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Written by Lin Stone
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Entire Contents Copyright © 1999 by Browzer Books
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O'er the grave of the poet Robert Burns a friend has inscribed:

An honest man here lies at rest,
As e'er  God with His image blest;
A friend of man, a friend of truth,
A friend of age, and a guide of youth.
Few hearts like this with virtue warm'd,
Few heads with knowledge so inform'd.
If there's another world, he lives in bliss;
If there's none, he made the best of this.

Only poets are divine, 
saith the Ancient Greeks.

The First Amendment says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

    Yet this very day outraged editorials tell that many books have been BANNED in America.

    Yes! Even today there are some poor maligned authors who publicly announce they cringe to write what they want to for fear of censorship.

    Yet it is a proven fact that being censored SELLS books. Once a book is on the "censored" list people who haven't read a book in years rush out to buy it to see what the furor was all about. In the name of ratiocination ask yourself, isn't it strange that so many people can so quickly and easily buy a book that is banned?

Before we join all the witch hunters, let us consider what the furor really is all about, for the actual "banning" of this long list of books is a hoax. Proving this is a hoax is easy. You can read every book on that list in the privacy of your own home and NOBODY WILL STOP YOU.

What is really happening is that someone is refusing to buy or refusing to read the books on that list. Someone has decided that the money of some community is better served by ANOTHER book of more value and there are millions of books for them to choose from.

Those writers whose goal in writing a book is TO BE OFFENSIVE should not whine or cringe when it doth offend.

    If one of the books you want to read hasn't been bought with community funds, or if a dearth of book shops in your area prevents you from exploring the world of thought as widely as you wish, then just ask your librarian for a glance through the "Books In Print" directory and use your own money to purchase the ones you like directly from the publisher. Even if a book goes out of print you can still order your "banned" books through an inter-library loan system for free reading.

Any way you go - in the privacy of your own home, no one will keep you from reading the books of your choice. No one else is being denied the freedom to read the books on this banned list either.

    Here is the real situation: A few self-righteous individuals today have used the power inherent in their positions to ridicule Christianity, chasten capitalism and attack specific groups such as the Baptists or the Republicans. Yet, through perpetrating a hoax about "banned" books, they have managed to cast themselves in the light of protecting "censored" authors. They have learned to do this so well that the press immediately begins splashing their pages with outraged editorials to make them heroes.

Only poets are divine, said the ancient Greeks.
Whence cometh then this insistence that teachers are always right and authors so sacred?

    When teachers in the public schools use unrighteous dominion to select offensive material and force it upon their students they are not in any way promoting intellectual freedom as they claim. They are in fact besmirching freedom.

    Here is the proof: If any of these very same teachers were forcing kids to read the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud or the Book of Mormon, would they not cease to be heroes to the local media in a matter of seconds? Test it out for yourself. 

    Yes.  Authors do have the right to decide what they will write, and even how.  Publishers do have the right to decide what they will or will not publish.  Why should you lose the right to decide what you will or will NOT read?

Those students and their parents who resist some teacher's "divine" authority to self-righteously decide what should offend them are clearly within their rights. The right to read controversial material is NOT the issue here. The real issue is whether anyone, intellectual or demagogue, has the right to decide for you and me what we MUST read or spend our community funds on.

    Hitler dictated what people must read, and the whole nation followed him into war. Every despot in the world today is determined to force people to read and watch the political line favoring them. 

The freedom not to read what offends children must be preserved. That is the only way to preserve OUR freedom.

    Just as no two people are alike, no two communities are alike. Teachers like Jim Owen, who selected the history book The Glory and the Dream for his Conway students, won his skirmish; in spite of protests, his students HAD to read the book and be tested from it, or HE would fail them. If he had threatened to fail them for not understanding the ten commandments would he still be a hero?

    Of Mice and Men has been barred from classrooms in Pine Bluff, and West Virginia, Illinois and Michigan, for coarse language. But why should anyone be FORCED to read any coarse language that offends them? Isn't there enough coarse language in the bathrooms there already?   Watson Chapel Superintendent Charles Knight, who pulled the book in Pine Bluff, said: "All we've done is respond to parents who objected to their children BEING REQUIRED TO READ THE BOOK" (emphasis mine).

No one there is being denied the RIGHT to read it. Anyone in Pine Bluff that wants to read Of Mice and Men can buy the book, and read it in there or home, and nobody else there give a tinker's dam. Yet this is one of the reasons the book is on the banned list.

    With all the moaning about values waning in our communities today it is imperative that we do not lump those who do have moral courage with those who do not understand what moral courage is, or with those who are trying to destroy it.

    Don't give away your right NOT to read any of the books on the banned list, or any other list. Don't let someone else tell you what kind of trash you or your children MUST read. 

Yes, it's true -- Other people probably are smarter than you are: their opinions are probably better. But in America that is still for you to decide.  

Let's keep it that way.

Only poets are divine.

Indeed, even poets fall out of favor occasionally.

the end

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