Book: Candide by Voltaire

What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them? ~Voltaire, Candide

I have just finished Candide by Voltaire another of the 'The World's 100 Greatest Book'. The book was written in just three days and has survived for 253 years. The quick pace and biting humor should keep it on the shelves for many years to come. I found it to be a very easy and enjoyable read.

The story follows the life of Candide, his adventures and misadventures, his quest to reunite with his beloved Cunégonde. He travels around Europe, to the Americas, spends time in Eldorado where, to his surprise, there are no keepers of the religious beliefs. This gives rise to one of my favorite quotes in the book:

"What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?"

As you may have guessed, the story is a satire on the state of the world in the mid 1700s, a book that makes fun of the institutions of the day, religion, monarchies, philosophy, and other beliefs. Like many books that challenge the status quo, the status quo decided it should be banned for religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility.

The banning of books has been utilized then and now, to suppress knowledge, to 'protect' people from ideas that might lead them to 'bad' thoughts. What these keepers of the status quo seem to never figure out, have not been able to figure out even in modern times, is that the banning of a book is precisely what makes people want to read the book. Telling people they cannot read something, which is telling them they really are too stupid to think for themselves, is the surest to make something popular.

People know when an institution in power bans a book, it's because the book exposes the foibles of the institution. The people don't need a book to tell them it's flawed. They live under it's rules and are already very familiar with the flaws of the institution. The act of banning the book serves to cement the flaws in the collective conscience and does more to have the people distrust the institution, to ridicule the institution then if the institution would just have ignored the book and let it runs it's course.