I D/Led the ebook of 451. Haven't read it since I was a kid. Time to read it again with an older, wiser(?), perspective. I was a commie the first time I read it and didn't get it.
Thatbearguy @Thatbearguy On 9 March 2016 at 12:12, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]> wrote: > Thought Provoking article! Thanks for sharing Bear! > > > > On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 6:00 AM, Bear Guy <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> >> The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings >> By Ryan Holiday <http://observer.com/author/ryan-holiday/> • 09/10/15 >> 10:30am >> [image: (Photo: LearningLark/Flickr)] >> <https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/4141067126_02b1877c15_b.jpg?quality=80> >> >> (Photo: LearningLark/Flickr) >> >> Like every kid, I was forced to read *Fahrenheit 451* >> <http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451673310/?tag=ryanholnet-20> in high school. >> >> If you’d asked me what it was about before last week, I would have told >> you: “Firemen who burn books.” >> >> And if you’d asked me why on earth they did that, I would have answered >> just as confidently: “Because a tyrannical government wanted them to.” >> >> There is a trend afoot to conveniently remember the works of authors like >> Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley as warnings against distant totalitarianism >> and control. But this only scratches the surface of what these books are >> about. >> >> Earlier this year a community college student in San Bernardino protested >> being required to read a Neil Gaiman graphic novel in one of her classes. >> It was too graphic, apparently. Her father—who does not seem to understand >> that his daughter is a separate human being (an adult one no less)—told *The >> Los Angeles Times* >> <http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-student-protest-graphic-novels-20150615-story.html> >> , “If they [had] put a disclaimer on this, we wouldn’t have taken the >> course.” A mom in Tennessee has complained that the gynecological >> information in the book in the bestselling nonfiction science book, *The >> Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,* is too pornographic >> <http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-is-henrietta-lacks-book-pornographic-20150908-story.html> >> for >> her 10th grade son. >> >> While these conservative complaints about the content of books is >> unfortunately as old as time. We’re also seeing surge in a different type. >> >> A Rutgers student has proposed putting trigger warnings >> <http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2014/02/trigger-warnings-needed-in-classroom> >> on *The Great Gatsby*. Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines” was banned >> on many college campuses >> <http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/13/blurred-lines-most-controversial-song-decade>for >> promoting rape. Last year, Wellesley students created a petition to >> remove an art project >> <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116493/tony-matellis-naked-man-statue-shouldnt-shock-wellesley-students> >> featuring >> a lifelike statue of a sleepwalking man in his underwear in the snow >> because it caused “undue stress.” Controversial speakers (many >> conservative) have been blocked from speaking at college commencements. >> Pick up artists—never convicted of any crime—have had their visas >> revoked due to trending Twitter hashtags >> <http://observer.com/2015/08/julien-blanc-most-hated-man-in-the-world-shares-his-surprising-side-of-the-story/> >> . >> >> In August, Jezebel ran the headline >> <http://jezebel.com/holy-shit-who-thought-this-nazi-romance-novel-was-a-go-1722465991> >> “Holy >> Shit, Who Thought This Nazi Romance Novel Was a Good Idea?” I remember >> thinking, “Um, probably the fucking writer who spent a lot of time writing >> it.” Whether they succeeded at making anything good, I cannot say, but >> should they be shamed for trying? It’s not as if there aren’t good books of >> Nazi love stories. In fact, there is one called*The Reader!* >> >> The people in these examples are certainly a bit ridiculous—but by no >> means bad. None of them see themselves as censors, naturally. They were >> beingsensitive >> <http://observer.com/2014/10/rage-profiteers-how-blogs-harness-our-anger-for-their-own-gain/> >> , outraged >> <http://observer.com/2014/02/outrage-porn-how-the-need-for-perpetual-indignation-manufactures-phony-offense/>, >> protective or triggered. And to be fair, most of their complaints and >> protests stop short of actually saying “This should not be allowed >> anywhere.” >> >> But that distinction matters less than they think. >> >> Let’s go back to *451,* which I found myself re-reading recently. It >> begins with Guy Montag burning a house that contained books. Why? How did >> it come to be that firemen *burned *books instead of putting out fires >> as they always had? >> >> The firemen have been doing it for so long they have no idea. Most of >> them have never even read a book. Except one fireman—Captain Beatty—who has >> been around long enough to remember what life was like before. As Montag >> begins to doubt his profession—going as far as to hide a book in his >> house—he is subjected to a speech from Beatty. In it Beatty explains that >> it wasn’t the government that decided that books were a threat. It was his >> fellow citizens. >> >> “It didn’t come from the government down,” he tells him. “There was no >> dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no!” >> >> In fact, it was something rather simple—something that should sound very >> familiar. It was a desire not to offend—of an earnest notion to literally >> have “everyone made equal.” And it’s at the end of this speech that we get >> the killer passage: >> >> “You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have >> our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this >> country above all? People want to be happy, isn’t that right?