Ban the Divine Comedy? Really?

I don’t think the group wants to ban the book entirely, but remove it from schools (still pretty outrageous in my opinion though… like prohibiting Shakespeare from being studied in American or English highschools).

It’s odd that they want to get rid of all three books of the Comedy and not just the Inferno. You would think Purgatory and Paradiso would pass today’s standards for “tolerance”.

It was heartening to see those defending the Comedy, one of whom was a homosexual activist I believe, saying that the “ban” was tolerance run amok. There may be limits to modern tolerance after all.

This isn’t about tolerance run amok—this is part of the ongoing war.

Gerush 92 is affiliated with the UN, which, these days, is run by kleptocrats, and Islamic dictators.

If they ban it from Schools, they will soon be banning it from bookstores, and everywhere else a kid could get their hands on it; after all, it’s for the good of the kiddies, so they won’t all grow up to be crazed bigots (/Sarc.)

(And, really, if kids aren’t allowed to learn about good literature in school, how likely is it that they’re going to pick it up someplace? Especially in today’s kid-lit climate of “Harry Potter conquers the Publishing Industry”, “Twilight Meets Trixie, the Werewolf Hunter” and, “The Money Games” (Soon to be major motion picture!)

And, if they get away banning Dante, they will move on to Shakespeare, Chaucer, Mark Twain (a very politically incorrect writer!) the great poets, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesteron. Because few, if any, really good writers would pass today’s idiot tolerance standards.

And tolerance isn’t what this is about. They don’t care that Dante’s “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso” aren’t intolerant. They’re Christian. That’s what they don’t like about them.

Your assessment of the UN is exactly right Rhinestone. You are also right about their motive–Christianity.

Geert Wilders wants to ban the Koran. I’ve got a really great suggestion, that the government doesn’t ban books at all.

Gert Wilders is one invidual. Gerush 92 is affiliated with the UN, a far-reaching, respected organization. It’s not even a government—it’s a collection of governments, many of them tyrannical, criminal and hostile to the West.

Any suggestions that we ban the Koran, or any attacks against it, such as burnings, are almost universally condemned.

The Koran is not in danger here.

Great Western literature, especially religious Western literatuer, is in danger. Thanks for the kind words, SKay; I’d like to be mistaken about this. I’m afraid I’m not.

And, yes, Love, any arguments alwasy do seem to come down to, “We’re Precious Snowflakes, and you’re not?” (Either that, or “What about the American Indians, huh, huh, huh? What about the Inquisition? What about the Crusades?” Etc., etc., etc., and so on.)

“We are just a few steps away, perilously close to, what always and without fail follows after liberalism gains ascendency: people end up in gas chambers, forced labor camps, gulags and mass graves. Equality has its going price.”

As Pelosi said–pass the bill to find out what is in it–so the Democrats passed it.
We find out today we are now going to be paying for abortion with a $1.00 sur charge–made possible by Obamacare—–

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/14/obamacare-1-abortion-payment-surcharge-upsets-pro-lifers/

I’m sorry, I’m just having trouble viewing this as a real story at all, given how far it is from the thinking of any left-wing or right-wing person I’ve ever encountered. It’s the job of “advisers”, “consultants” and what have you to have implausible ideas that will never be enacted. I can assure you that no one is going to stop me reading whatever I want, certainly not Gerush 92, whoever they are meant to be.

The biggest danger in the western world is that people won’t want to read books or otherwise have their “comfortable” lives based on consumption and debt disrupted.

If they did put this book on the school curriculum, it might save the new generation from having to read “Of Mice and Men” or “An Inspector Calls”, so I’d be all for having it in schools for their sake

Can a good old fashioned “classical library” book burning be far behind? Wouldn’t want the darlings to learn anything in a book written before 2009. Now, would you?

As a huge fan of Dante, I was once called in to pinch-hit a seminar at a night class on the classics out of a local Catholic college. My enthusiasm was nearly as great as my naivete – what kind class on the classics could this be, where the professor needs help with – Dante? Does it get any more classic than Dante?

Needless to say, all the adults working for their degrees at night were diligent, attentive students, some of whom even gave signs of having read the book (not being snotty, here – it’s a tough read, if you know nothing of the background).

