When Mark Twain heard that his Huckleberry Finn had been "banned in Boston" literally, he sent the Massachusetts State Legislature a two word telegram. It read: "Thank you." Sales skyrocketed across the nation.
I remember on the show "M*A*S*H", they were trying to get a copy of a supposedly salacious movie that was "banned in Boston." Major Winchester pointed out, "Boston would ban 'Pinnochio'." lol
Back in the 1990s, there was an attempt to ban *Of Mice and Men* in my province (Alberta, Canada). This was led by one of the MLAs (representatives in the provincial legislature) in my city, who was determined to have this book removed due to it's "bad language," among other reasons. The result? Every copy of that book was promptly borrowed from every library in my city and the surrounding towns. The waitlists were months long. Every copy was sold in the bookstores, including second-hand bookstores. People were so curious to see what all the fuss was about that there was an explosion of people reading that book and then laughing at the MLA who had responded to the pleadings of a bunch of uptight right-wing fundamentalists in a neighboring city who couldn't get their own MLA to take them seriously. It was one of the funniest political stories that happened in my province back then.
@@anthonyperno1348 Did you mean to reply to RussellFlowers? He mentioned M*A*S*H. I was talking about something that really happened in my province. I've seen most of the episodes of that series, but don't recall this one.
I'm glad you described Lolita as a challenge to the reader. If you feel uncomfortable while following Humbert throughout the book, especially when you find yourself getting drawn into it and empathizing with him, it did was it was meant to. You've seen how easy it is for monsters to walk among us. They have human faces.
I think it should just be accepted that some of us can't get through it, despite its literary value. It bothers me too much and it always will. I don't call for it to be banned, but I know it's not for me unless I want nightmares
That's not true, Eric Blair aka George Orwell was a player in the agenda. You can't get so many things "right" without also knowing what is going on and being part of it. Also he doesn't point out the real enemy which likes to remain hidden, only talking about the affects rather than the cause. You want actual warnings I suggest books printed in Germany by the Party in early last century.
That's not true, Eric Blair aka George Orwell was player in the agenda. I suggest books printed in Germany in the first half of the last century if you want real warnings
They are disillusioned. They even merged their constitutional institutions and amendment with their sacred text. The state should be secular and emphasized freedom of speech. That's why they are the most hard to convince since they've been exposed to their faith for all of their lives.
Hilarious, slightly but not completely off topic but, Graham Chapman, one of the members of Monty Python. When asked what he was most proud of, he replied: “I made three out of four films banned in Ireland.”
I hope my memory is right on this one, but when The Life of Brian was published it was banned in Norway. In Sweden the movie was publicised as 'The movie so funny it was banned in Norway."
@@Kim_Miller Life of Brian is mid at best tho, very "product of its time" with a lot of naked hairy hippies and penises being punchlines. There's a reason the only Python movie people quote all the time is Holy Grail. The rest didn't age well.
The other common denominator of all these books is that they're referenced the most by people who've never actually read them, and thus understand their content the least.
I read everything I could get my hands on in my youth. Classics from swiss family Robinson and baeuwolf to Stephen kings the dragons eyes and when I was introduced to Lolita I was in fact myself too young to understand the taboo. Later finding it cringy. The anarchist cookbook was a waste of money lol. I'm sure there are more dangerous books in the chemistry section of any library vs baking morning glory seeds or taking lots of nutmeg from your moms spice rack. Orwell remains a favorite his prose is in my opinion beautiful. The last book I haven't read.
Kevin Smith did a genius thing regarding the protests over Dogma. He showed up. He is the writer, director, and even has a major role in the film as Silent Bob. He showed up with a sign that read 'Dogma is Dog Shit'. Some nice old ladies made him black out shit, so it ended up 'Dogma is Dog'... But the point was this; if anyone there knew ANYTHING about the movie, they'd have known who he was. They didn't, therefore....
In orwells case specifically, ive met a shocking number of people who are well versed in his writing and still completely miss the point and either see him as a scathing anti-socialist critic, or see his works as purely anti-capitalist soviet propaganda. The truth- to me, about orwell is that he was a closeted anarchist
I've read a couple of books on this list, and the book by Rushdi is actually very well written, entertaining and with a deep cultural understanding of Middle Eastern Muslim culture. It _is_ an attack, but not on Islam. Rather it is an attack on people seeking political power thorough religion. I can see why Khomeini felt threatened by it, but from a religious point of views it is hardly more damaging than most other speculative religious fiction.
