The Subject That Cannot Be Discussed

A Nazi book-burning — In this 10 May 1933 German book-burning on the Opernplatz (today the Bebelplatz) in Berlin, directly adjacent to the prestigious Humboldt-Universität, the forerunners of many of today’s activists responded vigorously and very righteously to ideas that they didn’t share. Among the roughly 20,000 books burned on this particular occasion were works by Heinrich Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Erich Kästner, Karl Marx, and Albert Einstein.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Here are some of the publications of the late Dr. Joseph Nicolosi (1947-2017), a prominent advocate of the controversial practice of “reparative therapy” or “conversion therapy” that, he said, could mitigate or even eliminate same-sex attraction and replace it with heterosexual desires:

Nicolosi, Joseph (1991). Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach. Jason Aronson, Inc. ISBN 0-87668-545-9.
Nicolosi, Joseph (1993). Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy. Jason Aronson, Inc. ISBN 0-7657-0144-8.
Nicolosi, Joseph; Byrd, A. Dean; Potts, Richard W. (June 2000). “Retrospective self-reports of changes in homosexual orientation: A consumer survey of conversion therapy clients”. 86. Psychological Reports: 1071–1088.
Nicolosi, Joseph (2002). “A meta-analytic review of treatment of homosexuality”. Psychological Reports. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
Nicolosi, Joseph & Nicolosi, Linda Ames (2002). A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-8308-2379-4.
Nicolosi, Joseph (2002). “A critique of Bem’s “exotic becomes erotic” theory of sexual orientation development”. Psychological Reports. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
Nicolosi, Joseph (2008). “Clients’ perceptions of how reorientation therapy and self-help can promote changes in sexual orientation”. Psychological Reports. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
Nicolosi, Joseph (2009). Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy. InterVarsity Press
Nicolosi, Joseph (2017). A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, revised edition. Liberal Mind Publishers

On 2 July 2019, the book retailer Amazon.com evidently removed Nicolosi’s books from their catalog, responding to a Change.org petition requesting that they do so.

However, Amazon.com continues to carry various editions and translations of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

It carries English translations of the 1938 textbook History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course, allegedly by no less a personage than the great Joseph Stalin himself.

Are you interested in the anti-Semitic classics The Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion, The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem: The Complete 4 Volumes (by Henry Ford), On the Jews and Their Lies (by Dr. Martin Luther), and The Talmud Unmasked: The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians (by I. B. Pranaitis)? They’re all available through Amazon.com.

Would you like to study the SS Leadership Guide? You can find it on Amazon.com.

But you evidently can’t get anything by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.

I don’t call attention to this fact because I’m a devotee of “conversion therapy.” I’m not. I know very little about the subject, but I understand that it’s widely thought to be ineffective (and, of course, in some circles, immoral).

I notice it because I really, strongly, passionately believe in the free exchange of ideas.

There’s a famous saying, attributed to various people over the years, that comes to mind in this context:

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize”

The subject that cannot be discussed