POLICING THE BOOKSHELVES
There is something childlike about Twitter, something of the
playground. Gangs form, fights break out and others pile in. Shaming and name
calling are rampant and bullying widespread. I say these things as a regular
contributor to Twitter and also as someone not without sin himself. Indeed, even the most
intelligent and erudite contributors sometimes seem unable to resist the
temptation of the trite and unfair sideswipe.
Twitter is not
Britain, although it does sometimes accurately reflect some of the more unpleasant
aspects of a particular type of Englishness. And it also provides a mirror image of
the most politically exercised and excitable elements of the population. In
this way it provides a portrait of a certain mindset that may dominate the
politically active. Which brings me to bookshelves.
Bookshelves have suddenly gained an unexpected prominence in
public life. Given the need for social distancing and safe isolation
politicians have been invariably interviewed at home and, almost equally
invariably. interviewed against the background of well stocked bookshelves.
This has given rise to the practice of ‘book title spotting.’
A great deal of outrage, confected or otherwise, was expended on Twitter after a book by David Irving was spotted on Michael Gove’s bookshelf. Now, I find Gove a deeply distasteful character, a slippery backstabbing dissembler for whom truth can be discarded should it lack utility. I have an equally low opinion of Irving. However, the idea that one’s bookshelves should only contain books in harmony with one’s own opinions betrays an intellectual vacuity of staggering proportions.
It also spotlights the culture of a circular confirmation bias, life lived in an echo chamber. I follow those who share my world view/prejudices/assumptions/political loyalties. Those whose opinions I like and admire in turn like and admire mine. The idea that you should seriously engage, -as opposed to name calling and derision, - with people whose ideas directly contradict your own and which make you feel angry and uncomfortable, never that popular, is now dying out. More sinister is the related notion that certain ideas, invariably on the right, constitute ‘hate speech’ and should be subjected to the severest form of censorship, silenced, sacked from their jobs, ‘no-platformed’ driven from the public space. The idea that free speech is something afforded not just to your allies but to your enemies is greeted with derision.
Back, a final time to the bookshelf. On mine I have works by
Marx, Trotsky, Nietzsche, several anarchist anthologies, books on Gnosticism, biographies
of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, and even a copy of Mien Kampf.
