How to commit the perfect murder, syndicated from @JeanNicole19 #mystery
Sometimes I sit alone in a dark room and I wonder how to commit the perfect murder…not really (in most of my down time I think about cupcakes, shopping lists and how to avoid my personal trainer), but for the sake of this blog, let’s just say that I do contemplate how to commit the perfect murder. Many years ago I would have had to look at old criminal case files, talk to detectives and police officers, use two or three tablets of paper for planning, but no more. Today I can go to my computer, type the phrase into my search bar and up pops a book telling me exactly what I need to know. It’s there; the question is, should it be?
Books that detail adverse or illegal actions should not be banned or censored simply because they do so.
It’s not against the law to write about adverse or illegal things. I have a right to read whatever I please so long as it does not violate the rights of others and me reading words on a page does not violate the rights of anyone.
There are many reasons, other than planning to commit a crime, that I could be reading such a book. A book on how to highjack a plane may come in handy if I am writing a fast paced thriller about a retired FBI agent forced to return to the deadly occupation he had grown to despise when a plane that he is on is suddenly taken over by terrorists (I’m not, feel free to run with that.). I may want a book on how to commit the perfect murder if I was a woman in a soured marriage to an ingenious and ruthless man and I want to be vigilant in my own protection.
Books do not make people do bad things; people do bad things because they want to do bad things. Sure, sometimes books are used as a tool for these actions but that does not mean that the book should be banned any more than scissors should be banned because someone uses them to commit a crime or any more than bridges should be banned because people jump off of them.
The censorship or banning of books is not a noble deed done by the forces that be to rescue people from the evil of others, it is a misguided act that works to strip people of one of their most valuable assets, education. By using the censorship or banning of books to solve problems as a society we aim only to treat the symptoms of a problem and ignore the search for a cure.
Violence begins not with words pages but with images in mirrors. Ultimately, the banning and censorship of books will not save you from the evil of anyone else, for where there is an evil will, there is an evil way, but it may keep you from saving yourself.
