h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Congratulations on a brillianly useful thread. I just wish we had more of them...and the editors should put it in with the official entries a.s.a.p. IMHO of course.

TM.

Banning books ? At the turn of the millennium ? DUH...

I agree! Well done. Very informative.

The thing that really bugs me though is the number of people who call for a book to be banned when they haven't even read it. (I think the same applies to films.)

And it worries me the number of parents who do not seem to take an interest in what their children are reading. Personally I'll be happy for my son to read anything as long as he can demonstrate to me that he understands what he's reading.

hullo, hullo.


Thank you both for your kind comments [she said shyly]. I am sorry I havent responded sooner, but with my sick computer, the holidays and all, I havent made regular rounds of my pages recently. Or maybe I could just pretend it was a y2k bug...

Anyway, the subject of censorship is very dear to this ole dragon's heart. My pile of treasure is full of books; old books, new books, serious books, silly books, sexy books, children's books, beautiful books, old and battered books. The only thing more important than the books is the ideas that are in 'em.

If you wanna get me all fired up [hee hee] just get me talking about folks who try to control what can be put in books and what books I can buy or read.

*snort, snort*
[nostrils flare dangerously--dragon turns deep greenish purple with scarlet edges]

*pant, pant, pant*

must...calm...down

*gasp*

There. That's better.
*smiles*
Lemonade anyone?

Anyway, thanks for your comments.

There's a quote: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty". Censorship is insidious,'cause if you dont know something is missing you won't miss it. The worst censorship is that which happens when we are unaware of it. Censorship happens in many ways all over the world. The posts in the forum for this article has shown this already. My hope is that this Guide article will help contribute towards keeping us 'vigilant'.

the bluDragon
}:=8

Well I think that only 'Mein Kampf' was actually banned here in Holland and even that one can be studied (university etc.).
But you are quite right : always be vigilant, you never know when that jack-ass shows up in government.

TM.

Great Job blu

It boils my blood when I hear about some people who have never read a book, or read it but obviously without the eye of a reader, that decide it's unsuitable. If it's such a problem, and will destroy everyone who reads it then by definition aren't the people who read it now infected?

I agree that we must be on the watch for people who have our own good at heart. I love all books, even ones I don't agree with, anything that makes you think is good. My worst fear is to wake up one day and find a Farhenhite 451 type scenario, or Brave New World, or 1984.

We must keep up the good fight.

--->Rant Ends<------

Great job

Courtesy

*blush*

thank you.

}:=8

You are welcome .....

Also, I noticed that you didn't have an official courtesy person type person in your court and was wondering if you might need one

Courtesy

ah...*ahem*
The Royal Court at Damogran is sorely in need of an er..courtesy, ah...I mean an ettiquette, er no, what DO you call them, anyway?

Well, we REALLY need one, whatever it is called. Got any idea where we can get one??? [hint, hint-nudge, nudge-wink, wink]

Send them right round to the main entrance. Only lackeys, flunkeys, churls, and so on, go to the side door. Those applying for Royal Positions can go right to the Queen. [I hear she is quite nice to work for, too]

Methinks they are in the Royal Ballroom about this time of day.

blu
}:=8

[say no more, say no more ]

*off to find the main entrance*

Courtesy

I think that if Oscar Wilde would have lived today he might have come up with something like :


'Most people who ban books can't read..."


Lord Yes ! We are in dire need of a new Oscar Wilde...or even the old one...


TM.

Here, here.

When I hear of someone wanting to ban a book my first question to them is when will they start burning the books. Then I start, and I admit it's extreme, asking them when they decided to follow in the footsteps of Hitler. This usually riles them up

Courtesy the Book Lover

Well this is actually the first time I checked it but among my books you will find :

- Fahrenheit 451
- NineteenEightyfour (NOT 1984!!)
- Stranger in a strange land
- Slaughterhouse five or the children's crusade
- Brave new world
...and probably some others that I am not aware of...

All of them the subject of criticism and all of them banned at one time or another...

HEYYYYY!!! I am subversive... And proud of it, YEAH !!

TM.

I sorta feel that anyone who thinks [for themself, that is] can pretty much count on being labeled as subversive by SOMEBODY, somewhere along the line. hehehehehehe

Certainly those books put you well on the way to subversivism.

Or as somebody has put it in a more commercial context:
think different...

this can also get you into trouble.


}:=8

A love a bit of trouble...
And for lack of a better description I describe myself as a 'rational anarchist'...it's a nice and broad description...LOL

TM(Too Many rulez).

Looking at the list, I find things such as the Merchant of Venice. We studied that at school, looking into great depth the way that the Jewish characters were treated, and looking into the history of the period and how such attitudes occurred. I personally think that this experience - of seeing such treatment in accepted classics and acting it out and discussing it has improved my perception of discrimination and made me more aware of it. In not being shown discrimination, how can children learn that it can be wrong? and yet books are banned with one reason given being "because they show discrimination".

Yes, Aendr, the [not-so-mad] Hatter,


Your point is well made, and one that usually escapes the logic of the book-banning folks.

I suspect these people are the same ones that do not want their children 'exposed' to controversial issues, for fear of contaminating their minds. Of course, I never could understand how they expected their children to ever learn how to USE their minds with this attitude...

I personally want to hear ALL the arguments that conflict with my opinion. How else can I be sure that I have reached the right conclusion? And to erase all the evidence of discrimination, repression, etc., only increases the likelyhood that the danger will be forgotten and the repression repeated.

Something about those who do not study history are destined to repeat it...[I think someone said something like that once before]


blu
}:=8

And again: Bravo! A good subject for a forum that is to address the entirity of our planet. I cannot thank my parents (only my mother alive now, alas) enough for the free-pass they gave me for the public library when I was twelve. I've read anything and everything I thought interesting since then. Controversial or not.
Having kicked myself out of the Dutch Tolkien society (yes, I did it myself) because of impendinng censorship, I feel I know something about the subject. Though I've never been proscecuted, maimed, killed(obviously) or even harassed for my opinion, I despise cencorship, and deeply distrust the "good intentions" of those wanting to implement it. I hope to keep up my good intentions when my kids grow to reading age...