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Only Poets are Divine |
Written by Lin Stone
Entire Contents Copyright © 1999 by Browzer Books
All rights to original works are reserved to the creators
Only poets are divine, said the ancient Greeks.
The First Amendment says: Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Yet this very day outraged editorials tell that many books have been BANNED in America.
Yes! Even today there are some poor maligned authors who publicly announce they cringe to write what they want to for fear of censorship.
Yet it is a proven fact that being censored SELLS books. Once a book is on the "censored" list people who haven't read a book in years rush out to buy it to see what the furor was all about. In the name of ratiocination ask yourself, isn't it strange that so many people can so quickly and easily buy a book that is banned?
Before we join all the witch hunters, let us consider what the furor really is all about, for the actual "banning" of this long list of books is a hoax. Proving this is a hoax is easy. You can read every book on that list in the privacy of your own home and NOBODY WILL STOP YOU.
What is really happening is that someone is refusing to buy or refusing to read the books on that list. Someone has decided that the money of the community is better served by ANOTHER book of more value and there are millions of books for them to choose from.
If one of the books you want to read hasn't been bought with community funds, or if a dearth of book shops in your area prevents you from exploring the world of thought as widely as you wish, then just ask your librarian for a glance through the "Books In Print" directory and use your own money to purchase the ones you like directly from the publisher. If a book goes out of print you can even order your "banned" books through an inter-library loan system for free reading.
Any way you go - in the privacy of your own home, no one will keep you from reading the books of your choice. No one else is being denied the freedom to read the books on this list either.
Here is the real situation: A few self-righteous individuals today have used the power inherent in their positions to ridicule Christianity, chasten capitalism and attack specific groups such as the Baptists or the Republicans. Yet, through perpetrating a hoax about "banned" books, they have managed to cast themselves in the light of protecting the poor little old "censored" authors. They have learned to do this so well that the press immediately begins splashing their pages with outraged editorials to make them heroes.
Only poets are divine, said the ancient Greeks.
Whence cometh then this insistence that teachers are always right and authors so
sacred?
When teachers in the public schools use unrighteous dominion to select offensive material and force it upon their students they are not in any way promoting intellectual freedom as they claim. They are in fact besmirching freedom.
Here is the proof: If any of these very same teachers were forcing kids to read the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud or the Book of Mormon, would they not cease to be heroes to the local media in a matter of seconds? Test it out for yourself.
Authors have the right to decide what they will write, and even how. Publishers have the right to decide what they wil publish, and even how. Why should you lose the right to decide what you will NOT read?
Those students and their parents who resist some teacher's "divine" authority to self-righteously decide what should offend them are clearly within their rights. The right to read controversial material is NOT the issue here. The real issue is whether anyone, intellectual or demagogue, has the right to decide for you and me what we MUST read or spend our community funds on.
Hitler dictated what people must read, and the whole nation followed him into war. Every despot in the world today is determined to force people to read and watch the political line favoring them. The freedom not to read what offends children must be preserved. That is the only way to preserve OUR freedom.
Those writers whose goal in writing a book is TO BE OFFENSIVE should not whine or cringe when it does offend.
Just as no two people are alike, no two communities are alike. Teachers like Jim Owen, who selected the history book The Glory and the Dream for his Conway students, won his skirmish; in spite of protests, his students HAD to read the book and be tested from it, or HE would fail them. If he had threatened to fail them for not understanding the ten commandments would he still be a hero?
Of Mice and Men has been barred from classrooms in Pine Bluff, and West Virginia, Illinois and Michigan, for coarse language. But why should anyone be FORCED to read any coarse language that offends them? Isn't there enough coarse language in the bathrooms there already? Watson Chapel Superintendent Charles Knight, who pulled the book in Pine Bluff, said: "All we've done is respond to parents who objected to their children BEING REQUIRED TO READ THE BOOK" (emphasis mine).
No one there is being denied the RIGHT to read it. Anyone in Pine Bluff that wants to read Of Mice and Men can buy the book, and read it in there on home, and nobody else there give a tinker's dam. Yet this is one of the reasons the book is on the banned list.
With all the moaning about values waning in our communities today it is imperative that we do not lump those who do have moral courage with those who do not understand what moral courage is, or with those who are trying to destroy it.
