Books are often shell casings for very potent philosophies; if you're reading this site and haven't had your synapses permanently reshuffled by some amazing collection of words, I'm not quite sure why you're here.For me, C.S. Lewis' Narnia (and the concept that deeds done in Tash's name still went to Aslan, and vice versa) was the way I could step away from the formal church and still retain a faith in Christ. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant instilled in me an appreciation for shades of moral ambiguity so complex they transcended black, an idea that’s present in almost every one of my political ramblings. Stephen King taught me that evil could be beaten back, but it always had a cost that brave men and women must pay, and he convinced me it was worth the price.
A common argument given against banning books is that books aren’t dangerous. Don’t fool yourself. Books are high explosives. Books can shatter psyches. Books can retool you from the ground up.
And like high explosives, books don’t distinguish. Most of the books you’ll see on the banned books lists are packed with messages of tolerance of sex, race, and gender, but there are books that teach the opposite — that narrow and constrict world views as opposed to widening them. Books that teach us how really, womendid have it coming to them. Books that confirm biases, books that clog the mind and create tunnel vision — a form of mental arteriosclerosis.
Viewed 30th September 2011
http://www.fantasy-matters.com/2011/09/thoughts-on-library-bannings-lets-talk.html
