Fear of books from sane, naive censor – ‘Sales jump’

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The owner of a bookstore recently told that the sales of books has fallen to a point, that he is now contemplating of getting rid of all the books and concentrate on the sale of just the stationery, pornography and books of religious nature because they are popular in any society and people have no time to read other serious material.

As he continued complaining, he pulled out from his office drawer a list of books that he had sold in large quantities, not only to individuals, but to religious associations, called charities, which often times buy such books in bulk.

Some of these ‘charities’, according to him, even requested him to prepare the books for shipping overseas, although he did not know the destination. Nevertheless, he was paid for his effort without delay.

I have taken a photo of the list to see the books which were in demand recently. The titles of these books indicate the level of understanding and the culture of these books importing country and I was really shocked about our tragic situation. The following are the titles of some of these books:

‘Condition of the dead inside the graves’, ‘Guide of Souls in Countries of joy’, ‘Heavenly treatment for magic’ (this is one of the best sellers), ‘The perfect expression when entering bathroom’, ‘Preparedness for death and question in the grave’, ‘The mysteries and peculiarities in the world of jinn’, ‘The sciences and religions in the world of mankind and jinn’, ‘The interpretation of dreams’ (and this also was and still is a best seller), ‘The horrors of Repentance on Judgment Day’, “The Horrors of Graves’ and many others the titles of which can leave a person shell-shocked.

I write this in the light of what happened before and during the last book exhibition and the confiscation of dozens of books and refusing to give permission to hundreds of other authors to display their works because those who have the last say in the display of these books at the book exhibition think these books will endanger the minds of citizens and residents in Kuwait.

A majority of the books that call for reason and enlightenment did not destroy the morals or the minds of other peoples that have been printed and published and read all over. Why this fear in the minds of our (backward) people, who inevitably will not fall deeper in the pit of backwardness if they read some trivial books.

The Internet offers all forbidden material (books) which can be downloaded free of charge, without bothering about the fear from a sane or ignorant censor. By the way the more we prevent such books, the bigger is the sale.

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By Ahmad Al Sarraf

This news has been read 6617 times!