Kevin:
"When did 'child molesters' replace 'the Nazis' as the
preferred, duly certified 'ultimate evil' guaranteed to kill
all rational debate?"
"We must protect the children" has been a clarion call to
quell all descent for at least a century. Sometimes the
advocate for change (or more often change back, to some
mythical past) is sincere in just wanting to protect the
children, but very often the slogan is simply used to mask an
agenda to rid all culture of some peceived ill: Can't see,
read, listen to, etc, anything adult because the kids might
be exposed! The strategy predates the Nazis (was probably
used by the Nazis, is certainly used by neo-Nazis), so "child
molester" slots in very naturally as society's boogie man
(apologies to John Lee Hooker, the true boogie man).
As for moral books, in his preface to The Life of Dorian
Grey, Oscar Wilde (whose homosexuality led to jail time for
immorality) wrote:
"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books
are well written or badly written. That is all."
Mark
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