Encefalus

Those of you who read Encefalus, probably remember this article: Dangerous Ideas: Information and cultural revolution in the age of the internet or metacognition in the modern society

The reason I am mentioning this, is this article I found on the web: Ten Of The Most Controversial Books!

The latter article refers (pretty obviously) to books that have been considered extremely contradictory, that have touched very sensitive social topics and have been widely critisized or have raised violent reactions.

What is most interesting in this article, is that the books span a range of about a 100 years. The oldest book in the list is The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain, published in 1884. The newest is the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, published in 2003.

During a 100 years (99 actually ) a lot of things have changed concerning the morality of societies. This article gives us a a hint as to how easily moral values change, yet how in every different age, most people will abide to them fervently. We also observe how people can be irrational in the face of ideas that insult their own view of the world, acting more based on emotion than on logic.

For example, concerning The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin we read the following

Because the word “nigger” appears more than 200 times in the book and it was perceived as racial, it has initially caused much controversy, especially so in the 20th century. This book was also criticized for the coarse language. Earnest Hemingway commented that “It’s the best book we’ve had.”  

Well, here there is much controversy. I haven’t read the book. However, the word nigger on itself doesn’t constitute necessarily a case of racism. It all depends on when the book was written and the meaning this word had back then. I haven’t studied thoroughly the age and the book, but considering the fact that slavery in the USA had just recently ended, we can suppose that the word "nigger" was all too common, and, while there was racism back then, maybe everyday people would use it, even if they wouldn’t be called racists at the time.

A case of racism in the animal kingdom

In wikipedia we find the following concering Mark Twain

Twain was an adamant supporter of abolition and emancipation, even going so far to say “Lincoln’s Proclamation … not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also.”^[49] He argued that non-whites did not receive justice in the United States, once saying “I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature….but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him.”^[50] He also, notably, paid for at least one black to attend Yale University Law School, and for another black to attend a southern university to become a minister.^[51]

Anyway, whether I am right or wrong, this case is a good point to discuss what Steven Pinker has analyzed in his most recent book: The Stuff of Thought.

In that book, Steven Pinker argues that swearing once involved religious words that at the time, were considered serious offenses, because the people actually believed in them. For example, saying to someone "Go to hell!" was a serious offense considering the fact that people really believed in hell. As society started becoming more secular these insults were replaced with insults that concerned bodily functions and parts.

Steven Pinker

All words that are used for swearing first activate the limbic system, and not the cortex, thus inducing a strong emotional response, that warns the person insulted that is threatened.

If you think about it, we make a real deal about people (especially children) not hearing words like "fuck" on television. However, what is so wrong about a word that everybody knows? Especially, why are we afraid that children might hear a word, that they either know, or they’ll learn sooner or later? The reason for that is out of logic and lies in the realms of emotion and into the limbic system.

The bodybuilding site T-Nation has a very nice article on swearing and Steven Pinker’s latest book: What the %!#*&#?

I believe, the same thing happens with the word "nigger". No matter the context it is used, its very existence elicits a strong emotional response, especially in today’s society where political correcteness has turned into a kind of some new religion.

Other interesting book in this list is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, published in 1955.

Vladimir’s Lolita caused a storm of controversy when it was published in 1955 in France, and have shadowed the book ever since. This novel explores the mind of a pedophile named Humbert Humbert, who narrates his life and obsession for nymphets like the 12-year-old Dolores Haze. It was banned in France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina. But in America, it was a huge success and said to be the first book ever since ‘Gone With The Wind” to have sold 100,000 copies in the first three weeks.

It is pretty obvious that the subject of pedophily is highly controversial one, but why should a book be banned? Can a book really provide the incentive for such actions? Are those people who are not pedophiles, suddenly turn into pedophiles because of a book? The subject of the book is so controversial that I don’t think much thought was put into why it was banned.

The last three books in the list all concern religion: The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie (1989), The Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling (2001) and The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown (2003).

This book by Salman Rushdie sparked controversies galore because of the controversial topic it touched. The title, “The Satanic Verses” refers to an incident that is disputed between fact and fiction. Some called it a blasphemous treatment of the Islamic faith as Rushdie refers to the Prophet Muhammad as Mahound, which is the medieval name for the devil. In Pakistan, there were riots in 1989, where a few people were killed and many injured in India. In spite of Rushdie issuing an apology, the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini condemned the author publicly, and went to the extent of putting a $1 million bounty for killing the author and if the assassin is Iranian, it would be $3 million. Even Venezuelan officials threatened 15 months of prison for anyone who read or even owned the book. Japan imposed a fine on anyone selling the English edition and a Japanese translator was said to be stabbed to death for getting involved with the book. Major U.S. booksellers removed this book from the shelves because they received death threats. Rushdie himself lived in hiding for almost a decade. Such was the animosity towards the book, the makes it all the more appealing.

Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code raised similar (but less violent) reactions by religious and groups who thought that these books constitute an insult to religion and to Christianity. Harry Potter has been claimed to corrupt children and promote occultism.

Harry Potter fans corrupted by the books

It is self-evident that these reactions are the result of societies where religion is still so strong that emotion overcomes sentiment. It is highly shocking how in an age of scientific advancement people are insulted if someone talks about or critisizes mythological figures and supposed prophets. In fact, they are insulted so much as to raise protests or kill people. Why someone would do that is beyond me.

Anyway, the subject of dangerous ideas is something that we see again and again in various contexts. My opinion on this matter is that there are really no dangerous ideas, only dangerous people.

Until next time you can keep yourself occupied with the list of controversial books in wikipedia.

Further Reading:

List of controversial non-fiction books

Category:Lists of controversial books

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Philosophical, Socio-Political. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.