything but great thoughtful literature that was given to her in love, is about as sad and damning message I have seen. How have people been conned this much?

— (((Road Bear Life))) (@bearshrugged) June 13, 2020

It is tragic & sad that the madness brought by isolation and fear has not been tempered by education and information. A daughter has erased her own memory of her father's love yielding to the Year Zero mob. Can you imagine the anger that will emerge from this when the it passes?

— John Hadidian (@JDHadidian) June 13, 2020

I really don’t give a damn

— bigalpo (@bigalpo1) June 13, 2020

pic.twitter.com/IsjH4QHvTE

— mike (@mike10471057) June 13, 2020

Hey, if it makes her feel better for there to be one fewer copy in the world (well, in a trash heap), that’s her choice. But we’re not sure if her act is going to echo through history as a pivotal moment.

Related:

HBO Max ends racism by removing the film starring the first African American to win an Oscar https://t.co/ioJzLHEHKl

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 10, 2020