Here are a few bits and bobs from my wide ranging thoughts. It's somewhat of a roller coaster inside my mind folks.
First off, censorship. NO. In a word, NO.
Censors, step away from Dr. Seuss, Step away from Miss Piggy. Step away from Pepe Le Pew. You are damaging freedom of expression. Publishers don't decide to drop books from your publishing house because of possibly offensive content, that people want to buy. Not only is that self-censorship but it prevents readers from buying the books they may want. I hope dropping certain Dr. Seuss books is not the beginning of a trend of publishers dropping books because the book may offend someone, or may have unpopular ideas.
And Amazon, stop your new censorship of books, by you refusing to carry certain books. You are a mighty and powerful seller of books, you may sell more than half of all books sold worldwide. I didn't look up the numbers but you know it is huge. You may refuse to sell three books today, three hundred books next year and three thousand books the year after, hurting their sales due to your personal likes and dislikes. See, I told you it's a roller coaster.
I am a freedom fighter in my own way. Being a librarian and writer words are precious to me. If you do not defend words you don't like then you are not a supporter of freedom of speech.
Bounce waits at window when I tell him someone he loves is coming over. The card is from a friend and is a quote from Cicero that says If you have a garden and a library you have all you need. That card suits me to a T, she knows me. Though I would add "if you have family, friends and Jesus" to that list.
"Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." The list of full armor of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-19.
Priscilla Shirer wrote a wonderful book about this, "The Armor of God." See her photo below, she has written many excellent books and starred in the movie "The War Room." She is a beautiful warrior for Christ and a leader for women.
33 comments:
The blossoms on your plum tree are so pretty. The birds have always peck at my figs like that. I'm willing to share but really birds?! It's so adorable that Bounce waits and watches out the window when someone he loves is coming over. He must be a very smart boy. Have a fantastic weekend!
Good Morning Terra ~ I'm getting anxious to get back to blogging after my break. I so enjoyed your post today, as we are so on the same page. The daughter of my heart (my son's wife) is a librarian. She too would say AMEN to your post.
I love a garden, but just don't have place for on in our unit or balcony..haha. But love my memories of growing up with a huge garden, chickens and eggs and lots of fruit trees and berry vines.
Have a great day!
No one "banned" Dr Suess. He created a board of trustees (people who he respected and expected to make good decisions) to curate his works. His own daughter is on the board he created. The renewal contract for publishing rights came up. The board decided not to renew publishing rights for six of his books that pictured drawings that are racists (acknowledged and acceptable to be racist at the time they were drawn). They renewed the publishing rights to the remainder of his sixty + books will continue to be reissued. Existing copies of the six books are not banned in anyway. No one is being silenced in this instance.
You are exactly right about freedom of speech and the inherent problems of censorship. I grew up believing that freedom of speech requires a person to vigorously defend the words they disagree with in order to protect their own right to speak freely. What Amazon is doing shocks and saddens me. This whole "cancel culture" thing just needs to go away before anymore damage is done to our freedom to speak our thoughts out loud. It is time to fight back.
The whole thing about Dr. Seuss, Pepe Le Pew and whoever else makes me crazy. These have been around forever and were never a problem. Now they want to ban them but they dub the most filthy, disgusting rap song I've ever heard as best song of 2020. That's just insane.
Words are precious to me too and who knows where it will end once censorship begins.
Yes to your post! I agree on the censorship thing.
Your plum blossoms are so pretty!
I really like Priscilla Shirer too, I did a study on her Armor of God book. Very good!
A great Post, dear Terra! Freedom for words and opinions is very important. I agree with you!
What beautiful plum-blossom!
I really appreciate these words in the holy Bible about the weapons against the dark energy. Strong and wonderful and true words , I have some experiences here - - -
O yes, this is fine, what you say about what a soul must have to have a fullfilled life.
And if you have NOTHING and just you have JESUS, you have all you need, because He ist the LOVE - -
But I really need a garden, books, family AND Jesus!
Many greetings and blessings in this speial spiritual time from Dori from the Bavarian forest!
I agree with almost all of the comments today. Censorship is awful. There is nothing that will be allowed unless it follows the politically correct path. Our freedoms, more than just speech, are falling away rapidly.
