4 out of 4 stars
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After reading The Banned Book About Love by Scott M. Hughes I can fully understand the backlash that was received in the days after the book went live with the original title: I Love Brock Turner. People are reactionary, and they don’t even bother trying to understand what something is before they make judgments about it. That is what happened to this book, and it was banned on Amazon after only a short amount of time.
I’ve heard a lot of people claim that the increased use of social media will make the population better educated and bring people together, but the reality is not even close: we live in a post truth society where social media helps spread lies and unite people behind common, if incorrect, beliefs. A pizza place was shot up because someone didn’t understand that the sex ring he read about on his ‘news’ website was the figment of another man’s imagination, and it seems that our own echo chambers are further isolating us despite bridging the gaps between people.
This book was attacked simply because people assumed they knew what it was about. They heard from others and assumed and never bothered to correct their opinions by judging it for themselves. This sort of thing has happened before, such as with books like Heart of Darkness being assumed to deliver one message while actually having another. But, the difference is that now the sheer scale and speed with which ignorance and hate can spread through society is insane.
But, I’m not here to discuss the reaction to the book, but rather the book itself. Ironically, this book was almost prophetic in its descriptions of hateful backlash, through lacking anticipation that it could happen to itself.
The book starts with several provocative claims about loving Brock Turner. On its face, these could seem rather ridiculous or intentionally inflammatory, but the author has a totally separate agenda with this claim: the idea is that it is important to love everyone, no matter who they are, and we should be a culture of love and not hate. People hated that Brock Turner got off with a slap on the wrist for his crimes, but isn’t it more important that we try to fix people and help them be productive members of society rather than simply demanding harsher punishments?
A thing my grandfather always said to me was: “I love everyone and hate those that don’t,” as a tongue-in-cheek joke. Essentially, by this logic, you couldn’t possibly love anyone, because everyone dislikes somebody, and that is a similar message to what this book is trying to deliver. Love is hard, but it must be unconditional, or else it is merely a shell of itself. This work is about the idea that hate is easier than love, and that rather than our culture focusing on the newest scapegoat of popular opinion, we should focus on making things better, rehabilitating people, feeding the poor, and spend our time and energy on better, albeit more difficult, tasks.
One thing in this work really stuck with me, and the author even repeats it at the end of the work: “Hate is the tl;dr of politics, policy, and social decision-making.” This is true on many different levels, and it embodies our current culture. Reactionary politics, journalism that is closer to sensationalism, and our preoccupation with negative interactions on the web and in real life has become a norm for us. Hate and prejudice have become the norm, rather than the exception, and this book tried to bring this idea into the light and make it a reality.
“Love is like an alcoholic trying to go a whole lifetime without drinking. Hate is as simple as taking a sip. Love is like trying to keep a diet before beach season. Hate is like eating a delicious piece of warm cake sitting in front of you.” We revel in our hatred, and it is time for people to stand up and fight to do what is right. We need to stop taking the easy path, and we need to start living up to the calls to actions like this book. It is time for us to actually take life into our own hands.
I give this book a solid 4 out of 4 rating because of what it tried to do and the positive message it tried to deliver. It is clear that the author put a lot of work into crafting this message, making it short and succinct. He attempted to make it provocative, but succeeded a little too-well with the original title to the point that most people never even managed to get involved or discover the content. If people actually took the time to discern what this book was about, they would certainly have given it more credit and it wouldn’t have been banned, but this book fell prey to the very problems it addressed, which speaks volumes to just how bad the problem has gotten in modern society. Too many people want to take the easy way out and just dip eagerly into the pool of hatred, and that is proven completely by the reception to this book without anyone actually understanding what it is.
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The Banned Book about Love
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