…but there your rights stop.

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on March 30, 2010). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

I’m no big fan of Philip Pullman — not that I go so far as to actively dislike him for any reason, I just didn’t think the His Dark Materials trilogy was really all that good — but this quote, in response to someone asking whether his latest book was “offensive,” is a thing of beauty:

It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don’t have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or bought, or sold or read. That’s all I have to say on that subject.

(via Boing Boing)

1 thought on “…but there your rights stop.”

  1. I enjoyed His Dark Materials quite a bit, but I’m kind of the target demographic.

    I recall enjoying the Sally Lockheart books a lot more, though. You might give those a shot. Kind of ‘Nancy Drew in Victorian England.’

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