He also just stated the Islamic lore but added a bit of spice to it. A lot of believers aren't aware of how messed up Islamic lore actually is just like it's Biblical brethren
When you depict the prophet Mohamed as a liar who used the revelation for his gain, depict the fellowships as drunken idiots and depict the wife’s of the prophet Mohamed -the mothers of the muslims-as (not gona said it ) then you’re insulting Islam and muslims . There are many ways to criticize religion but not like that
@@yousifali6349 , it's a bit like Life of Brian by Monty Python. Some Christians took offence to the to it, even though Brian was clearly _not_ Jesus (in the start, we see Jesus being born in the stable next door). In Satanic verses, the story you cite are Gibreel's dreams, very much a result of Gibreel's own disposition and personality. Gibreel, the Bollywood leading man, is a bit of a dick, despite his onscreen presence where he often portray highly regarded political and religious figures. The book is mainly about hypocrisy. You are however right in that the story do not show respect, it is a religious fable written by an atheist author. Then again, religious people cannot demand other show their religion respect. One can demand people show basic curtesy, but respect for their belief is only something they can show themselves.
Banning books is ridiculous, all they do is make the books more desirable. Most of these books were part of required reading lists when i was in school. They helped develop my love of reading.
Banning a book says more about a regime than the book itself. There are plenty of books about serial killers, does that mean serial killing is considered a less serious crime than paedophilia?
I'm for banning some books from public schools as they are there to learn academics, not exotic things that are found online. However, outside of that, to ban it from everywhere is basically pointless and just makes others want to read it more.
@@Ironica82 I mean how do we determine what should be banned from public schools ? Do we ban a book that says it's okay to be gay, yet allow a book that tells raped little girls that they must marry their rapist ? Seems to be the case in a lot of places sadly
The timing of this video is incredible for me. I’ve been ordering used books so I have the unedited versions. I especially went after classics that have been on banned lists.
Any ideology, whether political or religious, that is so offended by a book that it seeks to ban it sort of gives the game away and demonstrates it cannot withstand the criticism.
There's nothing critical about Satanic Verses though. It's certainly made to be provocative, so the author expected the reaction, peobably looking for fame. He wasn't that famous before it, now he is. Probably lived his life in fear after that 😂
@rajanogray9088 No, that book has no beneficial knowledge for me nor for anyone else so I'd leave that to people with bad intention, just as Salman Rushdie is.
Same with Mein Kampf. Banned not even because it's 'offensive' since we all know the history. No it's because Hitlers thoughts were described. If people won't be able to realise their reasoning is basically what Hitler promoted, it can easily be repeated again.
Animal Farm was initially de facto banned in the UK because the author could not find a publisher. At the time, the Soviets were our best buddies, and no one wanted to upset them. However, that soon changed, and publishers stepped forward.
Rushdie was in hiding for many years, but in recent years he was not. And then the horrible attack. I'm so glad he survived. He said he is going to write a book about that whole incident.
@@lesliewells-ig5dl Rushdie's new memoir, KNIFE, is a really good read. It's a story of ideas, recovery, the life of a writer, and (surprisingly) a genuine love story (between Salman and his wife, Eliza, and also between Salman and his family). I think he's a very evocative author--and also quite funny.
@@susanalfieri4487 I'm really excited about it. I'm on the wa9list at the library, so I should have it soon. Did you read his memoir Joseph Anton, about his years in hiding? Midnight's Children is my favorite novel!!!
I'm a fan of yours and a life long resident of Bay co. FL. The ban on Animal Farm was lifted shortly after thanks to a Federal lawsuit launched by a group of students, teachers, others. Being 53, I believed I actually learned about Animal Farm possibly shortly after the ban (9th or 10th grade, a little difficult to remember, been a long time). Something to think about, thanks and carry on.
UK is safer for it and we know it. Less guns and bullets means less gun deaths. Less terrorist training manuals means less terrorism or stupidity killing from someone just trying it out. We don't fear everything and need weapons to defend ourselves from every boogeyman you see. One day the US will grow up into a mature country.
I always heard the 1984 references, but when I actually read it, I found it to be so amazing. the plot, the characters, the complete and utter control by the state to the deepest levels of your humanity.
Orwell's vision in 1984 was a product of its time and it's themes have proved redundant, at least in the western world. Western democracies have full and complete control over their citizens through consumerism. Happy little idiots buying and killing themselves for useless toys.
It's a double edged sword though because all those concepts do exist to some extent in our world... but whenever they're mentioned by name by people referencing 1984 they're not applicable at all. The tragedy of not being ignorant to the publics idiocy. Case in point, this comment section where people think 1984 is corporations logging your public information to sell you ads through an entirely automatic process while they themselves doxx, mass report and email employers en masse to try to get people fired for espousing the wrong positions on issues or sometimes not even that, just expressing the wrong coded language is enough for some communities. I think surveillance is bad but jesus christ you can literally find a community of people to support any ideology you want from nazism, to communism to unironic stalin/mao supporters and government nor corporations don't lift a finger. The only aspects of our culture that are 1984-like come from the people.