We all need to put on the Armor of God and fight the good fight until Jesus returns or we're called home.
Otherwise we may wake up and find that they've taken away our right to worship Him too. And no, I don NOT think I'm over-reacting to the current climate in our country.
Blessings,
Betsy
Bounce is precious!
I remember as a kid walking home seeing trees covered with a net. I was told, to keep birds from eating fruit.
This was such a good blog to read and to see your stuff. That card with the citat, how I love it. Your blossom is amazing. I am waithing for my pink blossom. I think next week ...
Quote: Wherever God Has Planted You, Blossom.
my mind is a pandemic induced roller coaster on most things and runs away with me a lot.. Bounce looks so sweet waiting on a friend and books are first on my list and have always been my entire life.. Mother and I used to hit the library like clockwork every 2 weeks and both get as many books as allowed and we always finished all of them and went back two weeks later. I still average at least 2 books a week and sometime 3. being outdoors with plants and trees is a close second
Hi Terra~
I loved every word of this post, such truth!
We had two inches of snow on the ground yesterday, so I don't think we will be getting blossoms anytime soon...I loved seeing yours!
Putting on the, Whole Armor of God, is essential in today's world. We must all protect ourselves, our families, friends and our religious beliefs and freedoms. Being clothed in the Word of God, is so important.
God, family, faith, garden, books...all so important in my life!
Blessings,
Barb
We share a love of books...old and new! Thanks for writing this and standing up for what we believe! Hugs!
Agree, ban censorship. No excuses.
Your post reminded me of a poem I once wrote (and I'm no poet). It went something like this:
"Give me a garden... and a cat
Beauty and quiet tranquility
Add a favorite book... and a cup of tea
These are the wonders of the world
...To me."
Truth my friend. Great post. What are we becoming in this country?!!!!
Love a good book and a wonderful garden space to read. Heaven!
Have a good weekend.
xoxo
Kris
I enjoyed this post and agree with all you've said. My little plum tree has a couple of blooms this year, for the first time.
Great post with varied subjects. Thanx.
God bless.
The blossoms on the tree as so pretty. A pretty crazy world we are living in now a days! Great Bible verse!!
I fear our plum tree is headed for the chop this year. We have waited and waited for it to fruit but the best it's done is two plums.
I was thinking about Gone with the Wind this morning. I don't see how we can censor books written of a time when whatever customs ruled. (I don't think that sentence makes sense!) We need to be aware and also that things have and are changing all the time.
I love the picture of Bounce waiting and looking out the window! I agree with you about censorship, it is wrong. Take care my friend!
What a good post -- and beautiful tree. Yes, the censorship is getting a tad out of hand. I think sometimes it MAY be called for -- or at least with advisory. But it's been too much of late.
I agree with what Miss Merry said. I agree to an extent about censorship but with the proliferation of misinformation we had white supremacists storming the U.S. Capitol. People died. Hate proliferates with misinformation that is broadcast across the Internet. So yes, I agree about censorship... but its not all black and white.
You are right about censorship. While outright ban or censorship is never a good idea, a more practical approach would be to regulate exposure of such works in the public domains.
The plum blossoms so are so lovely :-)
Take care.
Amen, sister. We live in terrifying times. All that is good, is called bad -- and vie versa. Truly the end times. Keep your eye upon the eastern sky. Happy Easter! xoxo
Censorship is getting to be out of control. I never thought Dr. Seuss would need to be censored.
I agree wholeheartedly about censorship! ~Andrea xoxo
Censorship... NO!
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Bingo on censorship! We are big people not children...we will decide on our own. Point out issues in media that may be inappropriate, even Dr S. but no to censorship
I completely agree with you about censorship. Are we going to burn books next?
A garden and a library - yes!!! I would also add family and friends. And health.
I totally agree. This whole censorship and cancel culture thing has gone too far. We need to stand strong and not allow these bullies to keep pushing us around. Yes, we need to have on our Full Armor of God...because they are definitely coming after Christians now as well...It is time to pray and then stand, fully guarded by God's Holy Spirit...and stand strong in faith. Thank you for this post.
I love that book cover; it's so pretty.
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