Now it's personal

So now Iran has my attention. I felt before that they were deliberately provoking the Americans for fun or to unify its citizens and lionize the president, but this is one scary step. They've banned books and music. I can only think of Hitler's infamous bookburning ceremonies and the dire consequences. Is Iran ready to take on the world? I don't think that many nations will stand for this type of behaviour if it escalates into human rights violations. First, it's the ideas that are the problem; next, the people who have those ideas will be removed. Soon, anyone who has any independent thought at all will be removed. As much as I wish to avoid cliche, can anyone say 1984? Opponents of western hegemony will argue that America and Bush are just as evil, but because we agree with those policies we don't see it as such; I tell you this: Americans will fight tooth and nail for their rights. No one can argue that Americans suppress the rights of individuals within their country (of course, within legal and reasonable circumstances). For proof of this, go out and buy O.J.'s new book. The potential apocalypse aside, I feel that banning books in particular is a violation of human rights. Can you imagine not being able to read a book as a child? How do you expect children to grow as thinkers? Iran doesn't: they want robots fighting tooth and nail for their president. I recently had a discussion with a co-worker about the fact that Mein Kampf is not available for sale at Chapters stores. Aside from my personal feeling about the book, I feel that it is the fundamental right of private business owners to sell what they want. The CEO of Chapters-Indigo, Heather Reisman, who is Jewish, decided that she did not want to offer that particular book within her stores; it is her right to do so. If the government said that citizens were not allowed to read that book, that's another matter. And that's what's happening in Iran. So now it's personal.

Iran bans books