In my opinion, "1984" is one of the most important books ever written. Growing up in Canada, it was assigned reading when I was in high school in the early 90's. I recently re-read it, and it is just as provocative and profound and incredible as ever. "The Satanic Versus" is SO good; convoluted as it is, I found it immensely entertaining. The fact that fanatical, fundamentalist Muslims are so deeply offended by this book, makes it that much more of a compelling read.
There's a book called money's hidden magic, and it talks about how using some secret tehniques you can attract a lot of money, it's not some bullshit law of attraction, it's the real deal
I can understand maybe not having SOME books available in grade/middle schools, even less unavailable in high schools, but in college and at public libraries EVERYTHING should be available. Honestly though, at least in many countries, book bans are pointless because of the internet. "Removed from the internet" is basically impossible lol
Public libraries are open to the public however. And kids are not magically confined to stay in the kids section of the library. Meaning it's far less likely, but still very possible for vastly inappropriate books to still easily get into a kid's hands. I don't believe in mass state censorship, especially by people who haven't bothered to read the work. But I can understand parents' anger if they suddenly found their kids with a book about say prostitution or serial killers when they only looked away for a minute.
@@Upintheairideas In my own experience, our local library wouldn't allow a child to take a book about serial killers or prostitution. Thats only my own narrow experience, though. It ultimately rests with parents to be aware of what their children are doing, not any sort of government intervention.
@@Upintheairideas It depends on the library and its policies. The public library in my city requires a paid membership to borrow books, and kids' library cards would only allow borrowing from the kids' section. I remember the day when I turned 13 and got my blue card that would let me into the adult section, and felt quite grown-up. And then I really went to town on the science fiction section!
Orwell was right: Big Brother *is* watching... and you probably signed up for it with a user name, password, and a quick click of "accept" for the privacy policy you didn't read
He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame His orders come from far away no more They come from here and there and you and me And brothers, can't you see? This is not the way we put the end to war
I think the message of Animal Farm is wider than just communism. You have a violent revolution and get rid of one load of ghastly parasitic tyrants, and five minutes later you have another set just as bad. Not just the Communist revolutions but one could include the French Revolution, the English Revolution following the civil war etc. Revolutions rarely solve your problems.
It's not anti-revolition at all! In fact, Anima Farm laments the crackdowns on Kronstadt rebellion (the hens throwing eggs). The other point is right, it's not ONLY anti-communist, it's anti-authoritarian in general, so is 1984 but by the time he wrote the latter, fascism was defeated and the only auth ideology that was big was Soviet. Orwell wrote against that because it was the relevant thing. He also wrote against other harmful ideologies like pacifism, which George called "objectively fascist" during wartime. Very relevant today as "peace" groups tell us to surrender and face extermination rather than fight back even after seeing what russians did in Bucha, Mariupol, Izium...
I strongly disagree with it. Revolutions rarely fix all of the societal issues. Sometimes they even back fire. At the same they often push society forwards Like with the French Revolution. It was bloody, the new democratic goverment was unstable and quickly replaced by an authoritarian. Guess which system of govermence is rare nowadays? Monarchy French Revolution has proven that kings don't really have the protection of God. They only rule the state because we, the People, allow them. This revelation (and WWI) caused fall of centuries old monarchies in Europe Poland went through multiple failed uprisings before we were able to gain independence. One school of though argues that they were are all pointless, a waste of human lives and resources. Some people argue that they kept the idea of Polish state alive and as such (if you care about things like that) they were at least partially successful It's difficult to calculate success or failure of a revolution because we don't know how our world would look like without it. Maybe monarchies would fall without French Revolution. Maybe many of them would survive even WWI. It's ridiculous to say they had no positive impact on modern world
The Soviet Union was automatically on the side of anyone who opposed Hitler because it was the country with the most death toll in absolute numbers and her population was deemed inferior by the Nazis. However, she probably would have tried to take over much more of Europe once Hitler was defeated.
I've seen a vid of a church that meets in a circus tent - hate preacher Greg Locke is the pastor - that had a book burning, along with all sorts of other stuff like Harry Potter figures etc. One man started tearing up a book and telling people what it contained. Then he told everyone it was a bible. A bunch of heavies surrounded him to 'safely accompany' back to his truck and out of the area.
The russians are mass burning all Ukrainian books, including Bible translations. And West still welcomes them into their countries and then we have news of another Ukrainian lade stabbed in Germany so russians would take her child... It's always the same.
