Official censors, judges, and executors...

Photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net

An excerpt:

     "[...]  We must all be alike.  Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.  Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.  So!  A book is a loaded gun in the house next door.  Burn it.  Take the shot from the weapon.  Breach man's mind.  Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?  Me?  I won't stomach them for a minute. And so when houses were finally fireproofed completely, all over the world (you were correct in your assumption the other night) there was no longer need of firemen for the old purposes. They were given the new job, as custodians of our peace of mind, the focus of our understandable and rightful dread of being inferior; official censors, judges, and executors. That's you, Montag, and that's me."

~ from Fahrenheit 451, 

written by Ray Bradbury

I have been afraid of fire ever since I was a little girl.  I don't even like to look at the photo above -- it scares me.  I thought this would be a good excerpt to share during Banned Books Week, though, because the world Montag lives in not only bans books, but burns them.  They burn all books.  It is illegal to even read one.  Thank goodness this is a fictional world.  Let's hope it stays that way!