Category: book burning

My Book Is Being Burned

Commentary On Jan. 25, 2023, Ghent University banned the use of my book “The Psychology of Totalitarianism” in the course “Critique of Society and Culture.” That happened in the aftermath of a media storm that erupted in September 2022 following my interviews with Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones. I already wrote about that in a previous essay. Following these media appearances, Ghent…


Censorship Is a Poor Way to Promote Literacy

Commentary Obviously, some books are better than others. This is something everyone should understand. A well-written book that tackles profound themes is far more likely to stand the test of time than a poorly written book that deals with superficial topics. For example, Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” is a literary classic. That’s because it portrays…


Book Burning Criticized by Party Leaders During French-Language Debate

Party leaders criticized book burning by a francophone school board in Ontario during their French-language debate on Sept. 8. The project was done in 30 schools in the name of reconciliation with indigenous peoples. “It’s completely unacceptable to burn books,” said Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau, when asked by debate moderator Patrice Roy if it’s his…


Opinion: An Amazon Book Burning

Commentary Book burning has always been a crucial ingredient of totalitarianism. In the 1930s the German Student Union infamously made bonfires from books considered antithetical to National Socialism. Similarly, the zealots who executed Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution destroyed books opposed to the diktats of Chinese Communism. The United States hasn’t been immune to suppressing ideas…