Joho the Blog: You are what you read

December 18, 2005

You are what you read

Note: The kid was a hoaxer. I was a hoaxee. - Dec. 29, 2005

According to SouthCoastToday.com, a senior at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth was visited by the feds after he requested a copy of Mao's little red book via inter-library loan. The agents said that the book was on a "watch list." They brought the book with them but would not leave it with the student.

Ah, books on watch lists. Visits by federal agents. University research under the all-comprehending eye of government bureaucrats. Thomas Jefferson would have been proud! [Tags: HomelandSecurity security libraries]

Posted by D. Weinberger at December 18, 2005 10:03 AM

Comments

I didn't realize we were still afraid of the Red Menace. Was there a memo?

Posted by: steve | December 18, 2005 10:29 AM

I think they just figured the kid was a nerd and came to give him a wedgie.

Posted by: scott | December 18, 2005 12:58 PM

May be we should be afraid of the Red Menace... The primitive Bush-religious-life-as-a-jungle interpretation of capitalism may very well turn a lot of people in communists. This is what infuriates me - righties just cannot live without lefties... and vice versa. And I cannot stand either of them.

Posted by: Emil Sotirov | December 18, 2005 03:09 PM

We should fear extreme leftism because our current extreme-right political leadership might trigger a backlash? I like that logic!

Posted by: scott | December 18, 2005 04:20 PM

I've had a copy of Mao's little red book on my bookshelf for two decades, and no one has ever come to visit me. How disappointing.

Posted by: Ben | December 19, 2005 05:03 AM

As a student this scares the hell out of me.

Posted by: Taylor | December 19, 2005 12:52 PM

Theres talk that it might be a hoax.

Posted by: Taylor | December 19, 2005 12:55 PM