Modern Life Is Rubbish #6: Fahrenheit 451

Utopia - Fahrenheit 451

You may well have heard the furore (or furfor, as we used to call it - a much better word in my mind) about the school library somewhere in Greater Manchester where almost 200 books have been banned and the librarian suspended after the senior leadership team used AI to check whether the contents of the shelves were "appropriate for children".

XTC - Books Are Burning

Among those books that were deemed inappropriate...

Becoming - the autobiography of Michelle Obama - due to ‘racism and political themes’.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - because it is a ‘romantic drama about enduring love and memory loss’.

The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer - because they contain ‘mature romantic themes, sexual tension, and violence involving vampires and werewolves’. Now if you'd banned them because they were rubbish... but no, not even that. I'd rather kids were reading rubbish than not reading at all. 

McCarthy - Should The Bible Be Banned?

This all kicked off because someone complained that the school library stocked the non-fiction book  Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates - doubtless a reaction based on the title alone. The book is actually a serious examination of incel culture, and rather than being banned it should probably be a set text for young teenage lads across the country, to prevent them from ever taking the Red Pill.

Of course, there's one book that was selected as unsuitable which should come as no surprise to anyone... George Orwell's 1984. Proof, if ever proof were needed, that our AI overlords will never grasp the concept of irony.

I could rage against the machine, but what's the use? This is just the beginning...

Open your eyes and see

The world I couldn't change for you

Reach out your hand and take

The world that will belong to you

We were on our way to a better day

And the spirit was in us all

But as time went by we fell by the wayside

Maybe you'll be the last to fall

You are the only ones

There is nobody left but you

You are the chosen ones

There is nobody else to choose

Back when I was young, my hope was strong

But the time blew it all to hell

If I thought I knew what was good for you

I would have gone and done it for myself

Worlds of tomorrow

Life without sorrow

Take it because it's yours

Sons of 1984

I can still see the great panorama of hate

Being cleansed by our loving hands

But the brothers broke stride, the sisters cried

Now you have to start all over again