I couldn’t sleep well last night, so I was laying in bed with a thousand different things running through my head. As a result of that, here’s a little Monday morning thought for those who hide behind a twisted interpretation of their manuals of religious dogma and wave them...
I awoke today feeling a bit philosophical, so I’ll just throw this out there: Why is it preached that man was given free will as a gift from God, yet the moment anyone dares use that gift those same preachers scream blasphemy from the pulpit and say that we...
So, let me understand this state called Michigan in which I live. The Republican-lead legislature passes two bills which are aimed at destroying unions in a traditionally union-strong state. The media outcry over this was also used as a smokescreen to hide a further injustice wherein bills were passed...
Published in 1862 amid a massive advertising campaign and at a time when Hugo was adored as one of France’s foremost poets the release of the novel was a highly anticipated event. Critical reactions were often negative, though, as some critics found the subject matter immoral and others complained...
Katherine Paterson’s Bridge To Terabithia is a 1977 children’s literature classic about two fifth-graders, Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke, who create an imaginary kingdom named Terabithia in the woods where they rule as king and queen and where the only limit is their imaginations. A heartwarming tale of friendship...
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week. 30 years of tracking, cataloging, documenting, and reporting attempts to remove books from the shelves of schools, libraries, and bookstores forever. 30 years. The truth of the matter is that censorship has existed for as long...
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, also referred to as The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion, is an anti-Semitic hoax first published in Russia in 1903 claiming to document the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting of Jewish leaders discussing their goal of...
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in summary judgment for Texas vs. Johnson, said, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Anyone is free...
Over these many months this column has shed light on some very real current events around the world in which the freedom to read has been challenged by individuals, or groups, armed with torches lit by the flames of ignorance. This week offers updates on some of those stories....
The banning of books has become the new “Oprah Effect.” As governments and other organizations try to crack down on the spread of material they find offensive, the popularity of those works rises when they are labeled “deviant.” Today, books continue to be challenged or banned in the United...