The Censorship Of Fahrenheit 451

Oh, this is awkward.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, once the darling of every small-town activist librarian aghast at the idea of not making Tropic Of Cancer and Fear Of Flying mandatory reading for nine-year-olds, turns out to have had a few, ahem, controversial aspects to it. In particular, the book railed against a society where abortion is encouraged and children are shuttled off to anonymous daycare.

Don't remember that part? That's because you probably read the censored version.

In the famous words of a young Canadian songstress, isn't it ironic?

Eric Lawler has written something valuable on the subject of Ray Bradbury's uncomfortably prophetic novel. It's worth your attention.

Oh, and speaking of censorship: WordPress unpersoned the Chateau Heartiste. I've gotten a few emails warning me that I, too, could be banned. This would be a good time to make it plain that I do not host with WordPress and that I have a contract guaranteeing the integrity of this site for at least another... 17 months. I also take a complete backup every night. What a victory for crimethink!

In the interest of fair-and-balanced linking, I want to give you both the Heartiste cache and the anti-Heartiste FAQ from SlateStar. I'm currently hearing that the site is being rebuilt from cache and will be live again in the near future.

As you'd expect, there are plenty of people celebrating the closure --- left-wingers who appreciate the silencing of Heartise's message, and right-wing types hoping against hope that the purge will stop just short of them. The latter group is wrong. I assure you that each and every voice on the Internet to the right of, say, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will eventually be deplatformed, de-banked, unemployed, and placed in the proverbial basket of deplorables. That includes Steve Sailer, Vox Day, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and your humble author. I don't mind. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose --- and the reverse is true, as well.