Buying books in print form has been dying out for a few years now. More and more of the big bookstores have closed their doors. I remember being on a flight about 10 years ago and a person near me was using an e-reader. I wasn’t sure what I thought about it at the time but I have since had two of them. Its convenient to get a book immediately instead of waiting until the next trip to the bookstore or even waiting for an online order to be delivered. They work great in the car for long trips or vacations where you don’t want to lug around a bunch of books.
But, times have radically changed. The so-called Cancel Culture has emerged. Everything that doesn’t fit the narrative is pressured to change or simply be eliminated. Anything electronic is subject to change without your permission. I recall a couple of years ago, when the anti-gun advocates succeeded in having the emojis on iphones that depicted a pistol to be changed to a squirt gun. I can clearly say I never used the pistol emoji, but the fact that my phone could be so easily manipulated struck me as a sign of “Big Brother”. Of course, our smart phones are constantly monitoring our actions and words. From ads for things we may have looked at on the internet to our phone predicting where we are going and how long it will take to get there. Recently, I was speaking out loud about timing something for 4 minutes. I looked down at my Apple watch and the timer was running and counting down from 4 minutes. I hadn’t used the timer before that and hadn’t really looked into how to even use it. But there it was, timing away without my doing anything.
So, if tech companies can change our electronics at any time, what is stopping the Cancel Culture from deleting entire books from our e-readers? Modern book burning will not need to gather books from individuals. Any books that may contain “offensive” language or behaviors deemed by others can be eliminated electronically. Books that contain their interpretation of “hate speech” can be deleted. I would wager that the Bible will soon be on this list since it contains many instances describing the current culture’s group interpretation of Hate or Intolerance.
The Catholic faith is erroneously described as full of hate and intolerance from out of context quotes from the Bible and the Catechism to false beliefs about historical events like the Crusades. It doesn’t seem like anyone is really interested in researching history and finding out the truth. Just the slogan of the day is all it takes to attack and destroy anything deemed against their beliefs. There is no room for discussion or acceptance.
I am personally buying copies of many of the classics, history books and of course, books on the Saints and the Church so I can pass down to my children and grandchildren the truth.
