They’re largely earnest tomes such as “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.” It is shelved in the “Young Adult” section of the library. In Arkansas, near Little Rock, the Saline County Republican Women have even erected billboards declaring war on “X-RATED LIBRARY BOOKS.” Judging from the examples cited on the related website, most are R-rated at best. Rather like the Junior Anti-Sex League in George Orwell’s “1984.”

They are censors and book-banners of great passion and determination. Exactly what these women think the word “liberty” means is not clear. Which brings us to Moms for Liberty and their impassioned crusade against, yes, public librarians. But fundamentalist Christianity appears to be the common denominator. Exactly why Americans are so prone to these repeated episodes of collective hallucination is hard to say. If all that sounds reminiscent of the QAnon cult belief that Hillary Clinton conducts murderous satanic rituals in the basement of a Washington pizza restaurant (that has no basement), then you must be paying attention.

Father-daughter incest, orgies, unholy rites and mass infanticide - under the right circumstances, it appears, suggestible individuals can be persuaded to confess to almost anything. Lawrence Wright’s terrific book “Remembering Satan” tells a similarly horrific tale of “recovered memory syndrome” that convulsed Olympia, Washington, around the same time. In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.

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