BUT – the professor? A friend of a friend who is being paid to teach classics? She just could not get over that Dante put some gays in Hell (and, in Purgatory and Heaven as well – just like the popes in the book!). So, we never even got a chance to talk about the reverent, shocked and sad tones with which Dante
addresses Ser Brunetto, the sodomite Dante speaks with in Hell. His reaction is not homophobia in any rational sense of the word – he obviously loves and respects Brunetto, who was a mentor and honorable Guelf lord and scholar. Rather than hating or fearing him – what seems to be the only allowable emotions for a ‘bigot’ like Dante – he is greatly saddened to think that such a man and such a friend could fall to such a base and debasing sin.

Not that we’d want students to even consider any other way of looking at it than the current received wisdom.

Of course, Valleys. You’ve never encountered anything like this in your circle.

Therefore, it can’t be true. /Sarc.

(And Valleys didn’t like “Of Mice and Men”—hence, no one should read it, I suppose.)

Why so bilious about literature, Valleys?

It might just be a bid for attention—but, if so, why this particular bid? Why aren’t they trying for attention by advocating world literacy, or an end to child marriage? Something really productive? Why go after Western literature?

Given that there have been Moslem complaints about paintings from Dante in an Italian church, showing Mohammed in Hell, and that “Inferno” has been criticized for the same thing (showing Mohammed in Hell) I’m afraid they might be serious about this.

With the UN, one never knows. . .

[Hey, be nice to DV. I likes him. He's always sweet! -admin]

Presumably, because talking about these things doesn’t outrage people and get attention of the kind they want. I don’t know, you’d be better off asking them. Believe it or not, the Directing Intelligences of leftism don’t tell me and every other left-wing person what to think every morning, so I don’t know what they think except to say I can’t imagine it meaning much.

And the whole point of what I was saying is that I think there should be more reading, not less. I didn’t get any particular encouragement at school, so the very least that should happen is that libraries should be well-stocked and it be made known that students should read, even things that aren’t on the syllabus. (But few would, because it wouldn’t get them the right credentials in an exam, so it’s “irrelevant”).

I agree that censors and would-be censors should be resisted, no question of that. I did read The Divine Comedy (not at school), and I appreciated it as literature, though I can’t imagine its theology would be very orthodox.

Only slightly off-topic: I started reading Chesterton’s “Heretics” today. It was as if I was reading current events!

Anchoress: I wonder … why is “Sister Toldjah” still linked? It was a few years ago, but I remember the classic Know Nothing rant – did you ever see it?

Steve, read his “Flying Inn” sometime.

That will really seem contemporary!

Kevin, I totally disagree with your view. Wilders’ “argument” is that if Mein Kampf is banned, which it is in several European countries (not Britain), then the Koran should be banned. But he hasn’t considered the view that neither book should be banned.

What I think is that neither should be banned, and nor should the Divine Comedy. I agree the Koran is a foul thing, but that doesn’t lead to the view that it should be banned. Censorship of this kind is not acceptable, and in the uunlikely case of meeting a Gherush 92 representative, I would tell them this.

They tried to stop Dominic Strauss-Khan speaking because feminists deemed it unacceptable to have a speech by someone who is accused (not convicted) of rape.

It’s quite interesting, actually (with regard to the original post), that the American left (inasmuch as there is one) calls itself liberal, because in Britain that doesn’t happen. A leftist might be anti-authoritarian in social and cultural terms, as I am, but the terrm “liberal” has something closer to its original meaning. The British and German governments are both centre-right and contain liberal parties. Whereas some left-wing people are openly scornful of, for example, civil liberties. I think that is wrong, but I still cal myself a European social democrat, which is a totally different thing to a European liberal. It’s only in America that this confusion takes place, but then America was always different

DV, the Director of Leftist Intelligence don’t need to tell you what to think. It’s in the water. Flouride. Programs your brain. It’s why I drink grain alcohol and rain water.

Regarding the UN, we can’t ban them, but we can opt out and invite them to relocate to the Gaza Strip. After all, the UN owns Gaza. Then all those UN bureaucrats can enjoy what they’ve created on a daily basis.

Also, how can we possibly know that this Secular paper is more reliable than the Telegraph? Could be both papers are unreliable. (And the fact that this paper lashes out with the “Pack of lies” phrase doesn’t say much for impartiality. And, again, whatever the merits or demerits of the British cases they talk about–the fact is, worldwide, Christian persecution is happening.)

