reply to post by Skyfloating
I came across this interesting social Experiment in which random crowds on the streets were willing to ban U.S. Right-Wing books by Sarah Palin and
Glenn Beck, but were unwilling to Ban Hitlers "Mein Kampf" and "The Communist Manifesto". Whats sad about this is not only that recent History seems
to have been forgotten, but that none of the participants in the Experiment appears to have said "I dont believe in banning books, this is free speech
America".
When I was coming up, the general thing was that... I may not agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it.
But just over the last 30 years or so, this has changed... mainly because our news media migrated away from neutral independence and became vested
gears in the political machines that paid their way. As a result, we reflect the purposeful polarization of our information services that were
basically turned into partisan propaganda machines.
Today, we are a thin-skinned, intolerant, narrow-minded culture that has no notion of civil discourse or accepting any opinions that don't mesh
perfectly with our own. We can't debate issues without resorting to verbal insult barrages and slander based on the stereotypes, slogans and half
truths we get from our favorite news network political personalities.
Hitler, Marx... Stalin are all long enough gone that those who were alive during WW2 (or before) are dying off and less able to directly influence
contemporary thought and policy.
Our schools do not turn out people who are capable of interacting with the rest of society. We have devolved from a nation of learned, free people to
that of an audience at the Roman arena... or a pro wrasslin smack down. Our minds are not filled with good, useful information but rather, hammered
perceptions so that we automatically respond in a certain way to certain situations.
So... if the thought of banning books no longer upsets us, it's because we can't form the basic understanding of what that would mean to ALL and not
just us... or the 'me'.
edit on 23-8-2011 by redoubt because: typos, reword