Summer Reading List

[pasithea]

I bet Ashy has most of these in her library. I should make this my summer reading list.

The 10 most harmful books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

The real question here is 'Harmful to whom?' Let's exclude Mien Kamf, which is thrown in there just as a Godwin to say 'AAAA! Liberals and Feminists are nazis!' and possibly Mao's book too ont he same grounds. What's left and who do these books hurt? Rich white guys?

Comments

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

Harmful to the wealthy republican conservative christians who read and write for humaneventsonline.com.

They forgot "The Bible", the single most harmful book ever written in the history of humanity. They probably chose '19th and 20th centuries' just so they wouldn't have to include it.

[shizouka.livejournal.com]

Liberals, Feminists, and Natzi's Oh My!

I have not read either of the top danger books, but considering the realms they came from and the paths those minds chose afterwards, I might avoid them unless I can investigate the ideas therein in a safe controlled manner. I feel its important to know where we've been, and in this case, its vital to know where NOT to go.

While a literary and socially minded educated person might think that such books are to be studied for these very reasons, conservative alarmists are quick to decry them as natzis for showing any interest in it at all.

I'm feeling too brainy right now. I better watch out for strange women who live in giant underground cities that are in need of a brain to run things.

[barberio.livejournal.com]

Oh the ironical implications of No.10

[paka.livejournal.com]

What gets me is Margaret Mead and Rachel Carson making the list. HUH?

I mean, you'd think dangerous books would be things like the Malleus Maleficarum, which has been directly responsible for human deaths.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

And I have read none of those! Well, except for one of the Honorable Mentions, "Introduction to Psychoanalysis" by Sigmund Freud, which I have on my Pocket PC.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, Silent Spring is on the list! Environmental stewardship apparently equals nazis and marxists. :D

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Well, it's anti-capitalist. Meaning it implies that there should be limits on capitalism.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

I've only read part of Mein Kampf. Booooring! I downloaded Beyond Good and Evil along with a bunch of other free e-books, but forgot all about it until just now.

(Oh, wait, I have a copy of Silent Spring, too. I find it hilarious that it's even considered here; it's like the original anti-pollution book.)

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Putting Mein Kampf on the list is kind of a sop to the pro-Israel crowd, too. I say this because this same conservative crowd was pretty damned anti-Semitic, up until the 60s or so, when we figured out that Israel was useful to us; that's also about the time we discovered Arabs existed.

Furthermore, during the 1930s, the powerful in this country were ecstatic about fascism and Hitler's 'accomplishments' in Germany, at least until Hitler started invading other countries. They couldn't wait to try fascism out here; they thought it was a godsend. At last, a way to keep society in line and make sure everything ran smoothly for the people who mattered. And that attitude didn't change after the war, it just went underground; thus we used former Nazis to crush communist and liberal organizations in Europe post-war, and we rolled Nazi intelligence into our own apparatus. The powerful in the US thought the Nazis kicked ass; they just wanted them working for us, not competing with us. Thus our involvement in the war. It was not to shut down the extermination camps; they were not a priority, even though we could have shut down Auschwitz et al with a couple of bombing runs. We didn't know about the camps? Ask Israel; they'll tell you a different story, or would if they weren't keeping their mouth shut about it because they like the influence they have with us now.

I don't know, maybe the people at Human Events Online have forgotten what their grandfathers were in favor of. But probably not.

[centauress.livejournal.com]

And only one woman judge.

What, exactly, is dangerous about any of these books? They all promote thinking, self-awareness, and working for a whole as opposed to an autocratic, paternalistic, capitalist, and or religious more unthinkingly.

My dad has quite a few of these books... The communist manifesto is all about helping your fellow man, mein kampf is all about self-confidence and strong will, and even beyond good and evil went out to flay the concept that good and evil were inherent - that men (like hitler, ironic they should say nazis loved it) would and did make up their own rules to benefit themselves.

All of these books warn of following others unthinkingly, of following morals because they exist, and of not using your own ability.

Facsism was all the rage until it was co-aligned with mass slaughter. Then they just changed the names and kept at it...

[apoidea.livejournal.com]

On the side of the page there is an ad for a water filter. It will protect our precious bodily fluids!

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of these either -- Mom has Mao's little red book though.

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Oops.. that was meant to be a general comment -- not a reply to your water filter post.