One of the things that I found most interesting about my time in jail was the list of banned books. The concept was nothing new to me as I already understood that governments, schools, and libraries throughout history have banned books for various reasons. Some for being too critical of a particular ruler or regime, others for being too graphic or eye opening, but most notably for telling a version of history or a truth, that the current ruler/regime does not agree with and/or want the public to know.
I wouldn't call myself a Christian, but I have studied the bible simply because I value the wealth of knowledge that can be derived about humanity from reading one of the most controversial books of all time. The bible is unarguably the most banned book in history, even to this very day in 2018 the Bible is still the most banned book in the world. The Bible has been flat out banned in most of the Islamic nations, as well as North Korea. While many other countries limit or as in China's case flat out control who is allowed to buy them. Ironically the Quaran does not seem to be banned in a single country at the time of writing, though I have heard that France my soon be leading the charge against the Quaran, with other European countries following suit.
Obviously neither the Bible nor the Quaran is going to make the cut in an American jail because they are legally protected religious works, but instead the list consisted of timeless classics and self improvement books. Books like, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which was banned for "racism" might make sense if the book was written in 2012 about the 90's or later but thats not the case. It's a book that Mark Twain began writing in 1876 about an earlier time in history where things that we consider racist today were just an everyday part of life. I understand why some might be offended by reading some of the things in the book, but that doesn't change the overall content of the book. It is books like this that help future generations understand what it was like during prior time periods.
With that said I believe that its quite obvious that the real reason for this book being banned is because the American government wishes to erase their own transgressions from history. This book specifically being targeted because it is seen as one of the greatest books ever written comparable to Homer's Odyssey. Until recently parts of this book were read and dissected for meaning by every child going to public school in America, yet now the same content that caused it to be so widely studied is now reason worthy of banning. I know that I may be a bit crazy, but to me this all seems entirely nuts.
The next book that really irked me to see on the list was Sun Tsu's Art of War. A book older than the New Testament of the Bible, one that has been studied and is still studied by every student of history, war and politics ever since its inception in 5th century B.C. It was actually this title that had me, the that guy that everyone noted as a quiet well spoken intellectual, walking around the block screaming and cursing up a storm about how ridiculous the list of banned books was. It was the accidental eye catch of this particular title that caused me to take a deeper look into the rest of the list. Now while I do not agree with the censorship, I can somewhat understand why they would not want prison inmates to understand what the art of war is about. Should some type of prisoner uprising break out this book illustrates key principles of war that are still taught today.
On a deeper level though this book shines light on the fact that war is more than just physical battles, and that the front lines are actually within the minds of the everyday citizen. The winners of every great war not only understand this truth, but use it to their advantage at every level of their campaigns. This is our current world powers are fighting so vehemently for censorship over our social media platforms. They realize that they have lost control over us through old platforms such as televisiaon and radio and now are scrambling to gain the same degree of control with what we use today.
Behold The Pale Horse written by Milton William Cooper, the man who is known for speaking about the world trade center attack two weeks prior on his radio show. It is also worth noting that in certain circles he was once known as the most dangerous(powerful) radio host in the country.
I hadn't actually heard of Cooper, nor had I any clue what the book was even about until discussing the banned book list later on with my bunkmate. To be perfectly honest I normally would have never been interested in reading this book, as its pretty wild even for myself, but the guy was definitely on to something because not only is it a commonly banned book, the La-Le-Lu-Le-Lo had him killed because of it. Yes you read that correctly, the La-Le-Lu-Le-Lo had him killed because of it. Sounds crazy but in 1998 he was wanted for tax evasion which is a serious crime but not one that typically ends up with the spokesman for the US Marshalls announcing that someone "will NOT be taken in alive". I find this ironic because your average person would have looked at the book and thought that the author must have been on drugs to come up with such a wild story... if they hadn't so blatantly killed him for writing it.
