The Orwellian Margaret Atwood
30th May 2025
Margaret Atwood claims she may be “imprisoned” if she enters the United States—an absurd suggestion from one of the most celebrated progressive writers alive, and a striking example of how elites weaponize language to smear their opponents.
In a recent award acceptance speech, Atwood said: “Unlike so many writers, publishers and booksellers … I have never been imprisoned—though I may have to revise that statistic if I attempt to cross into the United States in the near future.” Coverage of the event does not record gales of laughter in response.
Atwood’s talent for gaslighting is genuinely impressive. She will, of course, be just fine the next time she visits the United States—not only because she is famous, but because she is deliberately abusing language to lie about what is happening there. Her references to “book-banning” and “censorship,” for example, are calculated to persuade her audience that America is engaged in practices akin to Nazi-style book burnings and Soviet censorship. Writers choose their words carefully, and Atwood is deliberately evoking the evils of past totalitarian regimes.
She is lying. Books are not being banned in the United States. School boards and other levels of government are engaged in a debate about which books are appropriate for children. Some educators and parents have concluded that graphic novels depicting homosexual acts or books with explicit sexual content should not be part of the curriculum or in the school library. This is not a “ban.” Nor is it “censorship.” Every school curates their curriculum and library, and authors like Atwood, contrary to what their inflated egos tell them, do not have a right to have their work purchased with taxpayer dollars and supplied to schoolchildren.