Review by Christine_B -- The Banned Book about Love
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Christine_B
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- Latest Review: "The Banned Book about Love" by Scott Hughes
Review by Christine_B -- The Banned Book about Love
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Banned Book about Love" by Scott Hughes.]
4 out of 4 stars
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The Banned Book about Love by Scott Hughes is non-fiction and it is about love that's the best summary I can give of the book, it's about love, those who are willing to read more than the first few sentence will see that. It uses as example the case of accused rapist Brock Turner and the author tries to explain why we should all love Brock even though he committed a horrible crime.
Hate Doesn't Work as a Means
Hate doesn't help the situation we have to help the situation by advocating for those who have been wrongly punished and those who haven't been given a harsh enough sentence instead we spew hate and don't do anything about it. Hate is easy doing something about it is hard. Actively trying to change things required lots of work and is most of the time boring or unpleasant.
It's Not the Details
The debate on consent and when people are unable to consent is an interesting one. The victim was unable to consent but in a way the aggressor also would have been unable to consent to a lot of things himself.
I like the idea that the author is trying to give. That we should love all people unconditionally even if they commit a crime that we find despicable. I think all people are redeemable but as with all actions there are consequences. The accused rapist in my opinion should have received a harsher sentence but does that mean he is a horrible evil guy? Probably not he's a person just like anyone else. All people do bad things some a lot worse than others but they are still people who love and are loved by others and this is both for victims and abusers.
What Love Doesn't Mean
Here the author brings up the idea that we imprison people that are violent to protect those who are innocent. We aren't imprisoning people to hurt them or do violence against them it is merely to protect everyone else. But if we talk about wanting to murder a murderer or rape a rapist this goes against what we are trying to do in protecting the general public versus trying to harm people (the perpetrators). We can't fix the problem by being violent against those who are violent we have to stop the root of the problem before things become violent. The author says hate is easy and is meant to destroy and that love is hard I totally agree with that. It is much harder to love someone unconditionally no matter their faults than to hate someone we don’t even know.
A Note on Religion
The author makes reference to religion. He says that you don't have to be religious to be able to love but that's one of the common themes in religions. Love thy enemy. How can anyone regardless of their religious beliefs not agree that love beats all even hate.
The work of Love
Again the author says that hate is easy and love is hard and I believe this, how else can we explain horrible wars all over the world and extraordinary acts of kindness? We should all strive for love and try and reject hate but that's not possible, no one is 100% capable of loving everyone and never hating someone it's just not possible but what is possible is that we can realize when we are helping spread hate and then turn it into a positive and try and do something good to fix what hate we have put into the world.
My final thoughts
I think the main thing the author is trying to get across in this book is that two wrongs don't make a right and that change is hard, not all people are bad even if they have done bad and all people deserve redemption.
The author asks at the end of the book if he can do anything for the reader and I want to say to him "You've already done something for me, you've made me think" and I want to say to him "I can do something for you" I will share this review on all my social media and I thank you for making me think about a subject that I believe more people should think about. Lets spread love and not hate because that can only make us as a society better.
I give this book 4 out of 4 stars and recommend people read it because it will definitely begin a discussion (which is why it was banned by Amazon) but this discussion should not end, it will never end we have to continue to talk about doing good and rejecting the bad.
******
The Banned Book about Love
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Christine_B's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Banned Book about Love by Scott Hughes is non-fiction and it is about love that's the best summary I can give of the book, it's about love, those who are willing to read more than the first few sentence will see that. It uses as example the case of accused rapist Brock Turner and the author tries to explain why we should all love Brock even though he committed a horrible crime.
Hate Doesn't Work as a Means
Hate doesn't help the situation we have to help the situation by advocating for those who have been wrongly punished and those who haven't been given a harsh enough sentence instead we spew hate and don't do anything about it. Hate is easy doing something about it is hard. Actively trying to change things required lots of work and is most of the time boring or unpleasant.
It's Not the Details
The debate on consent and when people are unable to consent is an interesting one. The victim was unable to consent but in a way the aggressor also would have been unable to consent to a lot of things himself.
I like the idea that the author is trying to give. That we should love all people unconditionally even if they commit a crime that we find despicable. I think all people are redeemable but as with all actions there are consequences. The accused rapist in my opinion should have received a harsher sentence but does that mean he is a horrible evil guy? Probably not he's a person just like anyone else. All people do bad things some a lot worse than others but they are still people who love and are loved by others and this is both for victims and abusers.
What Love Doesn't Mean
Here the author brings up the idea that we imprison people that are violent to protect those who are innocent. We aren't imprisoning people to hurt them or do violence against them it is merely to protect everyone else. But if we talk about wanting to murder a murderer or rape a rapist this goes against what we are trying to do in protecting the general public versus trying to harm people (the perpetrators). We can't fix the problem by being violent against those who are violent we have to stop the root of the problem before things become violent. The author says hate is easy and is meant to destroy and that love is hard I totally agree with that. It is much harder to love someone unconditionally no matter their faults than to hate someone we don’t even know.
A Note on Religion
The author makes reference to religion. He says that you don't have to be religious to be able to love but that's one of the common themes in religions. Love thy enemy. How can anyone regardless of their religious beliefs not agree that love beats all even hate.
The work of Love
Again the author says that hate is easy and love is hard and I believe this, how else can we explain horrible wars all over the world and extraordinary acts of kindness? We should all strive for love and try and reject hate but that's not possible, no one is 100% capable of loving everyone and never hating someone it's just not possible but what is possible is that we can realize when we are helping spread hate and then turn it into a positive and try and do something good to fix what hate we have put into the world.
My final thoughts
I think the main thing the author is trying to get across in this book is that two wrongs don't make a right and that change is hard, not all people are bad even if they have done bad and all people deserve redemption.
The author asks at the end of the book if he can do anything for the reader and I want to say to him "You've already done something for me, you've made me think" and I want to say to him "I can do something for you" I will share this review on all my social media and I thank you for making me think about a subject that I believe more people should think about. Lets spread love and not hate because that can only make us as a society better.
I give this book 4 out of 4 stars and recommend people read it because it will definitely begin a discussion (which is why it was banned by Amazon) but this discussion should not end, it will never end we have to continue to talk about doing good and rejecting the bad.
******
The Banned Book about Love
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Christine_B's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "The Banned Book about Love" by Scott Hughes
