Or so he is, as per some of my conscientious friends. The Boogieman lays in wait for our souls and our children, waiting to snatch them into the bottomless pit of perdition. He is also a writer, and he manifests himself in the form of books that will certainly sprout legs and chase thee down. So beware, lest thou also be overcome!
I have an avocation that I keep mostly quiet. As conservative as I try to act and live, I don't believe in censorship. Period. So I make it my business to read the major titles of books that have been banned, regardless of the objection. As a result, I have read tomes banned by Muslims, Christians, Liberals, Conservatives, Communists, Fascists and Capitalists. I have struggled my way through some heady titles that give voice to those hungering for the advent of either the New World Order or the coming Dystopia and Fall of the Western World.
Make no mistake; one man's Tea Party...is just the opening chapter of another man's Diary that Turns. He that hath an ear...go interpret the previous sentence.
Recently, however, I read two titles that were judged to be unpublishable forty years ago. Even by today's standards they offend every sensibility. I skimmed through them both, but managed to write down key phrases that explained either the characters' or author's aesthetic. The books had been sitting in a box - unread - for years. Having finished them, I felt (and still feel) unsettled. Recently, I sold them on the internet to someone else who wants to either read them or burn them.
Normally I end these missives with some question for thought. But this time, I wish to give the Last Word to someone else, a writer who gives us the antidote to whatever mental poisons we choose to ingest:
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things."
---The Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:8, New Testament, The Bible (KJV)
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