Beware the Censors!
by
Gregory Christiano
(Age: 61)
copyright 06-16-2003
Age Rating: 7 to 127
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"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
- Justice Louis D. Brandeis
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Beware the censors, twisting the facts,
They'll change the story, change all the stats.
Remove a word, distort all our youth,
Steal a line, ban the truth.
They'll rewrite history, science and art,
They'll hide the meaning and this for a start,
They'll screen out culture for politics,
To satisfy their own bag of tricks.
Beware the censors, detractors all
They'll castigate knowledge, facts will fall.
Chafing freedom, books and wit,
Exclude a theory they say doesn't fit.
Odious scoundrels, these self-made police,
Their "professional wisdom" is based on deceit.
No scholars are they, and decisions they'll bring,
With bias and malice, they'll change everything.
They'll dumb down our children, boys and girls,
Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairytales.
They'll remove the language and counterfeit,
With substitute words, lines and skits.
With relish and zeal, they'll upturn and maul,
These "language police" dishonor us all.
Be sure to take heed before they begin
To burn all our books and the people within!
Recommended Reading: "The Language Police," by Diane Ravitch, "How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn." 2003, Alfred A. Knopf, div. of Random House, New York.
Diane Ravitch, PhD (Columbia Univ.), is Research Professor of Education at N.Y. University and holds the Brown Chair in Education Studies at the Brookings Inst. among other honors.
This book deals with how State Bias and Sensitivity Committees have altered text books and literature to suit their special interest groups. This is serious business and the public must be made aware of this insidious destruction of the truth.
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A fine warning, and one that everyone should take to heart. But I find more and more that one can get at something like the truth if they want it badly enough, obstacles notwithstanding. In that sense, the worse danger may be the most insidious form of censorship: censorship by one's own self.
There is an existential component to truth, and one is not going to find it unless we take the advice of one of my favorite internet curmudgeons, Fred Reed:
"Whatever you most ardently believe, remember that there is another side. Try, however hard it may be, to put yourself in the shoes of those whose views you most dislike. Force yourself to make a reasoned argument for their position. Do that, think long and hard, and conclude as you will. You can do no better, and you may be surprised."
This really is fantastic and deserves to get this special recognition from Debra Rose. Censorship is one of the greatest evils of modern times. It is everywhere. It permeates society like an ink stain on a silk shirt.
EVERTHING is censored to some degree. To be honest, I don't even trust history books, because I guarantee they have all been cleverly altered.
'History is written by the victors'. Cultures who are dominant inevitably rewrite history to their own favor.
There is so much censorship and warping of the truth, that I don't know what to believe anymore. Even the newspapers are corrupted by government pressures and by the fear of offending the wrong person.
great write!
there are only two ( or three) controversial subjects that i am clear cut on..abortion and censorship. even though i dont like rhyming poems this one caught my attention, it is very good but i guess you dont need my praise. bravo.
How true, sometimes I wonder why I buy the newspaper when I know it will be filled with slanted stories, we must be aware that we cannot always believe what we read.
Gregory, I'm a firm believer in freedom of choice, especially when it comes to censorship..afterall, God gave us commonsense and if something offends the eye or senses, we're free not to view, read, or listen. Great write.
Nancy
So true, Gregory. We are not far from the Sci-Fi realm of "Fahrenheit 451." Censorship has corrupted our history and science books for many years and the spin doctors only get better and more powerful as our liberal society allows the reins of power to be pulled tighter 'gainst the bit in our mouths. Great stuff here!
LOL, I know! I believe in fiction more than the stuff in text books! (except the things that can be proven like laws of gravity, and a few math equations) I cannot believe how much people do that, half my S.S. books are based solely on opinion with just a few historical facts (which are probably eggsagerated)! lol Great poem! ^-^
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