…Colored >> people don’t like *Little Black Sambo*. Burn it. White people don’t feel >> good about*Uncle Tom’s Cabin*. Burn it. Someone’s written a book on >> tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the >> book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, >> to the incinerator.” >> >> And before *you* get offended, let’s clarify what Bradbury means by >> minorities. He’s not talking about race. He’s talking about it in the same >> way that Madison and Hamilton did in the Federalist Papers. He’s speaking >> about small, interested groups who try to force the rest of the majority to >> adhere to the minority’s set of beliefs. >> >> I don’t mean to cherry pick. I see no need to pile on to college students >> as being particularly responsible for the “coddling of the American mind >> <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/>.” >> (Great piece, read it.) Though I do find it ironic that we require kids to >> read this book in high school and just a few years (or months) later, >> they’re leading the charge on exactly the kind of well-intentioned >> censorship Bradbury was talking about. I don’t mean to say that these >> examples come close to the kind of overt censorship that every reasonable >> person dreads. But I do mean to say that they come from the same place—and >> very alarmingly—ultimately end together in a much worse place. >> >> In the 50th anniversary edition, Bradbury includes a short afterword >> where he gives his thoughts on current culture. Almost as if he is speaking >> directly about the events above, he wrote: *“*There is more than one way >> to burn a book. And the world is full of people running around with lit >> matches.” >> >> There’s that saying: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. When >> it comes to censorship, one might say that the road to thought and speech >> control is paved by people trying to protect other people’s feelings. >> >> It’s important to realize that today, we have a media system paid by the >> pageview and thus motivated with very real financial incentives to find >> things to be offended about—because offense and outrage are high-valence >> traffic triggers. We have another industry of people—some call them >> Social Justice Warriors >> <http://observer.com/2015/08/meet-the-woman-behind-the-most-hated-man-in-the-world/http://observer.com/2015/08/meet-the-woman-behind-the-most-hated-man-in-the-world/> >> —who, despite their sincerity of belief, have also managed to build huge >> platforms by inventing issues and conflicts which they then ride to >> prominence and influence. One might call both of these types Rage >> Profiteers >> <http://observer.com/2014/10/rage-profiteers-how-blogs-harness-our-anger-for-their-own-gain/> >> . They get us riled up, they appeal to our notions of fairness and >> empathy—who likes to see someone else’s feelings hurt?—without any regard >> for what the consequences are. >> >> Of course, the real and fair solution is much less politically correct >> but effective. It’s to stop trying to protect people’s feelings. Your >> feelings are your problem, not mine—and vice versa. >> >> Real empowerment and respect is to see our fellow citizens—victims and >> privileged, religious and agnostic, conservative and liberal—as adults. >> Human beings are not automatons—ruled by drives and triggers they cannot >> control. On the contrary, we have the ability to decide not to be offended. >> We have the ability to discern intent. We have the ability to separate >> someone else’s actions or provocation or ignorance from our own. This is >> the great evolution of consciousness—it’s what separates us from the >> animals. >> >> What also separates us is our capacity for empathy >> <http://ryanholiday.net/a-different-take-on-empathy/>. But how >> empathetic the speech we decide to use is choice for each one of us to >> make. Some of us are crass, some of us are considerate. Some of us find >> humor in everything, some of us do not. It’s important too—but those of us >> that believe it and live our lives by a certain sensitivity cannot bully >> other people into doing so too. That sort of defeats the purpose. >> >> There is a wonderful quote from Epictetus that I think of every time I >> see someone get terribly upset about one of these things (I try to think >> about it when *I* get upset about anything): “If someone succeeds in >> provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.” >> >> He said that some 1,900 years ago. Even then we felt that it was easier >> to police the outside than examine our inside. >> >> Control and discipline of one’s own reactions make for a successful >> person and a functioning society. I don’t think you want to live in a >> world where that isn’t the expectation of each of us. I don’t think you >> want to see the things that will need to happen when the burden of making >> sure everyone is happy and not offended is put on the government—or worse, >> a corrupt and bitter blogosphere. >> >> But that seems to be the road we’re going down. Even though we’ve been >> warned. >> *Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of *Trust Me, I’m Lying: >> Confessions of a Media Manipulator >> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591846285/?tag=ryanholnet-20> >> *and **two other books* <http://www.amazon.com/Ryan-Holiday/e/B007LUHFH8>*. >> He is an editor-at-large for the *New York Observer* and **his monthly >> reading recommendations are found here* >> <http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-newsletter/>*. He currently lives in >> Austin, Texas.* >> http://observer.com/2015/09/the-real-reason-we-need-to-stop-trying-to-protect-everyones-feelings/ >> >> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. 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