The fact that public indignation that Paul Bernardo could possibly financially benefit from writing a book was considered of more importance than the fact that an isolated dangerous criminal in Canada chose to write about Russian electromagnetic warfare and the New World Order is a prime example of why burning books or blacklisting authors is concerning, particularly in light of current Left-Right polemics.
Our response to rubric – that is to say, the public’s emotional response to rhetoric designed to inflame our passions and built on myths and persuasive argument – is what creates policy. We would as a society, according to our runic, preferring to destroy that which makes us uncomfortable, rather than interrogating and dialoguing that which we find uncomfortable.

We prefer to avoid uncomfortable thoughts because they cause mental pain. Instead of reasoning with available data detachedly to find solutions, we respond with emotions, not logic – which in turn creates irrational behaviour. 

I think the main difference between fascism and communism is actually how fine people resolve the hierarchy versus altruism problem and conflict between reason and authority. Are you loyal to a man, or an idea, and whose ideas? Are they your own?

Communism and fascism are largely separate in that in communism, the leader carries out the people’s will and responsibility for collective choices, while fascism is a leader whose dictates are carried out by the people. In either society, undesirables are exiled, impoverished and unable to engage in commerce. In the case of subversive writers in an authoritarian system, their books are banned and burned, and they are pilloried in the public theatres, either literally or metaphorically by humiliation, and m fear tactics.
Anti-intellectualism therefore is a hallmark in both systems, and policed mainly through economic means. This trend is dangerous to the construction of policy because it allows a group of unelected censors to dictate what is and isn’t permitted in arts and culture and therefore further or restrict education and diminish capacity for critical thinking.