July 19, 2024, 1:53pm

When I think of America, some of the first things that pop into my mind are the domestic affairs of the landed elites, dancing a cotillion with your social equals, and enjoying that all-American treat: Mr. Bingley’s white soup, made with USA’s finest egg yolk, cream, and almonds.

That’s America according to Florida’s Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr., who announced July’s Commissioner’s Book of the Month selections, a reading challenge that this month aims to “impart a sense of American pride,” and included Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a book written by an English author about English people and set in England.

Diaz Jr. said:

With this book selection, I encourage students to continue to celebrate American pride month and reflect on the unyielding spirit and heroic patriotism of the many Americans throughout history who fought in the pursuit of liberty and freedom.

Reads exactly like a synopsis for Austen’s most famous book!

The Commissioner’s other selections fit the bill more accurately, with titles like The Fourth of July Story and F is for Flag. But even weeks after the announcement, Pride and Prejudice is still up on the Florida DOE site as the recommended book for high school readers.

Is there anything American in Austen’s book? I did a quick search, and “America” or “United States” appears nowhere in Austen’s novel, but in Diaz’s defense, “freedom” does appear four times and there are a number of discussions of shooting guns (“The housekeeper at Netherfield had received orders to prepare for the arrival of her master…to shoot there for several weeks.”)

There’s no apple-pie-and-football Americanness that a Republican might embrace in Austen, but I could see them sparking to the rigid class and gendered hierarchies on display. The modern GOP wants to bring us back to a much more stratified world, and only seems to see government as useful for enforcing those hierarchies that they see as “natural.”

This reading list mistake is indicative of a lack of curiosity on the part of Florida’s hard-right regime, and the modern American right in general. This embarrassing hiccup is coming right on the heels of Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis—a man who smiles like he’s hiding a bird in his mouth—deciding to abruptly veto all state arts funding. DeSantis said the move was motivated by shows in Tampa Fringe festivals that featured transgender characters and language he didn’t like, but he really doesn’t need to explain himself; the Governor’s cruelty and naked desire to inflict punishment on others has long been clear.

Between the Governor scanning play titles for naughty words and the Department of Education finding reading recommendations by googling “book titles with pride,” there seems to be a reading issue in DeSantis’ administration. These are not serious people, and their proud and weaponized indifference is another reflection of their hollow rottenness and their desire to inflict their flaws on all of us to do a tremendous amount of damage, quickly. These days, some of the stupidest things are often also the most frightening.

(Hat tip to Eric Columbus for bringing this to our attention on Twitter!)