Don't give away your right NOT to read any of the books on this list, or any other list. Don't let someone else tell you what kind of trash you or your children MUST read. Other people probably are smarter than you are: their opinions are probably better. But in America that is still for you to decide. Let's keep it that way.
Only poets are
divine.
Indeed, even these gods fall out of favor occasionally.
the end
Letters to Lin Stone
will be forwarded.
Discover these great essays in the following folders
Family
* Inspirational * Helpful
* Social
War
* Freedom * Money
* Superb Essays from 1850
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And then, we have these essays in the GENERAL ESSAYS category which don't seem to fit anywhere in particular: By Reason Alone.. That Roosevelt can do no wrong is Burroughs’s opinion; and that Burroughs is always right is Roosevelt’s opinion. Both are agreed that animals do not reason. They assert that all animals below man are automatons and perform actions only of two sorts—mechanical and reflex—and that in such actions no reasoning enters at all. They believe that man is the only animal capable of reasoning and that ever does reason. *** No man is an island, is an old saying that was meant to say that no man stood alone, but needed help from others, and gave strength to others. But, here is the story of an island that was a man. In the short history of time, there was one island that was a monument to a single man. It starts out like a fairy tale.. Once upon a time there was a barren island. This almost insignificant little man was sent off to this barren island and turned it into a mirror of his soul and the fulfillment of his vision. One stick at a time he turned his barren island into a work of lasting, world-renowned beauty and peace, an island where the nightingales sang songs of singular wonder ne'er found elsewhere since this little man set down roots on a barren island, and bloomed. ** Most of man's dreams are based on false assumptions. We dream of loping free with the wolves, but really don't like fleas. We dream of the security that lambs must feel, but don't want to be sheared. We dream of being lions, but gag at eating raw meat. We dream of being loved, but can't see the way or take the time to make ourselves lovable. Was There EVER A Man On The Moon? How far can reason alone take us from the beaten path of acknowledged history? *** A Definition Of History by Leo Tolstoy gives us yet another peg to hang our ratiocinations upon. ** ** Charity never faileth, especially when our hearts fill to overflowing with charity. ** Global Warming freezes thermometers ** Man, the Meanie of the Planet. This is a high resolution pdf document so you can print it out and hang it on the wall. Be sure to RIGHT Click the link, and save it to your computer. ** Are we forever Doomed? An essayic poem by Rudyard Kipling * I see Grandpa. He's calling out for me. God Does Not Fit -- by Lance Nalley * SOCIALISM, Slavery and Tyranny by R. J. Harris ** Deliberate Fraud: Evolutionists resort to the lowest forms of fraud in order to gain more believers. ** When Theories fail.. Petty science teachers can rage until doomsday that no two snowflakes are identical, but until every snowflake that has ever fallen or ever shall fall is matched against every other snowflake that has already fallen or ever shall try to fall -- the identical snowflake theory remains just a theory resting in lolly-gagging land.
** A Break From Boredom -- by Lance Nalley ** INVICTUS... Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit, from pole to pole ** The gods and Heroes of the Ancient World ** Staunch, steadfast, loyal and true. What better friend can a man have? *** The House By The Side Of The Road ** Friendship, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs, The world uncertain comes and goes, The lover rooted stays. I fancied he was fled, And, after many a year, Glowed unexhausted kindliness Like daily sunrise there. My careful heart was free again, -- O friend, my bosom said, Through thee alone the sky is arched, Through thee the rose is red, All things through thee take nobler form, And look beyond the earth, And is the mill-round of our fate A sun-path in thy worth. Me too thy nobleness has taught To master my despair; The fountains of my hidden life Are through thy friendship fair. ** *** A thing of beauty
is a joy forever: The Moon on Six Pence Uncle Bob was an unforgettable character who traveled the world on bargain rates and golden smiles! ** The Almost Good Housekeeping monograph is a good excuse for the harried homemaker to put off until tomorrow all those burdens of yesteryear, and quit trying so hard. ** Sex before the Sax: The first thing I learned about Lois was she had a label for being froward. Kids at school said she had had sex with Alfred. Not long after I arrived, another boy came forward to admit he had made a score at her door. ** Old Rattler, and the King Snake. Down and Dirty with Darwin Evolutionists are now feeling so battered that university professors advise their students not to discuss this theory with non-believers. "Sounds like a religious cult to me," say some. Pleasures of the open fire: The Fireplace Revisited. Don't Make Us
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