I can understand “banning” children from reading books containing heavy topics, like animal farm or a certain austrian dictator’s book, but once a person reaches adulthood (in my instance 18 years old) they should be able to read whatever they want
@@NoNameNoFace-rr7li The problem is when someone decides what other people's children should be sheltered from even if the parent thinks it's a topic kids should be allowed to explore if they choose to. Are children property?
I loved Animal Farm as a kid 😅 talking animals! I didn't get it til I was older. I've read 1984 and I look around and feel like Orwell was prophetic in that novel.
How the F describing Stalin (Napoleon) overthrowing Trotsky (Snowball) is "prophetic"? He literally just described then-new Soviet history. Nothing else. All events in it are just allegories to things that already happened in USSR.
The librarian at my school when I was in sixth grade had me read Animal Farm towards the end of the year (when I was still an immature, naive 11-year-old, but such an advanced reader that I had read pretty much everything else on offer in the tiny library of the small K-8 Catholic school I went to that year, so she was running out of things to give me to read). I thought it was a hilarious book about talking animals and it was only in high school when people were talking about it that I realized the book was not just a funny story! As a fourth grade teacher in a gifted and talented program now, I’m running into similar struggles where my kids are such advanced readers that they can fairly easily read advanced books (the type that you often see middle and high schoolers reading) and answer comprehension questions on those books, but the themes and content in these higher level books are often too much for 9-year-olds. My solution so far has not been to hand them Animal Farm, though. The librarian that year did teach me that lesson.
From what I can find from just 15 minutes of research on the topic, the satanic versus, or at the very least the references Muhammad makes to the pagan goddesses, was not debunked. It appears to have a decent amount of evidence behind it. Would you mind pointing me to where your writers found their information on the topic? I would love to learn more, and I understand that a few Google searches is not always the best way to find reliable information.
I love how people come with "all the religions are the same" whenever someone mentione the insanity of Islam. No they are not. No other religion in 21 century condemned an author. This would only happen to people who reference Islam in their works, Even in a favourable way. Look what happened to Moustapha Akkad who had directed the movie "the message" which depicts and glorify the life of Muhammad. They killed not only him but his family.
It's definitely banned in Germany and Poland. I can't say I blame them. I'd be surprised if it weren't. Historians probably view it as an artefact, a piece in the puzzle of how we got from a rejected painter to millions of corpses.
The satanic verse from Mohammad isn’t debunked but the opposite. Am not surprised this channel would say it is to appease Muslims. It’s in the earliest biography of Mohammad and part of the story is still in the Quran in Sura 22. There are 10 other sources for the story outside those two as well. Do more research and or stop ignoring truth to appease Muslims.
Diaper Don's own words when speaking to New York Magazine about that one guy: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” "Jeff" then died while Diaper Don was president before an inevitable plea deal and release of very damaging information. Even his ex wife, who wrote about his abuse of her in her autobiography, "fell down the stairs" before being buried on his land. Isn't that all very suspicious?
@@Backpfeifengesicht45 of course it is. Speaking of diaries, have you looked into what was written by Sleepy Joe's daughter in her diary? The diary that the FBI raided someone's house to try and find. Suspicious, yeah?
@@Backpfeifengesicht45 my comment was removed for some reason... I tried to say yeah and someone named Joe has a daughter who wrote a diary about daddy and the feds kicked down someone's door to try and find it. Pretty sus huh?
@@realPinkfong any attempt to deflect will be ignored. The man in power at the time, whose ex wife died in strange circumstances soon after coming out with allegations, also had strong links to the deceased. Links that Diaper Don has tried to bury.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. Also, these more equal animals definitely should sleep in beds with sheets that can be used to their own end. Maybe that was a figure of speech and maybe it wasn't.
Bulgakov’s book, “The Fatal Eggs” wasn’t printed till after his death. I’ve never heard if it’s banned again in Russia because it was critical of the soviet system. It’s worth reading as is his book, “The Master and Margarita”.
Bulgakov was a russian ultranationalist, being born in Kyiv, he wrote several books full of hate speech against Ukrainians and Master and Margarita is mostly about brown-nosing muscovites. Don't read russian authors when they're literally trying to exterminate the entire world with their ideology FFS!
The Master and Margarita is one of my favourite books. It’s a cracking read full of very unusual characters and scenes that will stay with me forever (Satans ball scene with the fireplace acting as a portal from hell is incredible) I’ve yet to read anything classic written by Russian authors that I didn’t enjoy!
