1 June 2005
A book-burning party? RASAP!
This morning I came across this list of 10 most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries (via jfleck’s blog via planet GNOME). I wonder where I can reserve tickets for the book-burning party; if these people had their way, there would be one coming to the neighbourhood near you real soon.
The number one item is The Communist Manifesto. I had to read this book as part of my education in the old Czechoslovakia, and I honestly think it should be required reading for all educated people. It will not take you very long, and it will make it very clear to you what Marx meant by communism (and I think also why that particular programme for achieving parity in society was doomed to fail).
Hitler’s Mein Kampf, comes in the second place. I am truly disturbed by the fact that the Manifesto is considered more dangerous than Main Kampf, but I am not surprised. After all, Hitler’s politics were largely welcome in the West before his invasion of Poland, and many westerners seen in him an answer to the (in their eyes) most grievous problem of communism. Clearly the neo-conservatives in the US have not reflected enough on the consequences of that attitude. (As a side note, the rise of Soviet Union cannot be understood without grasping the appalling situation in feudal Russia at the start of the 20th century; this might give you some first hand insight).
At number six comes Das Kapital. Again, I am not surprised, particularly because Marx’s analysis of how capitalism works and how it generates wealth for some at the expense of the work of others is pretty astute. (Just to make it clear, I am not a Marxist!)
At number seven comes The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Really, how could you not mention the feminist menace on a list like this? Again, the feminist analysis of the way our society works is poignant, and backed up by undisputable data, and I suspect that is really what makes the feminists dangerous from the neo-conservative point of view. As a theologian, I believe there is much to be said for feminist liberation theology; indeed I consider myself a moderate feminist (moderate, mostly because I am a male after all, and so somehow I cannot disassociate myself fully from male self-interests).
I would consider myself fairly conservative in many regards, but I am a strong believer in the freedom of speech, including speech I do not like (because someone might not like my speech!). I find the very idea that books are dangerous disturbing. When I studied for my first degree at Brno University of Technology in the 1980’s there were certain books in the University Library that required a special clearance (such as Mein Kampf). The regime of the time had what was popularly referred to as The Index, a list of books that were banned from publication and distribution. The popular name comes from a similar list maintained by the Jesuits in the good old days of the counter-reformation. Indeed, the practice of making lists of dangerous books is shared by all totalitarian ideologies, left or right (book burning was a favourite past time of the Nazis too, remember?). And so the neo-conservatives are out there in the proud company of the medieval Jesuits, of the Nazis and of the Stalinists.
Books are not dangerous. What is dangerous, are uneducated, narrow minds. Those who make lists of dangerous books do so because they fear that engaging with other people’s uncensored ideas will expose their own ideology naked, lay bare its agendas, show its inadequacy. Ideologies cannot have flaws and they cannot have limitations, for ideologies are, by definition, absolute and perfect.
Having grown up behind the Iron Curtain, I have experienced the consequences of forcing an ideology on a society first hand, and I loath all ideologies, be it Marxism, Christian fundamentalism, or American neo-conservatism (and I should add, turning software design into an ideology, as many in the Free Software community do!). My advice regarding lists of dangerous books: if you come across one, read all that is on it!
June 1st, 2005 at 15:50 pm
Wonderful essay Tomas!
June 1st, 2005 at 17:19 pm
Excepting ‘Mein Kampf’, which probably has to be mentioned as an evil book by everyone and which speaks about the personal vision of a cruel man, I would strongly recommend reading all other books in that list…
The list clearly seems to be made by a radically conservative panel afraid of letting people think and make their own reflections. Many of those books are classic manuals with a scientific background (probably most theories behind them have been improved and enrichened through time, but are obviously away from Mao’s or Hitler’s panflets) such as Margaret Mead’s, Keyne’s or Marx’s texts…
Anyway… good comments and better attitude. Thanks for making the web a better place
June 1st, 2005 at 17:43 pm
Very good annalisis. it isnt the book’s thats the problem, its when people belive in what they say to the deturment of all else. now im off to find myself a coppy of The Communist Manifesto. Thanks for putting it that way
June 1st, 2005 at 18:12 pm
nice.
>(and I should add, turning software design into an >ideology, as many in the Free Software community do!)
and many in Free software only want pragmatism. you could also say commercial proprietary software is also an ideology explained and forced in 1980s years with same logic
if some day redhat, FSF, NSA or w3c folks urge you to burn windows : okay, you can worry.
but, in fact, it’s only a development model to create software (yes, it’s important I confess but..). it’s not a way of living and managing countries. some geeks forget that.
everything else you say is very sensible and wise.
June 1st, 2005 at 18:31 pm
Ugh, I thought the “panel of 15 conservative scholars” would come up with opinions that are more scholarly…
Here’s my list of harmful books, in no particular order. Yes, I’ve actually read at least parts of these books, or at least seen some really bad quotes from them:
To bring Balance to the Force, I also have my own list of top 5 English writers of the 20th century.
June 1st, 2005 at 18:42 pm
[…] egarding precisely what’s wrong with their thinking, and such, could be written, but others have covered No Comments No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this […]
June 1st, 2005 at 19:12 pm
Great essay!
June 2nd, 2005 at 3:10 am
Danger Will Robinson!
Nicole beat me to this but I really don’t care… I found out from John Fleck’s Blog that Human Events…