Oh, cruel irony!  On September 9, 2022, American Thinker published an article of mine, headlined "Why 'Educated' Liberal Women Are the Real Threat to Our Republic."  The article began thusly: "When last Thursday night Joe Biden told America, 'Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans' threaten 'the very foundations of our republic,' he missed the mark.  The real threat comes from the unlikeliest of suspects: educated liberal females, or 'ELFs' for short."

On September 9, 2023 — a year to the day later — I was scheduled to give a free talk at the Darwin Barker Public Library in  Fredonia, New York.  This pleasant little town, located in New York's westernmost county, Chautauqua, is nearly as close to Chicago as it is to New York City.  My wife and I have been spending the greater part of our summers in Fredonia for 35 years.

Two weeks ago, I thanked a female librarian for putting my novel, 2006: The Chautauqua Rising, on display, concluding, "Love the library.  If there is anything I can do to help let me know."

She promptly emailed me: "Would you be willing to do an author talk/book signing at Barker Library in regards to your newest book, Untenable: The True Story of White Ethnic Flight from America's Cities?"  I happily consented.  I've been going to this library for years, and my wife donates.  I helped the librarian put a notice together that went out about August 1.

The notice read in part, "Having watched his neighborhood collapse around him, Jack is in a unique position to write authoritatively about so-called 'white flight.'  Unlike other authors on this subject, Cashill writes from the perspective of those forced to flee."

On August 8, I received an email from the library director, Graham Tedesco-Blair.  The Orwellian money line reads as follows: "We believe that the diversity of perspectives is crucial in creating a rich and informative dialogue at our library events.  Recent developments have led us to re-evaluate the suitability of your views and opinions for our diverse audience."  In a word — his word — he felt obliged to "disinvite" me.

In an August 9 article — I write quickly — I opined,  "By 'recent developments' — I'm guessing here — he means an ideological Karen or two called in to complain that the library was hosting someone with whom they were likely to disagree."

Upon learning of the cancelation, a female friend from the area who actually read the book sent a blistering email to Tedesco-Blair sharing her suspicions.  They were the same as mine.  "You have made me ashamed of being a resident of Chautauqua County.  I have just become aware that you 'dis-invited' a nationally known author due to your concerns about 'diversity,'" my friend wrote.

"Do you know the meaning of that word?  Obviously not.  You only care about diversity when it lines up with your little causes.  Such a small, small man you must be.  You can't even stand up to a few Karens who couldn't bear the thought of letting someone with whom they disagree speak to people who wanted to hear him."

Through a back channel, I heard from a library board member who explained the rationale of the "stakeholders" in dropping me from the program.  "So, very soon after our website posting which announced Jack's appearance at the Barker," he wrote, "we began to receive numerous correspondence ranging from general disbelief to adverse protestations from with in the local community."

He then added this gem: "Oddly, all of this response came from women."  Oddly?  No, not oddly.  "Inevitably."  In all fairness, he should have added the qualifier "educated liberal women."  The dreaded ELFs.  Conservative women may protest grown men flashing their who-knows-what at little children in public libraries, but they do not protest rational political discussions among adults.

As I was writing this post, I received a text from a friend who passed along a comment from a female friend of his.  She wrote, "Please tell Jack Cashill I LOVED 'Untenable.'  It is so personal and so evocative of the time; it explains how we got here unblinkingly and beautifully."  I get a lot of these.  I never tire of reading them.

Tedesco-Blair has less faith in women than I do.  He fretted openly about "the potential impact [my opinions] might have on the inclusive and welcoming atmosphere we strive to foster within our library community."  These are grown women he is writing about, not children.  They live in a county that gave Trump a 20-point margin of victory.  They should be toughened up by now.

Mature adult women can handle conflict, but maybe not ELFs.  As I wrote a year ago, "ELFs don't want to know about the border crisis or the recession or Hunter's laptop, and their media oblige them.  If their social media allow alternative voices to bleed through, the ELFs are the first to demand that those voices be silenced."

Ain't that the truth?

Jack Cashill's new book, Untenable: The True Story of White Ethnic Flight from America's Cities, is available in all formats.

Image: Pezibear via Pixabay, Pixabay License.