LOL, yes, what a great idea for Lent! Read endangered books! Pilgrims Progress, and Paradise Lost are good. Also, Chronicles of Narnia, St. Theresa’s The Interior Castle and anything by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

(And do read Chesterton’s The Flying Inn! Surprisingly contemporary!)

The scary part of some of what I read here is that those in the white house are pretty close to having the same political beliefs as dry valleys.

I could care less what the british press think about anything in America and I believe the worse thing we can have in American leadership are those who are trying to create here the mess they have in europe countries that are little more than tourist attaractions. The only reason they are not all speaking German and burning books and Jews is because America saved them and the only reason they are not speaking Russian is because America kept them safe since WWII. When I think of those countries, the term appeasement comes to mind. When the Muslims come into their countries with their sharia law and other quaint customs from the first century, they bow down and surrender. If we pulled our troops and support from Europe, they would rush to Russian looking for a new mommy. They have lived in a nanny state so long that they do not even remember real freedom. When they see it here in America, they want it stopped as an evil enemy of the secular faith built around tolerance (code word for surrender). But in our own USA, we have had the left crying for us to go down the path to the same end. That is why the left hates the Catholic Church so intensely. They have to destroy a Church that dares to expose its leader, the Prince of Lies. They want a secluar godless state to become god and that god to decide all our rights with no interfecence from words like Creator. The only thing the left might hate worse than the Catholic Church is the actual wording of America’s founding documents that say all our unalienable rights come from our Creator and that put government inside a high wall that prohibits it from having any say or influence on our Religious liberty. The Prince of Lies had to take that line out first and make the wall really around Religious Liberty removing any statement that the government could not establish a religion in case people woke up and realized that a godless secular state was their religion and they were mandating it on everyone else.

Talk about burning books in our schools. Ever take a look what they took out and burned in 1962-63? How about prayer and any and all references in any way to God. They talk about taking out prayer, and many people do not see this as being a big issue if our kids stand up by free choice and say a non denominational prayer. But that is the cover of the Prince and he is good at lies and distortion. When you remove God or religion from schools in America, you have to remove everything including our history or teaching about the Constitution. You have to instead put in a total new subject called social studies and ban things like Washington farewell address or the writings and arguments during our founding that made the proetected religious pillar that which was essential to hold up the roof of our entire government. That opens the door for things like “entitlements” which is kind of like new unalienable rights from the god of government. People, wake up, the left has been burning books for decades while we all slept. have you opened the books used in schools today and tried to find anything that teaches what was taught from out founding until the Prince of Darkenss arrived. No wonder many of those under 50 know nothing different.

Sorry for the long post, but this topic gets to me because I am in my 70′s and still remember a time when we learned key important values in our public schools that were closely linked and tied to our faith because that is how the government was created. If you have seen the movie “its a Wonderful Life” do we not see the kids learning Christmas Carols for the school play, was the children not taught that everytime a bell rings an angel gets their wings. You can watch this movie and see core American values all through it that were first honed in the public schools system where most Americans learned with the Bible a key book in the room and our founders studied and where we learned our rights come from God and the government is not to interfere with those rights. The first book used in many schools to teach children to read had each letter that was the start of a Bible verse and this was used for over 100 years. Yes, they have been burning our heritage and our books and our core beliefs for decades. Love Dante writing, but it is just one more on a long list the left demanded be burned so they could have their godless secular state religion forced on all of us with lies.

@dry valleys, Well, who might be the most disinterested, neutral party? The Telegraph or The National Secular Society? Hmmmm…..

I joke of course, and there’s every possibility that the story was enhanced to sell newspapers, and I don’t have enough info to controvert the situation of the nurse who could have worn a non-dangling cross and chose not to, but the situation with the BA employee seems questionable for two reasons: One, if the BA uniform is inviolable, and wearing jewelry violates the uniform, are BA employees required to remove wedding rings? They seem as equal an “addition” to the uniform as a necklace. Secondly, the allegation that she’s a difficult employee who pushes her religion on others is irrelevant. Making her remove her cross necklace won’t change the other behaviors. Just because a person is difficult doesn’t mean that they don’t have rights.