Why Censorship Always Misses What Actually Matters - Ada Palmer
Ada Palmer, a historian of censorship, explains how censors throughout history consistently misidentify threats, focusing on minor issues while ignoring truly revolutionary ideas. She uses the French Enlightenment as an example, where the Inquisition obsessed over Jansenist religious treatises while largely ignoring Voltaire and the Encyclopedia.
Summary
Ada Palmer presents a historical analysis of how censorship efforts systematically fail to target the most significant threats to established order. Using the French Enlightenment period as her primary example, she illustrates how the Inquisition was far more concerned with Jansenism—a Calvinist-influenced version of Catholicism focused on theological debates about the Trinity—than with genuinely revolutionary works by Voltaire, Rousseau, and materialist atheist philosophers whose ideas were spreading across Europe. Palmer describes a specific incident from Matis's book where authorities raided a clandestine bookshop and were willing to overlook Voltaire's works and the banned Encyclopedia, which would 'revolutionize all thought in Europe,' while aggressively pursuing Jansenist treatises. The absurdity of their priorities is highlighted in an anecdote about a ceremonial book burning where officials marched the Encyclopedia to the fire but, upon encountering Jansenist texts about the Trinity, chose to burn those instead because they preferred to preserve the Encyclopedia. Palmer presents this as a universal pattern in censorship throughout history.
Key Insights
- Palmer argues that censors throughout history are consistently wrong about what they should be worried about censoring from our modern perspective
- Palmer describes how the Inquisition was more worried about Jansenist treatises about the Trinity than about Voltaire and materialist atheist ideas spreading across Europe
- Palmer explains that authorities raiding clandestine bookshops would overlook Voltaire's works and the Encyclopedia while aggressively pursuing Jansenist religious treatises
- Palmer recounts how officials chose to burn Jansenist texts about the Trinity instead of the Encyclopedia during a ceremonial burning because they actually loved the Encyclopedia
- Palmer states this pattern of misidentifying censorship priorities is a universal truth throughout history
Topics
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