@@jenniferlindsey2015To me, the saddest and scariest part of post 9/11 culture and post C-D 19 culture is that we do this to ourselves initially. And then like the vampire who is invited into our home, chaos and control develops. Then we as a mass try to remove the scourge we asked to manipulate us. We (general culture) live in a world where we are worried about a big brother government creeping into our life when we more than freely give up our identity and information on a free game for faux bonus coins. At some point we need to stop worrying about Big Brother so much and start doing something about protecting ourselves in the little ways. We are truly our worst enemy.
Hah, my advert during the 1984 segment was for 1984 on Audible. I always love comparing banned lists around the world and seeing which ones crop up more than once. Animal Farm is my personal favourite; I thought it was genius when I first read it as a kid (sorry Simon, I also read the Count of Monte Cristo in primary school!). I did prefer Brave New World over 1984 though, which I didn't expect. 😊
We had a unit on dystopian lit while I was in HS. Brave New World was my favorite as well! Something about how lurid and sensationalized the society is just really drew me in.
@@melrachelm I thought it felt very modern, in a way, like it could easily have been written in the past couple of years. I didn't know what to expect and I think that played a big part in my enjoyment. I would have loved a dystopian lit unit ❤
@@runoncaffeine My Grade 12 year in English had a lot of dystopian stuff. Of course it was the late '70s, so it was during the Cold War when we didn't talk about IF World War III would happen, but WHEN, and it was expected to be nuclear. Stuff like that really does a number on a person's mental health when you're exposed to such a large dose of dystopian stuff over a short time. Grade 12 English included Hamlet (everybody dies), Cry, the Beloved Country (apartheid in South Africa), and numerous post-apocalyptic novels on the reading list and in assignments, including Edwin Muir's poem "The Horses." Coupled with the social studies curriculum that term (everything was about war and revolutions), things got a bit much for me in November that year, after reading The Chrysalids, and one night I had a hell of a nightmare about my own city being nuked. It touched off an anxiety attack I have never forgotten, since it freaked out my cat so much that she actually had to bite me to distract me and calm me down. That was in November 1979.
No book should ever be banned or destroyed. If you bring it into the world, it is now the whole of our collective consciousness that must cope/learn with its creation forever.
All these very evil books and the evil communist that made them should have never been aloud to exist in the first place. All these books hgave done is make people that read them pure evil monsters and terrorist.
As I've told a couple weeks ago when a far right party (as in they've done "the salute" a lot of times before amongst a lot of hate speech) got their biggest voting ever in Portugal ... If you don't learn from history, it's doomed to once again become reality
The "satanic verses" aren't anywhere near as discredited as Simon said. I guess he's trying to protect himself from a backlash aimed at himself, or his writer was, but although the circumstances of the verses' reception may have been historically "telescoped" -- that is, they were placed in close temporal proximity when they were actually separated by years -- quite a lot of people both past and present believed them to be authentic. The primary objection to them is the infallibility of Muhammad as an article of Islamic faith. This is, of course, as absurd when applied to Muhammad as it is to the Pope. That Islam is so sensitive to anything that contradicts its "sacred" narrative, that at least some of its adherents would gleefully commit murder for that reason, just goes to show that it has no "dignity". Neither does any other religion intolerant of human freedom. Simon, both you and the writer of this episode should be ashamed of yourselves for "both-sidesing" this issue. Book bans are never justified, ever, most especially those motivated by religious fanaticism alone.
@BenderRodriguz Pretty much. And I guess those religions which appear to be are mostly so for self-serving reasons. They change their tune entirely when they get their hands on some political power. Look at the Baptists for example. For a long time they were a persecuted minority. In the early days of the US they were very concerned in guarantees of religious freedom. So they wrote to Thomas jefferson about it, and in his reply he coined the expression "wall of separation between church and state." This was exactly the answer they were hoping for. Well, they sure are singing a different tune now.
Frankly, anyone who reads and understands Lolita would come away with similar feelings towards the main character that you would for the State in 1984. Nobokov definitely does not endorse his character's behavior in there, and it's a fantastically written book that more people should read without all these preconceived notions.
Nobody should read russian authors writing about rape, torture and murder while pretending they're "totally against that". Like Dostoyevsky's ax murderer memoirs, Tolstoy's armies crapping in fountains, or Nabokov describing what current day russians are doing to kidnapped Ukrainian children.