There were a number of other books that I could write about, that at the time I was appalled to see on the list, but for whatever reason I cant seem to remember exactly what they were. There was one author though who should feel rather accomplished for making the list 3 separate times for 3 different books on the topic of strategy, power and seduction. The 33 Strategies of War, The Art of Seduction, and my personal favorite The 48 Laws of Power. While I haven't read the first two books I'm currently reading The 48 Laws of Power and it has easily replaced East of Eden as my favorite book. The 48 Laws of Power is basically a case study of various historical events involving well known powerful people such as Al Pacino, Queen Elizabeth I of England, or Napoleon, and what the author describes as the 48 laws of power. If you haven't read this book, DON'T its complete crap LOL, its totally not easily one of the best books ever written about how to go about playing the real life game of thrones.
Overall the I learned quite a bit in jail. While its not someting that I ever would have chosen to do I am actually glad for the life experience. Hopefully I'll never have to go back again, but should that happen I know now what books to try to have read. haha
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read!"
Groucho Marx.
Banned books are an especially sad expression of social control. Having been raised Jewish I knew that societies had banned books and learnings in the past, it was as an adult that I came to understand that my native ancestors had also been stripped of their teachings and language.
Banning information as a form of oppression seems quite effective, doubly so for detainees.
In the mid 90s I read Behold a pale horse, I am one of those tin foil hat guys... to say that the information in William Coopers book was terrifying would be an understatement. As the decades have rolled by his book reads more like a history than a whistle blowers call to action. Among those pages you will have read that the first to die in the event of a hostile invasion of American soil will be the prisoners, lest they turn against the state which has turned against them.
Great post! Stay liberated.
@publicfrenemy,
This was such an interesting article to read. I knew that there were banned books, but I have never really investigated them. I am a huge advocate for education and believe in the power of reading. While it was a shame to see these books mentioned as being banned, it is not a surprise. It is disappointing how the government tries to dictate to the masses what they can or cannot do. They would rather us all be blind sheep following them then to be our own unique selves.
I appreciate the topic you chose and how well you conveyed it in words. As a society, it is easy to assume that those who go to jail are lost causes. You clearly took a terrible situation and made the best of it; kudos to you. I am a firm believer that we can take life’s mistakes and turn them into learning opportunities for ourselves and others. I wish you only success. Thank you for sharing your story. It has definitely opened my eyes.
Howdy sir publicfrenemy! very interesting post you have here..I had no idea that Mark Twain's book was banned, that's crazy but then all of them on the banned list sounds crazy. Do they have books available to read in jail, except the banned ones?
I read while writing this that Mark Twain's book is becoming one of the most commonly banned books in the country. I don't believe its on the official banned in the US list, but prominent libraries and even universities have banned it.
They do have books available to read in jail. We had to request to go to the library though and of course my requests were never approved. My situation was actually quite corrupt and i sense an element of foul play because i was transfered so many times to different areas for housing. They refused to give me my medication until i had what looked like seizure abut 6 or 7 days in. I never had my court date put into the system, so i was never picked up for court even though i spent all the past 3 days making sure everyone knew when I needed to go to court. luckily I had a really good paid attorney that mad sure they sent a car specifically for me after they fucked up.
howdy again publicfrenemy! wow, I need to re-read Huckleberry Finn but I thought it was pretty mild as far as racism if you read it in light of the times it was written about. dang.
It's a great book. As far as your experience in jail, that's terrible, where was that?
Yeah it sucks, but it is what it is. Marion county already has multiple law suits against them for this kind of thing but they still continue to do it
howdy again sir puclicfrenemy! yes sir it sure does. What Marion county are you referring to as there are quite a few in the United States?
Indianapolis IN. This place is garbage. Unless Amazon moves their headquarters out here there is absolutely no reason for anyone who doesn't have family out here to come out here. Place is such a shithole in almost every way
howdy again publicfrenemy! wow that's unfortunate. So you are going to try and move or are you stuck there?
ok so what if i do two books a day
yess, one book one day @publicfrenemy hahahaha, don't get locked up again.
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Great read. Resteemed. Thanks for posting.
There is just so much that we can learn from the bible. For the Christains, it is the book of truth and knowledge.
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