Ban and Burn: the way to disaster.Ever notice the connection between banning and/or burning books and totalitarian take over? Think of these examples:
Muslims take over Egypt and order all material in the Library of Alexandria that offends Islam to be burned;
Spain and Portugal invade the Americas and destroy all the Quipu strings, the history of the indigenous people;
Hitler and his boys ban and burn Jewish and other books that are not “correct”:
Stalin destroys books that are unfavorable to his vision and rewrites history;
Fundamentalist Christians burn books that mention Evolution in a positive way.
It turns out the nearly everything that has been written is on some bodies list to be banned or burned. The way to counter this is to find all the banned books you can and read them. See why someone doesn’t want you to know something. You will quickly find the thinking of bigots and extremists out to control the agenda of us all, and sometimes for sinister purposes.
Banned Books Week is September 25−October 2, 2010. Go ahead and make your day: Read a banned book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sungazing/galleries/72157622581205178/
The red herrings posted by "SafeLibraries" should not go unchallenged. First, the problem of book banning/burning is not simply an American issue. While it may be that no book has been barred from sale in the U.S. since 1963, what does that fact have to do with book bannings/burnings (inded censorship itself) elsewhere? This problem is global in scope, and trying to restrict the focus so narrowly is an unsubtle attempt at misdirection. My second point deals with parental challenges to books. If you don't want your child to read a book, that's your perogative -- keep the book out of your home. But don't try to force your standards on my child. The Harry Potter books are a case in point. Opponents launched more than one attempt to remove these books from school libraries, making them unavailable (that is, banned) to the children whose parents encourge them to read widely. An attempt to remove a book from a library is not simply a matter of objecting to age-inappropriate material. It is yet another instance of one group of people trying to force their beliefs on others.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the so-called debate (read "campaign of misinformation, disinformation, and lies secretly funded by insurance companies") surrounding healthcare reform.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking and freedom of information are dangerous.
Jim said, "First, the problem of book banning/burning is not simply an American issue. While it may be that no book has been barred from sale in the U.S. since 1963, what does that fact have to do with book bannings/burnings (inded censorship itself) elsewhere?"
ReplyDeleteCorrect. That's why I addressed how the ALA allows books to burn in Cuba. And that was by way of example outside the USA, and by way of example that the ALA is in no position to decry censorship when it will not do so itself in furtherance of its own goals.
Jim said, "This problem is global in scope, and trying to restrict the focus so narrowly is an unsubtle attempt at misdirection."
Correct, and perhaps, but I did not limit my comments to the USA. Your claim that I did "is an unsubtle attempt at misdirection."
Jim said, "But don't try to force your standards on my child."
I am not. Nevertheless, the US Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Pico allows school boards to "force your standards on my child." So your claim otherwise "is an unsubtle attempt at misdirection."
Jim said, "It is yet another instance of one group of people trying to force their beliefs on others."
That "is an unsubtle attempt at misdirection." Here is a quote from Dan Gerstein whom I trust far more than "Jim":
"The ... elites have convinced themselves that they are taking a stand against cultural tyranny. .... [T]he reality is that it is those who cry 'Censorship!' the loudest who are the ones trying to stifle speech and force their moral world-view on others."
If you REALLY want to read a banned book, volunteer to read a passage from your favorite banned book at the TU Library during Banned Books Week 2010. Se www.thomasu.edu/library for more information!
ReplyDelete