Geoff Johnson: Book-banning attempts have a long history

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Through the centuries, expressing ideas not in line with prevailing leaders’ philosophy about history or the evolution of a culture in print form has proved extremely dangerous

Attempts of late by various American authorities to ban certain books from public school libraries — books like The Call of the Wild, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22 and The Color Purple — echo centuries of similar efforts by those seeking to maintain power by controlling ideas.

With the newfound ability to inexpensively mass-produce books on every imaginable topic, revolutionary ideas and priceless ancient knowledge were placed in the hands of every literate European, whose numbers doubled every century.There’s a famous quote attributed to German religious reformer Martin Luther that sums up the role of the printing press in the Protestant Reformation: “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.

Church authorities in England insisted that the Bible would be available to its priests only in Latin and that only they would be able to read and interpret it. Their elevation of critical reasoning above custom and tradition encouraged people to question religious and political authority and prize personal liberty.In 1933, a series of massive bonfires in Nazi Germany burned thousands of books written by Jews, communists and others not aligned with Nazi philosophy.

The act gave the FBI power to collect information about the library borrowings, even book purchases, by any U.S. citizen.

 

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I'm old enough to remember when it was the right banning books. Now it's the left. Insane times.

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