Banned Books Week
September 26 – October 2, 2021
“Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.” That is the original German. My English translation would be ‘That is but a prelude, where they burn books, they will in the end burn people.” It is from Heinrich Heine’s 1821 play Almansor.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird keep making the top ten of banned books. It makes no sense to me why people can’t just not read books they don’t like, and let other people make their own choices. But then again, I live in a county where people have a fit if children dress up as witches, wizards, or devils on Halloween, and have “harvest festivals” instead of Halloween parties… it’s really pathetic.
2 comments
hey! i read those books! i even re-read most of steinbeck’s books recently. glad i got to grow up in a family where reading books, even controversial ones, was encouraged.
people have a fit if children dress up as witches, wizards, or devils on Halloween, and have “harvest festivals” instead of Halloween parties…
i love halloween, loved going full-bore evil witches and monsters dressing up, decorating the yard, and other than riding around looking at everybody else’s lights, and seeing your “fell in the sea of galilee” lolcat, i’m not a big fan of christmas.
that said, i do prefer (some of) our current versions of christmas; i’m not sure i’d like any of these –
https://www.grunge.com/282226/the-untold-truth-of-christmas-witches/
https://hagstonejournal.com/christmas-witches-ogresses-and-monsters/
Steinbeck was standard reading in high school English classes, but now the Yehus don’t want to know about the problems of farm workers or the homeless. These people have lost contact with reality and want it to go away.
Yes, Halloween, (or the Eve of All Saints Day) is another folk holiday captured by the Church in its rush to control the narrative of life. It was a lot of fun, apparently too much fun for the bigots to tolerate.
Some places the ‘pagan’ roots of holidays still show through the Church’s camouflage.