Kiddushin 72a - וּתְלָת עִלְעִין בְּפֻמַּהּ בֵּין שִׁנַּהּ״. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: זוֹ חִלָּזוֹן, הַדְיָיב, וּנְצִיבִין, שֶׁפְּעָמִים בּוֹלַעְתָּן וּפְעָמִים פּוֹלַטְתָּן In connection to the aforementioned places, the Gemara analyzes the following verse, describing a vision of a bear-like animal: “And it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth” (Daniel 7:5). Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This is Ḥillazon, Hadyav, and Netzivin, which the Persian government sometimes swallows and sometimes discharges. In other words, control over these places passed from the Persians to the Romans and back again several times. ״וַאֲרוּ חֵיוָה אׇחֳרִי תִנְיָנָה דָּמְיָה לְדֹב״. תָּנֵי רַב יוֹסֵף: אֵלּוּ פָּרְסִיִּים, שֶׁאוֹכְלִין וְשׁוֹתִין כְּדוֹב, וּמְסוּרְבָּלִין כְּדוֹב, וּמְגַדְּלִין שֵׂעָר כְּדוֹב, וְאֵין לָהֶם מְנוּחָה כְּדוֹב. רַבִּי אַמֵּי כִּי הֲוָה חָזֵי פָּרְסָא דְּרָכֵיב, אָמַר: הַיְינוּ דּוּבָּא נָיְידָא. The first part of that verse stated: “And behold a second beast, similar to a bear” (Daniel 7:5). Rav Yosef taught: These are Persians, who eat and drink copious amounts like a bear, and are corpulent like a bear, and grow hair like a bear, and have no rest like a bear, which is constantly on the move from one place to another. When Rabbi Ami saw a Persian riding, he would say: This is a bear on the move. Megillah 12a:5 - Apropos its mention of Cyrus, the Gemara states that Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda interpreted homiletically a verse concerning Cyrus: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held” (Isaiah 45:1), which seemingly is referring to Cyrus as God’s anointed? Now was Cyrus God’s anointed one, i.e., the Messiah, that the verse should refer to him in this manner? Rather, the verse should be understood as God speaking to the Messiah with regard to Cyrus: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the Messiah: I am complaining to you about Cyrus, who is not acting in accordance with what he is intended to do. I had said: “He shall build My House and gather My exiles” (see Isaiah 45:13), but he did not carry this out. Rather, he said: “Whoever is among you of all His people…let him go up to Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:3). He gave permission to return to Israel, but he did no more than that. In another long passage of the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 4a:1), we learn that Cyrus did good only for his own sake and, rabbis argue that, even if he did do some good for Jews, his contributions are actually worthless as he was a non-jew. Rosh Hashanah 4a:9 - And if you wish, say: Actually, the word shegal in all these other contexts means consort, but Rabba bar Lima had a tradition that in connection with Cyrus the word shegal means she-dog. And why was it called a consort [shegal]? It is because the dog was as precious to him as a consort; or else, because he set the dog next to him in place of a consort. So Cyrus was also into bestiality
Purim is a Jewish festival that celebrates Jewish survival from Persian oppression (specifically from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus). But there’s something that has distressed modern Jewish observers influenced by secular humanism: the massacre of some 75,000 Persians, most of whom were non-combatants playing no part in Haman’s plan of destroying Jews. Such a massacre has been justified through a reading of Esther 9:5, which stipulates that not only those directly involved in Haman’s schemings were killed but also those who harboured “hate” for the Jews. Iranian nationalists (like you) would be comfortable justifying the massacre of your own people (note also that these were Zoroastrians) in their quest to simp for Zionism
When I was made to read Animal Farm in school it was definitely used as an anti-Stalinist tool. However, there were those that thought it also put Leninism in a good light, and we all know now that while it was better than in Stalin's time, was no picnic either.
@@gorilladisco9108 No. Lenin was pretty awful too, but most of the terrible things that Stalin did were his own invention. The purges, the gulags, all of it.
@@OrdinaryDude I know it shocked you, as much as I was when Time magazine stated that in their millennium special edition of famous people of 20th century (it was more than 20 years ago). I thought Lenin was the good guy, but no. And internet made it easy for me to verify. The purge and gulags were started during Lenin time (you can search for "Red Terror" and "Solovki Prison Camp" on google). The reason their notoriety was attached to Stalin was because he did those for 30 years. But he merely copying them from the evil mastermind. All the horror of Stalin were invented by Lenin.
Animal Farm and 1984 were required reading in high school here in California in the 1980s. They even did a play of 1984 and my sister was in it. I had a report on Animal Farm somewhere from high school.
The Hardy Boys, risque? WTF? Let's see... Fenton Hardy is married to Laura (I think his wife's name was Laura). Frank's girlfriend's name was Callie. Joe's girlfriend's name was Iola (I think), and she was the sister of their best friend, Chet. In all of that series published up until at least the '70s or so, there is not one scene in which any of these people even kissed (that I can recall). There wasn't even much in the TV series (though in the 3rd season Joe was intending to marry until his girlfriend was murdered - then he went after the killer himself). About the most risque thing one could ever say about the Hardy Boys wasn't about the books - but there were a lot of teenage girls in the '70s who had posters of Shaun Cassidy on their walls and bought his records (speaking from experience here). He tended to strut a bit when he was performing on stage.
