Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Yes, there have been many such cases, but I would contend that a society or movement that limits access to books has lost all morality and legitimacy.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Indeed, regimes ban books because, ultimately, their policies and ideologies can't withstand scrutiny. I would say that if a society that cannot withstand scrutiny then it must be based on some falsehood or irrational ideology, in which case scrutiny and rational debate is all the more necessary.

Phatboy Just a quick question here.What would be your response to your child coming home one day and informing you that they are gay? Would you support them unconditionally or would you worry about what your neighbour or society thinks? Would you be willing to defend them against others who are biased against homosexuality?The response you give is a direct measure of how much your child's emotions and well being are compared to your own.

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Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry

In what way, Sidelined, is your post related to it's title?

AdminNosyI am trying to sort the nature of what constitutes a child's right to knowledge available in books that the so-called state may or may not provide for his children to read. I ask this question in order to understand the objection that he is presuming the "state" imposes upon his children.It is Phatboys' contention that the reading of material that is available is somehow detrimental to his childs' development and I am,perhaps wrongly,sensing that he thinks this influences the child as to his sexual orientation.So the question I ask is to establish,first,that Phatboy is not anti-gay as he claims{most especially with his children} and second to establish the harm such books carry in his viewpoint.This would,I believe,lead back to the opening post as the issue seems to be the
validity of the harm a book can or cannot inflict upon the reading public.I was going to go farther in depth however this would not allow me to debate the issue with Phatboy.I hope this is a satisfactory answer to your question oh admin of the west coast of Lotusland.
I hope the berries of the valley are doing good this year.Next summer I am coming out to visit kin and friends for the first time in neartly a decade.Perhaps I will get a chance to buy you a cold one down at Granville Island.

That's Ned's point: you are having a conversation about what is appropriate for children to read while the subtitle of your posts reads "Re: The list is a greater threat than the terrorists."

Quite right Chiroptera.It is time to retire from this discussion.Many thanksThis message has been edited by sidelined, Sat, 2005-07-09 11:49 PM

I have read huge portions of Mein Kempf...and the reason why its so dangerous is that Hilter pretty much says publically who is to blame for everything (the jews) and what he plans to do about it.Had more people read the book back then, someone might have said, "hey, this guy is nuts."

It doesn't sound as if the book itself is dangerous. At a railroad crossing, it's not the bell and flashing lights that are dangerous.

I've never read Mein Kampf, but if it was a book people were practically required to own, wouldn't many of them read it? I think that quite a few did read it and did disagree with much of what Hitler said, but their voice was not heard because the Nazi government would kill anyone who came forward with their dissent.

This list was put up on another board.The thing I pointed out was in one breath they say that the US is affluent and the envy of the world and in another they make it sound like it's bankrupt.

Man, I wish I said that!

5. Any book by George Eliot (95% probability of death by boredom before reaching the end)I grew up in Eliot country so we pretty much had to read them at school - everyone I have ever talked to about this all say they are the most boring books they have ever read.

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Oops! Wrong Planet

It's pretty tedious, all right, although I find that character in "Middlemarch" who spent his life gathering evidence for "the key to all mythologies" rather interesting. Finds out at the end of his life his whole career had been for nought. There was no "key." Poor bastard.

I read The Mill on the Floss. I don't think that it is as bad as people are making out, but I agree that if that novel is typical of George Eliot's works then I don't why she is considered such a big deal.