Book Banning Backfires

Book banning has occurred for centuries. The Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang had 460 Confucian scholars buried alive (259 BC to 210 BC) because he disagreed with Confucianism. The great philosopher Plato didn’t want the youth of Greece to read Homer’s “Odyssey” because he didn’t want their minds corrupted with vices. In 35 AD, Roman Emperor Caligula didn’t want the populace to read the “Odyssey” because he feared it would give people notions about being free to do as they wanted. At least Caligula didn’t execute them. Thomas Morton’s “New English Canaan” (1637) was banned by the Puritans because Morton criticized the Puritan way of life. Morton was also friendly to the Native Americans, which contradicted the Puritan attitude. Not only was Morton’s book banned, he was banned from Massac…