Really long. Sprawling.

                So recently (just today actually) I reread one of my favorite books “Fly by night” by Frances Hardinge. This robust tale is filled with mystery, adventure, intrigue (lots of it!), comedy and tragedy. One might say, “That’s a lot to stuff in a book.” yet the author still manages to get across several extremely thought provoking morals. In the book Mosca Mye is forced to leave her mean uncle and aunt and become a fugitive, with her pet goose.  She meets a down on his luck, shifty, crafty, poet named Clent and the two strike up an uneasy relationship. They travel to a city with an unstable duke, warring guilds, and a dark secret.  

                One of the major themes of the book is the freedom of press. Masca’s father was a major supporter of freedom of press, but after a religious cult called “The Birdcatchers” took over by way of written propaganda and killed thousands of non believers, the people of the Relm generally agree that books should only be written by a select few.  Those select few are part of the Stationer guild, which fear other people’s books because of the power they have over the masses.

                Obviously as a firm believer of the first amendment my first reaction was one of distaste for the crushing of opinion. But as I kept reading the argument got a little more interesting, so I turned to history for good examples. In history written word has always been powerful. In the American revolution newspapers played a key role, keeping states informed about other states doings and raising public outcry. Thomas Paine’s book “Common Sense” was influential to many.  Hitler’s terrible rise to power was partially fueled by Mien Kamf, his autobiography. It played a major part in the propaganda that surrounded him. On the flip side, after his rise to power Hitler order any piece of literature by a Jewish author to be burned.  

                In modern day you see examples not with written word, but with typed word on the internet. Mubarak, the ex-president of Egypt saw how powerful this was and turned the internet off for days. So obviously the ability to write freely is an extremely powerful one, but is it too powerful? Can it convince people to do awful, awful things like the Birdcatchers did?

                I think we need to look deeper into the problem. In the end, Mosca says “If I told people what to believe, they’d stop thinking. And then they’d be even easier to lie to.” The problem is the people. There are always week minded people, who rely on others to think. If we teach people to think for themselves, words would be less dangerous, and therefore would be allowed for all to use.