Theodor Seuss Geisel, of all people, will now have an asterisk next to his name for being an author (sometimes). Apparently anything that has ever been written, past, present, or future, that does not adhere to the ever-increasing list of “woke” qualifications is not safe for human eyes and is not allowed to be read. Today was Read Across America Day. The government chose this day because it is also Dr. Seuss’ birthday. I remember in grade school that the traveling bookstore would show up once or twice a year. We asked our parents for money and usually bought books and other trinkets we thought looked cool then left and never touched the books again. Little did we know some of those books could be worth hundreds or thousands today. After today’s censorship announcement I checked Ebay for the price of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and If I Ran the Zoo to try and get a copy. I saw book prices in the hundreds and as high as five-thousand dollars for Dr. Seuss’ first children’s book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. These books are among six in total that Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to ban today. What a great way to honor the greatest children’s author in history and on a day where reading is supposed to be celebrated. There will be no end to this madness. It doesn’t matter what was in those books. At one time they were loved by generations of kids (myself included) who grew up with Dr. Seuss.
It will never end. By doing the opposite of the quote above, the less that you read, means that you will learn nothing and that you will go nowhere. Your only option is to be a slave and puppet to those who you let stand above you. The core of the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) ideology means that this nonsensical rape of history and culture to suit a whining minority will never end. History is meant to be studied, analyzed, and built upon. Learn what worked and what didn’t to make more educated and informed choices to progress humanity. A way to connect and understand those that came before us. That is the purpose of keeping records and past accounts of human life. Banning any book is not helping any individual nor any society. This can only result in growing contempt for the self-proclaimed righteous and all knowing SJWs. What the SJWs are unaware of is that this precedent they are setting can be flipped on its head to censor and ban whatever the new Groupthink of the day is. From 1984 Orwell wrote, “Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.” This is just another step into the communist CCP model that is infiltrating all aspects of our American society. To try and combat this is tricky. Using logic does not work because they are unable to understand conventional rationale. Using their own shouting against them doesn’t work because they will always be louder. In my opinion, the best way to fight back is to completely ignore them. Do not give these SJWs attention and boycott the corporations behind them as much as possible.
It’s funny, the other week I just had a conversation with my parents about reading books. I am a huge reader now although that wasn’t always the case. Growing up I hated reading. It turns out I only hated being told what to do, go figure! I am very thankful though that my parents forced me to read five books each summer up until 11th grade. They would have me write detailed multi-page summaries of each book. Sometimes the reports would follow the classic five paragraph essays we grew up with. Other times my parents required more in depth analysis than that. My dad, who is an incredible reader and Stephen King book club member for decades now, would read the same books and scrutinize my book reports to make sure I actually read the whole book. I was able to choose the books however, my parents had to approve them before I started to make sure they were of the adequate length and difficulty. These book reports significantly helped mold me into the writer I am today and although I didn’t come out of those summers enjoying reading I did come out enjoying writing. It wasn’t until after I graduated college that I passionately took up reading. I finally had the time and desire to choose books that interested me. I had felt a void of learning and new information after college. While in college studying mechanical engineering, it was difficult to keep up with the new information being thrown up on the whiteboard. This newfound reading passion in my post-college life immediately satisfied that void and has now only progressed. That said, my parents asked me if I had a Kindle or electronic reader for eBooks. I do and I used to use it all the time to “save the planet” by using less paper. This was until I realized that I learned much better holding a physical book to make my own marks on the pages. Also the authorities cannot come into my house and take my books (at least not yet). I told my parents that they will start to ban books and if I only have eBooks then Kindle or Amazon or someone will be able to delete things from my library. They looked at me sideways and said, “You really thing they’ll do that?” “Absolutely,” I replied and here we are. Now I understand this is done by the government nonetheless these books are now gone because of “social pressures” encouraged by a portion of our government. I haven’t read Fahrenheit 451 in over a decade however, it is now on my list to purchase a copy just in case. If you were wondering, the title is the Celsius equivalent of 451 degrees Fahrenheit. It seems as though we are growing closer to those types of dystopias on a daily basis. So now I buy all hard copies of the books I read. When or if the day comes that the books I want to read are censored, banned, or worse, burned I can have the peace-of-mind knowing that I have my physical books.
