"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship."Emphasis mine.
Remarks at the Dartmouth College Commencement Exercises, Hanover, New Hampshire, 6/14/53
Do you think Ike would have found this to offend his ideas of decency?
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| Whatever. Dwight Eisenhower couldn't have been a real American because he wasn't for utterly unfettered free speech. He probably would have been called a coward like all the other people who won't republish porn images of religious icons. |
Interesting quote.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways to read it. Though he uses the pronouns clumsily, it could certainly be read as recommending only self-censorship using one's own judgment.
"Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency..." to me emphasizes personal responsibility in selection of reading material, not imposition of one's own values on others.