| Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, died in 2018 leaving a huge philanthropic legacy that included large donations to cancer research, a computer science school, and animal health. He also gave $100 million and his prized collection to what became The Museum of Popular Culture in his native Seattle. Sadly, that bequest is now a cautionary tale for anyone involved in philanthropic giving.
The Museum’s mission is to promote “the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture.” Instead, it’s become a woke culture censor that is trying to airbrush out of history Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling – one of the bestselling authors in history. The museum has decided to expunge any mention of her from inside its walls. Some of its Harry Potter memorabilia will remain on display. Why? Rowling — who is a political centrist — argued that sex is biological and there should be single-sex spaces for women and girls. She also dared to mock the use of the phrase “people who menstruate” in place of “women”. Chris Moore, head of exhibitions at the Seattle museum, accused Rowling of “super hateful and divisive” opinions and arrogantly declared that the museum “unequivocally stands with nonbinary and transgender communities.” He also accused her of “fat-shaming” and a “lack of LGBTQIA+ representation” in her books. (Why doesn’t Moore try writing a bestseller and then complain?) Rowling has allies in her fight against the authoritarian left. Last year, more than 150 writers and artists – including Noam Chomsky and Margaret Atwood – signed an open letter against growing censorship by the Left. It warned about “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues into a blinding moral certainty.” Meanwhile, the board of the Museum of Pop Culture and those who have control of the estate of Paul Allen – should act to reverse this attack on “popular culture” and free speech.
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