In Honor Of All Banned Books...

Instead of choosing one from the frighteningly long list of books frequently banned in America, I have chosen a novel which surprisingly does not appear on the list. Fahrenheit 451 is perhaps the definitive word on censorship, as well as the most terrifying novel I have ever read...

Set in an ominous future where entertainment comes from wall sized televisions ,preferably all 4 walls, with even more trite content than programming today (if you can imagine that!),or perhaps breaking glass in the fun house, or speeding along at life threatening speeds in your vehicle attempting to hit pedestrians. A good citizen's first duty is to report anyone acting in a suspicious manner and above all anyone you suspect may have the most heinous and dangerous deviance of hoarding books!

An alarm shrills through the night air,and they come.The Firemen,not there to save you from literal fire, but to protect all society from the flames of knowledge lurking in the written word just waiting to destroy, subvert, and incite the masses. Spewing righteous fire they dispense justice,and in the blink of an eye the evil words are gone, the deviant quietly disposed of, and a collective sigh of relief blows away the bitter smoke...

Montage is a Fireman who begins to question his job,his life,& his society. Of course, questioning such things is just the first step toward even worse evils, like thinking for yourself! Inspired not only by encounters with such social deviants, but by the empty soul of his wife Montage begins hoarding books. His boss is well aware, and gives him the option to read them all so he can see just how worthless they are and then they can burn them together, OR be hunted down as a criminal and driven from society.

Montage cannot give up the inspiration he finds, so he runs. Pursued to the edge of "civilization", the media fakes his execution to alleviate the fears of all good citizens, and Montage escapes only to find a new society living in the wilds. A society whose members give up their own names, take on the name of a written work, commit it to memory, and then burn the book. The thoughts and ideals expressed in a written work cannot be lost if someone remembers it, nor can it be taken from you and destroyed. Someday, they will be ready for us again..is the ideal expressed by one of Montage's new brothers.


Here are some more wise words on the topic:

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." - George Orwell author of 1984 and Animal Farm in which he warned us that "All animals are created equal, some are just more equal than others."

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself."- Potter Stewart

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity it should end there." - Clare Booth Luce

Yes, books are banned in America. Search under banned books for more information, and you will find countless works which have opened the eyes of many people; including far too many novels by Judy Blume, several by Roald Dahl, Madeline L'Engle, and Mark Twain; the list is distressing to say the least.
We have gone from the ideals of a Democracy to a society of Hypocrisy.

It calls to mind another way our government has broken the Right to Freedom of Speech which states that people have the right to gather peacefully and protest decisions made by the government- for just one example, a peaceful protest was planned & people gathering while California was being Governed by Mr. Ronald Reagan. Protestors were allowed into the area by riot-geared troops, and not allowed to leave. Reagan ordered them to be bombed with tear gas...Things like this are still happening today.

I do not know when we came so frighteningly close to the antithesis of all that America was meant to be, but knowledge is the first step toward any great change. Please, educate yourself and others. Read the other reviews here in the banned book write off. Read everything you can, and then spread the word. Kimber_333 has some ideas on how to combat this dangerous censorship. As someone once said, "The Truth is a virus."... so try to infect everyone you know.

In closing I would like to quote one more wise person....

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!" - Voltaire....Amen.