@@Shan_Dalamani I was being very sarcastic. But the censorship was real, and over the top. I eventually got to see an uncut version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, in the late 1980’s.
@@jimmcdougall9973 That's a relief. My own views of risque were warped a bit due to my having been raised by my grandparents. I've always been out of step with my age peers in a lot of ways to do with popular culture.
'The Anarchists Cookbook' was circulatung in Australia 🇦🇺 during the 1990s. They're photocopies wrapped in DIY binding materials found in any office supply store.
@@gorilladisco9108 You talking about Christianity or something, because you seem to forget that Christianity also originated in the middle East and was spread like Islam
If we’re going on sweeping statements based on a very small minority then I can very legitimately claim that Islam is the religion of ‘People who tailgate and can’t park. Also likely to injure themselves with anything sharper than a spoon’.
@@Herobeans Christianity were seeping through the hall of powers instead of waging wars against nonbelievers. Even in colonization era, they were just piggybacking the European conquest instead of directly involve in invading and conquering other people.
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I finally read 1984 last year. It is the most terrifying story I've ever read in my life. And I am a horror movie fanatic. It's terrifying because it's happening right now.
The entire premise of the book (the "satanic verses") were debunked by Ibn Katheer in the 14th century (as well as many other scholars) because the "hadith" the book was based on had a chain of narration (Isnaad) that was weak and dubious and because it wasn't saheeh
That 2022 attack inspired me to read the satanic verses. It’s a bit of a strange book and i can’t say I loved it but I’m glad I read it because I know extremists out there didn’t want me to
@@Herobeans and the entire premise of most space faring science fiction books is debunked by Einstein’s theories stating that objects with mass can’t reach the speed of light… that’s why it’s called fiction. Muslim scholars debunking or not debunking a story about a few Quran verses is completely irrelevant to me because I’m not a Muslim nor do I give a flying fuck about the Muslim faith
@@Herobeansno it wasn't as with all religions there are endless arguments about the origins and meanings of different texts. Some are more inspired by academic study others by religious propoganda or white washing to show how lovely and coherent a religion is to attract converts or deflect blame. Religious texts are so shrouded in mystery re. Their origins, authors and editing that Im not aware of any squabble about religious texts ever being satisfactorily resolved.
@@Charnel.Flames wtf are you talking about, I just said that the premise of the book was debunked long ago, what does this have to do with a Shi'ite practice you dunce. Why do you people always shout out random buzzwords like broken clocks, as if it means something, as if you idiots know more about my faith than myself, as if me and my loved ones are just nefarious individuals. I swear to god I think I'm going to have a mental breakdown.
It's funny that Bulwer-Lytton is known for such a brief, pithy observation, when he's also known for the most wordy, turgid, overwrought to any book anywhere, so much so that there's a fiction contest named after him that awards the worst opening sentence to a potential novel that any entrant can come up with. It goes: It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents-except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
I prefer Snoopy's version: "It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out!..." and somehow his story meanders around to a girl and boy falling in love on a farm. I used the "dark and stormy night" as the prompt in a writing contest some years ago. I was curious to see where the participants would take it. I told them the only requirements were that the story had to take place in a dark place, at night, and there had to be some kind of storm going on. They were free to interpret that however they saw fit, since not all storms have to do with literal weather (and by an odd coincidence, as I'm typing this comment, it's just started to snow here).
Actually the inspiration for Orwell's Ministry of Truth in '1984' was the Ministry of Information at London's Senate House where his wife worked for the censorship department. Orwell started out thinking that the censorship, propaganda, and gaslighting were necessary in times of war but as it increased, widened, and deepened he began to hated the censorship he was forced to buckle under during WWII. Basically Oceana isn't based on the USSR or Nazi Germany but Wartime United Kingdom. It is actually ironic that the BBC now has a statue of him out front as their headquarters.
It's a based on UK "what if" scenario when under communism, which, thankfully, didn't happen. Hey, still not too late for Tories to crown some KGB officer, they got lordship already so...
@@SugarandSarcasm Yep. If you want a different take on Harry Potter, there's a fanfiction story called *New Blood* in which Hermione is sorted into Slytherin, and manages to become wealthy enough (by finding the Philosopher's Stone, stashing it in her Gringotts vault and of course the Goblins use it to turn lead into gold for her) to buy the Daily Prophet to make sure that the news reports about Harry and Voldemort are the truth, not Ministry propaganda. It's quite a long story, though. It's up to about 540 chapters and the author is only covering the Goblet of Fire events. She does intend to do the entire series, but it'll probably take awhile longer.
