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Sunday, 2 January 2011

Banned Books

A National Geographic Magazine censored by Ira...Image via WikipediaI just came across a website dealing with books that have been banned. Unbelievably there are places in so-called civilised countries (like the USA, the home of free speech) where books are regularly banned even today. What are these people afraid of, I wonder? Is it the truth, by any chance? Some of the banned books are literary classics, others are just straightforward stories or factual volumes. Since none of the books I've so far seen identified are either pornographic or full of gratuitous violence, I can only assume that the banners are terrified of the opinions of others whose views do no correspond with their own. Such fear is clearly born of doubt, since anyone who is confident in their beliefs, whatever they are, has no reason to fear exposure to other ideas. To be so wrong and to be so certain you are right must be the worst form of blindness, don't you think?

So, what do you think about this one? I'd welcome your views.

It's now an ambition of mine to write and publish a book which someone will ban.
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2 comments:

Jack Eason said...

Unbelievable!! I've just posted the list to Facebook!

stuartaken.net said...

Good on you, Jack. The more people are aware of this, the better for freedom of speech.