As much as freedom-loving people recognize government censorship of media is generally a bad thing, sometimes censorship is a good thing for society. One such extreme case will rear its head next year as a previously-banned book will exit copyright protection.
In 2015, we had “new’ books by Harper Lee and Dr. Suess. In 2016, Meine Kampf by Adolf Hitler enters the Public Domain.
It has been illegal to publish in Germany for decades, but next year, it remains to be seen if a German version will be made available legally. With the fear and worry caused to Germans and Europeans because of the recent refugee influx and terrorist attacks, Adolph’s book might find a new life.
Sometimes freedom allows the pendulum to swing wide and protect not only virtuous things but also something downright evil to be published and spread.
Of course, Christian authors have a higher standard than copyright and censorship laws. We have a filter for our tongues and keyboards that puts Philippians 4:8 as the gold-standard, seeking to write what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise.
Frankly, those who don’t use those filters can end up writing just about anything.
The apostles Peter and Paul wrote quite a number of good things from prison that help people worldwide live out their faith two thousand years later.
Adolph Hitler wrote Meine Kampf from prison, but history teaches the Austrian corporal should have been kept in there a lot longer, as in a “throw away the key” length of time.
Adolph wasn’t stupid, he was just evil and pragmatic, a dangerous combination for sure. Some of his quotes from Meine Kampf might even be applicable, acceptable and even reasonable today, which makes it more dangerous.
English translations, quoting from the original German edition:
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
“Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”
“What luck for rulers that men do not think.”
“Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat.”
“Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.”
“It is not truth that matters, but victory.”
“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”
“Words build bridges into unexplored regions.”
“Reading is not an end to itself, but a means to an end.”
“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”
“Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.”
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. ”
“The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”
“To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”
Unfortunately, Hitler was not entirely wrong on everything, which shows how lies and falsehood can be accepted, if packaged with just enough truth to make sense and enough literary spice to make it readable.
Authors and publishers, this is a complicated world we are publishing into. Remember the audience. Protect their hearts and minds with what you write and publish.
We’ll need it even more in 2016.
Five Things that Changed the Publishing World
Reads like the play book of not a few American politicians.
Thanks for reminding us about our audience. I like your challenge to protect our readers hearts and minds.
It’s important to be reminded of the Good News when we’re bombarded with horrible events daily.
It would serve us all well to revisit the definitions of the words “demagogue” and “dictator”……we must not let history repeat itself.
Inspired post, Dan.
Golly Dan, looks a lot like satan is recycling those ideas from 1925 and 1926 with a new generation some 90 years later. This has been going on since the beginning of time. Which of those evil statements DO NOT reflect what is being spewed out today, my answer is NONE. Those same evil messages, sometimes quite literally, or in one disguised form or another, can be heard today once again emanating from the highest levels.
This is why Our Father aptly calls satan “the great deceiver”. People of the Kingdom, under leadership of Our Father, in many different ways, can be called upon once again to play a part in defeating this latest onslaught of evil. Woe is on the way. I am very happy to see brother Dan in there swinging and “rallying the troops” (as in Christian soldiers). You are not alone!
Dan, it’s scary how some of those quotes sound good, when taken out of their original context.
Thank you for the reminder to write with God’s filter over my words, so that the words I share may protect my readers’ hearts and minds.
In light of the current call for stricter gun control laws from states who already have strong restrictions, this quote of Hitler’s is especially chilling… “To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”
The essentials of pragmatism, Dan. Chilling, but I believe many politicians and many other pragmatists today tacitly accept those premises as acceptable or even desirable standards for the operation of the government and the conduct of their lives, even if they don’t openly espouse them. We Christians tend to ascribe the same values we hold to others who appear to be of good will; but I’m afraid that actually, the values of pragmatism that Hitler elucidated so clearly, are the ones that are too often in operation. I think we all would be wise to guard against being blind to them and even more so to the insidious “trickle down effect” in our own lives. Chilling, indeed.
l
A good warning Dan. We do have two huge advantages to Hitler’s book now — we know the social conditions which let those ideas take root and we know the ends to which Hitler’s ideas led. I should hope that if it is republished, it will serve as a warning to all that promising words can be twisted and any cures to social ills can be made to seem beneficial. Be it Hitler or Stalin.
We must always be on our guard to limit men’s power over other men, and to hold all political goals up against God’s standards. While man’s godless nature is given towards evil, that risk grows when we forget our history. If I had my way, every future copy of Mein Kampf would have a graphic picture of Auschwitz, Dachau or Treblinka on the front cover, with a watermark “Never Again”.
Dan, I think that first one has made its way into the American belief system—in politics, certainly, perhaps in the media, too, though I’ve heard it repeated as a counter to some of the false stuff that gets put out on social media.
I can think of more than one politician who seems to have adopted “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”
The thing about standing for the freedom for books such as this to be published is of course the need we have to remain free to publish our books too. If one is banned, who’s to say ours won’t be the next in line to be banned.
Becky
The quotes are indeed chilling, and some could have been ripped from yesterday’s headlines. (And by ‘yesterday’, I mean ‘yesterday’ in a literal sense.)
Your sobering words at the close of this post bear reflection. “Protect their hearts and minds with what you write and publish” doesn’t mean to sugar-coat or buffer my words as a writer, but instead challenges me to ensure I’m pointing my readers toward Jesus, who is our safe place, with words of truth, beauty, and love. Thanks for this.
P.S. – I hope there won’t be a new release of this toxic book in German next year, but I’m not too optimistic on that account.
Honestly Dan,
I think if anyone puts out a new printing of Meine Kampf, it will be met with a big yawn. I remember trying to read it about twenty years ago. A tough read. Didn’t finish.
My point is, the basic concepts expressed will sound clumsy and old fashioned to the modern reader. There are groups and individuals who have expressed those same sentiments much more clearly, and by that, maybe I should say in a more cunning manner.
People are different now. Hitler would have to run to catch up with the morally bankrupt practices prevalent today.
What would ole’ Adolf think of the video games our kids play. The violence and depravity that passes before our children’s eyes on a daily basis makes the Hitler Youth look like Girl Scouts selling cookies.
You know that band that was in concert in France when the terrorists hit? They call themselves The Eagles of Death Metal. Go check out the lyrics of their songs. They are not pleasant.
I don’t remember anyone in the coverage on TV mentioning that.
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