Here in the States, Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" has often been banned for various reasons which led Twain to comment, "That will be good for another 10,000 in sales!" Book bans often backfire because they turn a work into forbidden fruit.
It's one thing to ban a book, though putting a bounty on someone over a book (regardles if it was controversial or not) is absolutely crazy, then killing a translater is just batshit insane!
One thing I will never forget as a result of studying Orwell’s, “Animal Farm,” is that, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Yes, I’m looking at you, #DonCorleone! 😉
1984 is not only a critique of totalitarian regimes. Especially the parts regarding manipulation of language was a critique of current practice of governments at Orwell's time. The language parts and the total surveillance are also reasons, why this book is still important today.
1984 should have been named 2024, its like most leaders in the western world got together and read this book in the last 10 or 15 years and decided to use it as a blueprint.
Ah yes, the Western world, toothless, useless, and weak leaders of the West are somehow totalitarian dictators controlling every facet of life and forbidding sex with ministry of truth erasing all news from opposite views and not, like, being so pathetic they let russian, Chinese and Iranian propaganda run unchecked.
@@TheInfectous Oh, please. If you have a smart phone, you're already under 24/7 surveillance. Unless you use cash, every other purchase you make, large or small, is tracked.
Thanks for the reminder to pick up Animal Farm and 1984. Read 1984 in middle school, but have yet to read Animal Farm. Been meaning to do that for... Oh, about a decade. Damn ADHD.
I love the question of whether or not 1984 is a book that reflects current events or not... and it totally does, but subtly. Think about it. One of the main premises of the story, that the main character struggles against, is the constant and all-reaching surveillance. Cameras and microphones everywhere, including through the forbidden-to-turn-off TVs, mandatory in every home (provided by the Party itself to all citizens, how kind of them). Today, most people walk around with a smartphone in our pockets... a device with both frontal and back cameras, and a pretty sensitive microphone, that *is* constantly recording everything, at least sound, gathering information on the user. How many times have we come across ads in social media on topics that we've just been discussing with other people, but verbally, never written on our phones? As one memeable guy from a movie once said: "Coincidence? I think not!"... And surveillance is only the tip of the iceberg... EDIT: Anyone surprised at the last one, I mean, *who* reacted violently, not just banning the book?
I read ANIMAL FARM in the 7th grade, well before I had to read it in high school. I understood it pretty well and that helped me explain it to my classmates who were not really into literature later on. By high school, I had started subscribing to magazines like ROLLING STONE and HEAVY METAL, which is literature of a different sort. God bless Hunter S Thompson and Daniel Torres.
Simon says 1984 is an example of hyperbole, but yet time after time we see more and more of it come to fruition. Especially in these authoritarian regimes.
The whole premise of the book is based on a false report, Ibn katheer in the 14th century (as well as other scholars) said that the chain of narration (aka Isnaad) for the so-called "hadeeth" is very weak and is not saheeh. See Ibn Katheer’s refutation of this in his tafseer of Surah al-Hajj 22:52 Please don't just listen to lies without doing your own research
The whole premise of the book is based on a false report, Ibn katheer in the 14th century (as well as other scholars) said that the chain of narration (aka Isnaad) for the so-called "hadeeth" is very weak and is not saheeh. See Ibn Katheer’s refutation of this in his tafseer of Surah al-Hajj 22:52
Yeah. Making it harder to get something, whether it's a book or voting, will keep people from doing it. I asked one of those people if every church of their denomination in a five-mile radius of a school was shut down to "protect the children" so that the closest church to them was a three-hour drive away, would they say their church was banned. Somehow, that was different.
Notice that the 2 books banned in the US were banned in Florida, those two from George Orwell, the same place in the last few years that has banned many of other books, which has fueled the banning of books in other very red states in the US. Even though it is clear that those behind those recent banneds got a lot of their fascist ideas from the book 1984, but on the side of Big Brother, those in power in the book and the bad people, not the main character! They seemed to have learned how to make that future a reality!
@@usonumabeach300nobody knows what you're even talking about. I guess you also never had a look at a list of the books the fascist Republicans have banned.
despite its reputation its not actually more banned than the books in the video, not to say it hasnt seen its fair share of bans but other books simply top it.
@@reidsmyth7775 no problem, as for why this is the case the copyright to the book went to the Bavarian (think it was them, might be wrong) state after the war, and they simply did not publish it after that point; until it went into public domain. Hence it hasnt actually been spread that far and most copies are old ww2 ones that were printed en-masse as propaganda or ones printed illegally in violation of the copyright
