Reading and thinking are being dumbed down and censored
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
Reading and thinking are being increasingly dumbed down and censored.
=====================
“From an early age, I understood that knowledge was power, but the power wasn’t always political.
Knowledge gave me the power to change myself and my surroundings.
As a young boy growing up in the mountains of the anthracite coal region of northeast Pennsylvania, my favorite place wasn’t the woods surrounding my town, nor was it my grandmother’s house (although a close second).
It was the local library. Rows and rows of books and periodicals that were ready to share their contents with me, teaching me that there was a world beyond my town limits.
I spent entire days in the library, drinking in as much knowledge as a boy could. Entire worlds of knowledge were at my fingertips.
When I learned that Benjamin Franklin was behind the idea of public libraries in America, he quickly became, and remains, one of my heroes.
But the library was more than a repository for knowledge: It was a sanctuary. It was a safe place where I could go to be myself. It was a place where I discovered that there were other people in the world who were like me. The library was a close to heaven as I have ever been.
So, when I see that libraries across the country have become ideological battlefields, I become distraught.
It is unfathomable to me that people would want to deny knowledge to others.
The removal and banning of books in public libraries are things I never imagined happening in America.
But, as I learned early on, knowledge is power, and there are people who want to keep the power to themselves. Libraries, especially public ones, are the great equalizer. They are truly democratic places.
Children and adults of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds, religions, cultures, and nationalities mix freely within libraries. Ideas are shared. Stereotypes are broken. Lasting friendships are made. Knowledge is acquired.
● Of all the dangerous ideas circulating in our country, the one that suggests it is not only permissible to dictate what others read, but also write is the most dangerous.
● We protect ourselves, not by running away from ideas that may be troubling, but by wrestling with them and learning how to argue against them.
Knowledge, and the power that comes with it, is for everyone. …”