Quote:
Originally posted by Bring_Back_Shantz@Jun 8 2005, 07:53 PM
Alright, fine, the book itself isn't evil, but the ideas it contained were dangerous and ultimately very harmful, and that makes the book dangerous.
But I suppose I could argue that a book on it's own is harmful or dangerous. No one is going to argue that a gun when used for it's intended purpose is dangerous and will cause harm. Mein Kampf was written with one purpose in mind. To disseminate ideals of hatred. So I suppose when you take into account the intent of the book then yes you could say it is evil or dangerous.
There are a lot of books about racism, but for the most part the ones I'd consider to be not evil or dangerous are written ABOUT racism, as a means to analyze or document it. Mein Kampf was written to perpetuate and validate it, something that I'm sure a lot of people would agree is evil.
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But the book doesn't mysteriously "perpetuate" ideas all by itself. It only perpetuates these ideas if people agree with them. Reading a book that promotes racism does not suddenly make me a racist unless I choose to believe those ideas. Books can't change your ideas, ideals and philosophies unless you decide you believe what the author is saying.
So I guess this issue can be applied to other areas of life and it's a contentious one amongst "conformists" vs "free thinkers" as I've decided to term them. There's a group of people that wants to control everything you read or hear so that you aren't exposed to "dangerous" or "evil" ideas. Another group of people would say, let everyone read what they want and they'll decide for themselves what ideas, ideals and philosophies they believe in. Only when those ideas are put into action is when those people should be judged.
What's interesting is that the idea of "free speech" would tend to indicate allowing anything but we do seem to make some exceptions.