Thread by @Ulfhedrengr

Another thread, If you want to read, great, if not, that's okay too but here goes.

I'm going to surprise you with something. Yes, I own this. This is mine. There are many others like it but this one is mine, as is said in Full Metal Jacket:

So why am I bringing that up along with my Kindle laying next to it? The answer is simple. It is to make a point, and it's one I've made many times. I Do Not Support Book Burning/Content Bans.

It's my understanding that, for many of you following me,

you have an affinity or a love for this work and, surprise again, I understand it. Completely. Whether or not I have issues with the text should never be your problem. I've owned this one for many years, I also have digital copies that would be suitable for any denomination

Let me tell you all a little story and this very book will be the centerpiece. Where I grew up, games like Dungeons & Dragons, metal music and clothing with graphics depicting these bands or their logos was heavily frowned upon. If you decided to buck the trend and the advice

of those that claimed you should never go near any of them, they would use this book to, figuratively-speaking, beat you over the head until you complied.

What that means is you would be targeted, singled out and you would face problems at your job, problems wherever you would

attempt to do business. In essence, your very means of living or living well would see all opportunities closed off from you. You had a choice to make, capitulate (which never worked due to "You Didn't Join MY Church!") or leave...if you could.

Was this every Baptist, Pentecostal, Seventh-Day Adventist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Apostolic or insert denomination? No, of course not but never underestimate the power of the few to really "turn up the heat" on you. To them, your mere existence was a threat.

Granted, it was just a few of them but they did wield some power in the positions in which they found themselves. That brings me to the question at hand and I want to hold this up as an example, for discussion's sake, would I want this book banned?

Absolutely not. I want to allow this book and others like it to be on the shelves. Let people buy them at will or give them as gifts for any occasion. Why? Because banning it sets a dangerous precedent. If I move to ban this particular text then my own may not be next in line

but, eventually, at some point, they'll experience the chopping block as well and that is not a world conducive to the #1A. I know some of you are nodding in agreement as we speak but I want you to think for a second. Are you really in agreement with me on this topic? I want you

take a moment and answer me honestly. What book or books would you like to see banned. Really think about this because I'll put it to the test. How about The Havamal? The Satanic Bible? The Koran? The Torah? The Necronomicon? Mein Kampf? The Anarchist Cookbook? Can you think of

any more? Can you think of any at all? Now, answer the question why you would support banning those.

If you can't think of any and want to refer to the examples I have above, why would you not want to ban those or any books?

The simplest answer to why you would is that you don't actually support The #1A. It's the same as saying "I'm a gun owner buuuuuuut..." when it comes to #2A arguments. Before you get on the defensive, allow me to further illustrate.

Material that you may find objectionable, while made available to the public at large may adversely affect certain people, this much is true. As seen in the example provided, some, a select outlier of "Christians" weaponized their religion and used it as a means of control

however that doesn't mean that every Christian did. Most of them did deep dives into the material, comprehending and understanding that, they don't have to like what it is someone like me does but their hatred for my activities should not translate to me personally.

Most Christians would use the content of the book to find peace with themselves and, dare I say it, even this chaotic world in which we all live. Such is true with nearly every text, video, piece of music or other content that is consumed by society at large.

While sources like Mein Kampf (of which I don't have an interest) drive people into delusions of grandeur and give them an excuse to be absolute shit human beings to others, it's availability means that we can look into it and intelligently debunk it's claims for ourselves

It gives us the opportunity to change minds that would have been influenced by it and may even change minds that have already been influenced by it. Some minds will never change, some minds are just eaten alive with The Dumbass and nothing, not even a ban will change that.

Going back to that Bible for a second, if a ban across the board were to suddenly manifest itself, even though it may seemingly go against my own self-interest, I would be among the first to torrent every digital copy of The Bible that I own.

I would do it because I stand firm on the #1A. I stand firm on all guarantees of liberty. I also understand that the death of the #1A will not come in one blow but by many cuts until the only thing you will read, consume, think and regurgitate in totality will be the tyranny

foisted upon you by the state and you will be made to think, nay even believe, that this is what freedom looks like. Rather than ban a book, I would challenge those who may read something I find objectionable to look at it through a different lens, prove it's claims and then...

thoroughly cross-examine it. I want to see if it holds up under it's own burden of proof. Much of it will collapse under the weight, that I can assure you. Remember the claims that D&D was dangerous, Metal will warp your mind and lead you into the darkness of drugs, Satan and

suicide? Collapsed under the weight of it's burden of proof. Those rushing to defend that point didn't have anything that would hold that house of cards up. I have thousands of Magic: The Gathering cards, I have hundreds of RPG books both digital and physical.

Why? Because the pin that held all of it together for me was good parenting, a solid foundation between the worlds of both fantasy and reality, what was escapism and how to use it in a manner that was healthy.