I think thinking is so important

[altariel]

communicator links to a list of the ten most harmful books compiled by a "panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders". In a particularly nice touch, the links to the books are to versions you can buy on Amazon rather than to online copies, where available.

The idea of a harmful book is meaningless to me, although I imagine that if I dropped a hardback of Das Kapital on my toe it would probably hurt a fair old bit.

Whilst it didn't make the top ten, two or more of the judges listed On Liberty by John Stuart Mill as a harmful book. Ah, but then Mill knew all about this "peculiar evil", didn't he?:

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. [...] [T]he peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." (On Liberty, chapter 2).

I'm particularly grateful that a list of these miserably misnamed "scholars" is provided at the end of this article so that I can heckle take the opportunity to engage in mutually constructive debate should I be unlucky enough to come across any of them again. Shame on them.

Comments

[bill-leisner.livejournal.com]

DailyKos has a few more suggestions for the list:

*Goodnight Moon. Because the bunny is wearing blue pajamas and we all know what that means.

*Webster's Dictionary. Because it has all "those words" in it.

*Roget's Thesaurus. Because it helps you find even more ways to say "those words."

*The Pet Goat. Because even the hardiest freepers cringe when they think about Bush and those seven minutes on 9/11. Ticktockticktock...

*Yertle the Turtle. Rick Santorum can't read it without fainting. It's just all male turtle on turtle on turtle...wriggling and writhing and wet. What's next...a "Pride" parade??

*Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever. Because math leads to science. Science leads to heathen claptrap like "evolution" and "global warming" and "stem-cell research."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Damn Richard Scarry and his heathen lies!

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

I think by going for the requisite "Top 10" list, they diluted their message. Many of the books are on the list because the list makers are protesting the loss of the 18th Century, and are mad as heck that it didn't stick around forever. Darwin, Decimal, Fredan, et all fit into that category, and are just laughable as choices for this list. The title, "Books Stodgy Conservatives Don't Like Very Much", would be a better title for a list of such books.

However, you cannot deny that there are very harmful ideas. Actually, there are just two harmful ideas. One is that our group, be it racial, national, religious, or cultural, is inherently superior, and has the preordained right to tell everyone else what to do, or worse, that we have to "cleanse" the land of inferior types to make room for this lofty group. The other is that we have a the right to take your property, for whatever reason. I put forth the position that books that do a good job of convincing people to sign on to either of those programs are indeed harmful. That is not to say the publication or reading of these books should be supressed. That is the worst thing possible, because it makes the authors into martyrs, and will simply increase the appeal, as they now become forbidden knowledge. Such books need to be taught, and examined as the totalitarian claptrap that they are.

mk

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Many of the books are on the list because the list makers are protesting the loss of the 18th Century, and are mad as heck that it didn't stick around forever.

The Declaration of Independence started a war and lots of people died, OMG harmful! ;-D

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I put forth the position that books that do a good job of convincing people to sign on to either of those programs are indeed harmful.

I don't think it's the books. I think it's the people that write them, and promote them, and turn them into policy - and also those who fail to counter them.