The book was banned
The class was told what they could read
The book was banned
What evil things the guv’nor planned
From this abuse, they must be freed
New leadership they were in need
The book was banned
She hid her book
If it were found she could be jailed
She hid her book
And placed it in a secret nook
Against the leaders she now railed
Her heart it hurt her mind it ailed
She hid her book
“The book was banned”
written by the blogger Ladysight
A blogger a follow wrote this poem and it send shivers down my spine.
For the ones who don’t live in the US, it is true. Some states here have started to censor books in schools like they take over the parenting of the kids they are supposed to teach.
Books I love and have read in English and in a translated language, are now considered not suitable literature, mainly because they talk about a time when racism was as openly displayed as it is today.
The irony is not lost on a free-thinker like me.
“How dare you tell us what we are allowed to read?” I want to scream and I wonder if the cruelest book of all times, the bible will one day be censored as well.
And then, to my surprise, the Bible was censored as well. Three districts in the U.S. took versions of the Bible from the shelves of class and school libraries, according to the U.S. news portal “Education Week”. After the review, the Bible was available again, while other books disappeared permanently.
According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, people are challenging now the Bible in protest -to highlight the potential harm of book censorship. Go for it!
We are destined for freedom -yet we find ourselves in shackles so often. Intellectual paternalism and censorship are incompatible with human dignity.
In Leipzig, Germany, on May 20, 1527, the printer Hans Hergot lost his head. Unfortunately, literally and for a rather trivial reason. The printer was not a criminal, he only published books and occasionally wrote one himself. Among other things, a slim booklet, his dreams of a Christian communism without private property and estate privileges.
The Duke George of Saxony did not agree with this at all and had the dangerous fantasist arrested. The court found Hergot guilty of treason, the executioner did his duty and shortened the life of the disobedient the same day.
Bad luck -or in the wrong place at the wrong time? If Hans Hergot had published, blogged, posted, pinned, or otherwise distributed the book in writing, acoustically, optically, and electronically today, his head and neck would still be inseparable friends. Our laws would have stretched a protective umbrella over him and guaranteed that he could communicate his thoughts uncensored as well as with impunity.
Modern laws, are we free at last?
In view of a long history of prohibitions on thinking, opinion controls, muzzle paragraphs, and intellectual paternalism, freedom of expression is a precious miracle.
The freedom to read what we want, and the freedom to write what we feel, makes us self-determined, responsible people.
And yet it seems as if we often no longer protect them at all or carelessly give them away. What it means for individuals and society when mere words and ideas are punished as a crime is sufficiently taught by history and the present. Whether it’s the Inquisition, Nazi barbarism, theocracy, or presidential despotic posturing, anyone who shrinks freedom of expression violates people and deprives them of their fundamental rights.
Haven’t we learned a thing?
Sophie’s Choice? To Kill a Mockingbird? Harry Potter?
It is how many countries over time and history have attempted to control their population’s thinking. It seldom works as intended. Maybe, our leaders should lead by example. Allan
Very disturbing development, Bridget 🙁
I wish someone could explain it to me, just so that I can wrap my mind around it. I know I can’t change a thing, but please, make me understand.
Wish I could, Bridget 🙁
The US (or at least parts of it) seem to be going backwards. I don’t think they’ve been able to really call themselves the land of the free for a very long time. It’s quite scary!
Sadly you are right. We have the most incarcerated people, often for small offenses like the possession of drugs for personal use.
We are far from being free, right now we are more and more controlled by religious fanatics who expect everybody else to live as they do. To be free, you have to be independent. Here in the US most have fallen to a ‘side’ the left or the ‘right’ and they have no interest to hear the other side. It’s sad what’s going on here.
This is such a hot topic for me, too, Bridget, as it should be for ALL of us. Book banning isn’t new in the United States, but I can’t believe we are at it again. The poem is really special, and of course, extremely timely within our current prohibitive (and angry) culture.
“Angry culture” so true. As for book banning. I am a bit lost for words.
From about the time my daughter was a teenager, we would go out shopping around the time the banned book lists would show up and buy at least one on the list to read. She still does, just bought The Color Purple. It angers me that someone else wants to tell me how to raise my child…. she is a free thinker and I am very proud of her. Banned books only enriched her.
I always had an interest in banned books. It’s like the cookies I wasn’t supposed to steal when I was a kid. Don’t tell me not to. 🙂
A bit of a rebel at heart? Ha, ha!
Thank you, ladybug, for expanding on what I was thinking but can’t seem to write more than 14 lines about it.
Very worrisome … along with all the rest of the worrisome things.
I didn’t ask permission. I hoped you would be fine with it.
Why do we defend the rights of pornographers and ban Huckleberry Finn? It’s freedom of speech or it isn’t. There are a great many books on this list that were required reading when I was growing up. We have a choice on what to read and NOT read, and that choice is subject to no one’s judgment but ours.
My choice -always! 🙂
I agree, it saddens me to see how we try to manipulate the young generations.
The banning of books used to be very common here. I recall reading banned books when I was a student (of course!) and having to hide them from view. I doubt if our government is literate enough to tell the good from the ‘bad’ anymore – they are so steeped in corruption as it is – that censorship has more-or-less disappeared.
It seems every country sooner or later has a time when they think censorship would solve a problem that doesn’t exist. The freethinkers will always find a way. Also, let’s be honest, isn’t everything forbidden much more interesting anyway?
Fortunately no-one can tell me how to think, although some may try!
Doesn’t alter our thinking if we can’t get all the information we need -and want?
Yes, it does, but I can still think, and dream, and no-one can stop that.
So far we are safe.
Maybe we need books to be able to learn
We most certainly do.