Another Sad Chapter in the Story of Mankind

Did you know that Charles Manson co-wrote a book containing his “true confessions”? It’s true – it’s available on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also recorded an album. Actually he is credited with many records – the last of which (The Lost Vacaville Tapes) was released in 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you also know that the Unabomber’s Manifesto is available on Amazon for $9.95?

There are also books written by John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz and quite a few other notorious killers.

 

I’m sure the list of books written by the worst members of society is surprisingly long, which is a little disconcerting. Not exactly the finest in American Literature, but when it comes to art, whether the written word, recorded music or any other medium, one man’s art is another man’s trash – and vice-versa.

Would it be fair to lump Manson, Gacy and Berkowitz in the same category as Mark Twain, Harper Lee and J. D. Salinger (each of whom has had attempts made to ban their books from school curriculums).

Who is to say which books are good or which ones are bad?

Nobody.

That’s who.

Which brings me to the inspiration behind today’s rant.

This story;

 

https://pen.org/press-release/proposed-book-banning-bill-in-missouri-could-imprison-librarians/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug&fbclid=IwAR0uEnZHDx67lBmsXxVZhe72LxW8T1-d6Apdap80JwZwXiarwOPV8PDAoC8

 

This is the third time I’ve blogged about censorship in one form or another – once here and once here –  and it really pisses me off.

Is it just me, or does the concept of banning books from a public library bring with it a bit of deja-vu?

Trying to legislate morality is like trying to prevent your car from breaking down by only driving it on “the good roads.”

It just doesn’t work that way.

I am not an expert in sociology, but it seems to me that banning books only creates a “forbidden fruit” mentality.

This whole affair reminds of the song Harper Valley PTA (Jeannie C. Riley 1968) – where a select group of hypocrites makes it their mission in life to preach about character, morals and integrity.

Does anybody, beside me, see the inherent problem there?

 

As always – thank you for reading

Banning Books is NEVER the Answer

It has been reported that Colorado school shooter Karl Pierson (Friday Dec 13, 2013) had been infatuated with the Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell.

Naturally, this has renewed the fervor of those who wish to do away with the 42-year-old book containing recipes for making homemade bombs and illicit drugs.

Powell has gone on the record saying that his Cookbook should not be printed or sold anymore. He claims that it was the “misguided product of my adolescent anger”, but the current owner of the book’s copyright refuses to stop printing it. (Powell never owned the rights to the book)

I understand his reaction, although I don’t agree with it – I cannot imagine a book as the sole cause of people carrying out horrific acts any more than I blame art, movies video games or music.

Mark David Chapman (the man who assassinated John Lennon) and John Hinckley Jr. (the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan) were both said to have been big fans of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

It’s no surprise that many people called for that book to be banned as well. In fact, many high schools refuse to teach it and it has become one of the most censored books in high school libraries.

Once again, I understand the emotional response, but I refuse to believe that taking a book out of circulation will eliminate, or even reduce violent acts.

I admit, ashamedly, that I’ve never read Catcher, so I can’t say, from personal experience, that it is capable of inciting a person to violence, but I can say this… it sells around 250,000 copies per year, and has sold more than 65 million copies since it was first published.

That’s a lot of books…and only a handful of them have been directly associated with violent crimes.

The math doesn’t work for me.

Similarly, The Anarchist Cookbook has sold over 2 million copies. How many bombers and assassins have been linked to it?

Again, we seem to have a mathematical anomaly.

Out of curiosity, I purchased a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook. I wanted to see what all the hoo-ha was about.

I was rather disappointed.

The first half of the book is a bunch of self-righteous, adolescent rambling which basically amounts to don’t let the man keep you down and the second half is a bunch of crude, (at best) free-hand drawings of how to make drugs, bombs & boobie-traps along with some more horrible sketches and brief background information about guns. There is also a little bit about hand-to-hand combat – again, accompanied by the worst sketches imaginable.

To be honest…there is not one single thing in the book that a curious 12-year-old can’t find on the internet.

For that matter, there is so much more information available at a child’s fingertips today that the Anarchist Cookbook wouldn’t even make up a tiny fraction of it all.

Why aren’t people calling for the banning of the internet?

 

As always – thank you for reading