TED Community » Jason Slover  About Me  United States, Hutto, TX
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Conversation: Banning science because of racist origins      Nov
24 2011: I think you may be missing one of the crucial
differences here. Society in general rejects things like child
pornography, but we don't unilaterally reject anatomy textbooks.
I think we are rational enough to see the difference. Yes,
atrocities were committed in both cases, but the presentation
and intended use is quite different. The larger point here is
that an organization or government is deciding to ban certain
things and not others. In my view, when we start limiting
freedoms, it can become a slippery slope. What would come next,
banning documentaries on the holocaust? Burning books? That's
not what a civilized society does. We can't turn away from
atrocities or ignore history; we have to do our best to learn
from them, so that future ones can be