Irrational Fears

Playing on our fears is a favorite tactic of the Far Right. This May 31, 2005 story appeared in a conservative weekly, and listed what was called "The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries." The judges (14 men and 1 woman, Phyllis Schlafly) were labeled as scholars and public policy leaders. I prefer "thought police." The article even scored the books in order of degree of agreement amongst the judges on the author's place in history. Such "scores" tend to give an air of academic standing to such an article, but that is just another of the tricks of the conservative fear-mongering trade.
I can understand that the writings of Mao, Marx, and Hitler might be characterized as harmful. But how on earth could they put Alfred Kinsey, John Dewey, Betty Friedan and John Meynard Keynes in that same category?! And I may or may not like or agree with elements of Nietzsche or August Comte, but would their thoughts HARM me or anyone else? I think not.
Making "honorable mention" on the list included such stalwart authors as Paul Erlich, John Stuart Mill, B. F. Skinner, Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, Ralph Nader, Simone de Beauvoir, Rachel Carson, and Sigmund Freud. Really!
A literary blog, "Maude Newton," links to a good rebuttal for this story on "dangerous" books. I was surprised that a Book Burning was not scheduled as a follow-up event to the "Ten Most . . ." article. I encourage y'all to pursue these links. You might be as astonished as I am.