This is Sushimatic » Radical Books Pulled From Library Shelves
Radical Books Pulled From Library Shelves
Prefectural officials in Fukui requested 150 books be removed from library shelves. The officials deemed the books as radical. Owing to their inciting racism? Owing to their detailed, elaborate drawings of how to manufacture bombs?
Sadly, no.
Owing to their being -
aimed at destroying the current family structure.
Among the books removed were a book on how to divorce, and a book proposing making schools free of gender.
I’ve never read any of the books mentioned in the article, so I’m not free to pass summary judgement on the decision, but it saddens me that the motive behind it is presented in such a way as to give it the appearance of being well-intentioned - in a country with a declining birthrate and a divorce explosion predicted next year, bold measures are definitely required.
The problem being that the easiest to implement measures are, more often than not, poorly thought out stop-gap measures. Kind of like putting a pair of tights in your car’s engine to replace the fan belt. It’ll get you home, but you’re not going to do it forever. Hopefully, this censorship down Fukui way is just a blip, and not a precursor of some Fahrenheit 451 style purge.
(Original Story from CrissCross)
Friday, May 12th, 2006 Japan, Japanese News Trackback URL for this entry
3 Comments
1. panasianbiz replies at 13th May 2006, 10:54 pm :
Well, I’ve never read those books either (although I think I’ve actually heard of the one called Marriage is a Gamble), so, like you, I won’t pass judgment here. But I have to agree that it is extremely misleading to present this move as a well-intentioned one. I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for follow-up stories on this subject.
2. JB replies at 14th May 2006, 9:52 am :
Like my Granny always used to say - the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I think that whoever made this decision was genuinely trying to do their little bit for the population problem.
What worries me is that there may be more people out there as misguided as this, and as myopic. Banning books on divorce is not going to help the birth rate. I’d even go so far as to suggest the opposite might be true.
3. JB replies at 16th May 2006, 11:18 am :
Update - the books are back.
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