The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings

From the Observer:

Like every kid, I was forced to read Fahrenheit 451 in high school. If you’d asked me what it was about before last week, I would have told you: “Firemen who burn books.” 

And if you’d asked me why on earth they did that, I would have answered just as confidently: “Because a tyrannical government wanted them to.” 

There is a trend afoot to conveniently remember the works of authors like Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley as warnings against distant totalitarianism and control. But this only scratches the surface of what these books are about.

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.