Re: 25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned

jerryfriedman wrote:

On Fri, 21 Feb 2025 9:31:08 +0000, J. J. Lodder wrote:
 

Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>

On Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:25:03 +0100, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
Lodder) wrote:
>

Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> wrote:
>

 Ar an cúigiú lá déag de mí Feabhra, scríobh J. J. Lodder:
>
 > D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
 >
 > > On Wed, 12 Feb 2025, Judith Latham wrote:
 > >
 > > > Below are 25 of the most popular works of literature from the
last
 > > > century that have been banned from schools, libraries, and, in
some
 > > > cases, entire countries. [...]
 > > > To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 > >
 > > Boring!
 >
 > And thoroughly American-nasty.
 > The idea that it is allright to kill any bird for any reason,
 > because you happen to feel that way, or just for target practice
 > put me off whatever else the book is trying to say.
 > Excepting Mockingbirds doesn't make it any better,
>
There's nothing specifically American about hunting.

>
Of course not, it goes back in our ancestors for millions of years.
And the chimps also do it.
What seems to be particular about the American way of hunting
is the mass-murder aspect it may have,
like in senselessly killing of herds of bison, or flocks of pigeons.
This is more like a few wolves killing off whole herds of sheep,
or school shooters killing all they can hit,
for no other reason than that they can.

>
The USA (or predecessor colonies) took out the buffalo (well, nearly)
and the passenger pigeon (permanently), but the DoDo and others were
the responsibility of others.

>
The predecessor colonies had nothing to do with it,
as it is all in the 19th century.
As for the Dodo, Wikip denies that hunting was the main reason
for them going extinct.
>

IOW, this is /not/ "particular about Americans". At least, not when
historical events are listed.

>
Perhaps,
but I'm not aware of non-American prey species extinction
by massive hunting.

 That's widely considered to be what happened to the
moas in New Zealand.  The Great Auk was hunted to
extinction, mostly for its down, in Europe and North
America, though the last colony (near Iceland) was
wiped out for museum specimens, according to
Wikipedia.
 The places to look for other examples would be islands.
 

OTOH, the USA did it deliberately,
as part of scorched earth tactics.
<https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-happened-to-the-bison.htm>
It was ecocide as a means for ethnical cleansing.
Hunting for fun, or food, or even leather had little to do with it.

..
 It seems to me that I've heard of one or two
similar examples, but I can't think of any, so
maybe not.

Exterminating the animals on which a pastoral foe depends on has a long history.  It was done, e.g. in Ireland in the late 1500s.  Of course, with  trains and better guns it became easier.
As A. L. Rowse frequently noted, events which took place in North America were often foreshadowed in Ireland.
William Hyde