Books can be immensely powerful. The ideas in them can change the way people think. Yet it was the Nazis and Stalin's officers who committed terrible crimes, and not Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto - and of course, the Manifesto contained many key ideas that are still relevant and important today, long after Stalin has gone. There is a crucial distinction between the book and its effect - it's crucial because if you talk about a book being harmful rather than its effect you begin to legitimise censorship. Abhorrent ideas need to be challenged by better ones, not banned.John Farndon
About This Quote
This quote by J. K. Rowling is an interesting thought experiment in the way she frames her own opinion. As she points out, it is not necessarily the ideas themselves that are dangerous, especially if they are valid ideas, but the fact that people are willing to follow them. The Nazis had many books, but it was their actions that caused crimes of the most horrible kind - the Holocaust.
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