In the course of discussing multiple threads of events pertinent to our lives, my wife and I concluded that we should collect some crucial books for a future gift. The details of that discussion seemed to resonate with me on two levels: first the memory of significant meaning that I derived from specific books, especially when I was quite young, and then a consideration of the uncertain future for the existence of books now under attack by the cancel culture progressive left. The conversations helped me connect a few dots to see that it’s entirely possible that we could witness a mass purge of books if the radical woke left prevails over publishers, sellers, and libraries. In the same way that scientists have gathered, stored, and protected an archive of seeds against some global cataclysm, I can envision a similar need to gather and preserve books to protect against a metaphorical mass ‘book burning’ that could easily happen in our lifetime. Think of it as intellectual ‘prepping.’
There are multiple threats to books that represent the base and memory of our past and present values. The first is a growing threat that important books will be cancelled or ‘updated’ to fit only progressive orthodoxy. I’m not talking about congressman So-and-So’s book of an urgent warning to save America. These are a dime a dozen. We learned this week that Orwell’s 1984 will be redone from the perspective of a female. Maybe that will be fine and illuminating, but we all have every reason to fear that it will be twisted to mute the urgent message of technological totalitarianism foreseen by Orwell. If that occurs, a prophet will have been silenced. We could then expect original versions to become hard to find. Schools will recommend the latter version and ignore the original until it is no more.
Another threat to books is the digital revolution. While digitation brings many efficiencies to reading and is essential to book preservation, it may also become a tool of the state and its corporate accomplices to bring about mass regulation of texts. Once we’re fully dependent on digital consumption of books – and especially digital distribution by megaliths like Amazon – all it takes to cancel a book is a flip of a switch of code. We should never allow ourselves full digital dependency.
To prevent this from becoming an all-or-nothing, crazy backwoods reaction, I’d suggest a well-scaled response. First, take care of whatever personal library you have. Keep your most crucial books safe and pass them on to trusted new owners when that time comes. Personal annotations in the books will add value to the task.
Second, make it a personal mission to keep or acquire the ten most important books to you that reflect your spiritual and civic values. As a bonus, you may also expand that list to include other works that you know to be important to the next generation, even if it isn’t your preferred reading. This would include the ‘classics.’ This may become especially important for children’s books. The progressives really are coming for our children, and even if they don’t outright ban certain traditional children’s favorites, they will open the floodgates of new books with content calculated to overwhelm and indoctrinate your children. Children will read, and it’s up to us to make sure they have the books that will form their character. As conservatives, we must prioritize preserving the written heritage of intellectual freedom.