"The entire book is about violence and anarchy as part of the hardcore punk culture. This could antagonize and rile up the general population."

Feral House, the great West Coast publisher specializing in serial killers, death metal bands, occult worship, and other frequently unsavory subjects, has apparently gone too far for the Colorado Department of Corrections. As Warden Kevin L. Milyard explains in a document that Feral House helpfully posted on its blog last month, their book American Hardcore: A Tribal History (2001) has been banned from all Colorado prisons for depicting violence, substance abuse, "hatred of law enforcement and other races," and plenty more where that came from.

While I'm sure "Banned by the Colorado Department of Corrections" will look great as a blurb on the new edition, I'm a little surprised that this particular volume got the boot. Sure, there are some R-rated bits, but this is an oral history of punk music, not The Anarchist Cookbook.

Back in 2002, Senior Editor Brian Doherty sat down with Feral House founder Adam Parfrey to discuss Islamic extremism, The Satanic Bible, the free market, and much more. Check that out here.

Comments

[CJ08]

Whenever a government institution tries to ban a book it makes me want to read it. If you want a list of books that were once illegal in England check this out:
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=qowIAAAAQAAJ&dq=index+expurgatorius+Anglicanus&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=oWqs8M6gUx&sig=YVszyD4cmzuezhQAYVdcJ7vQ4dk&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

[CJ08]

OK, that didn't work out the way I hoped. Just Google:
Index Expurgatorius Anglicanus

[Juanita Wayback Machine]

Juanita | August 18, 2008, 4:42pm | #
Bacon is not a health food. The government has a right and in fact an obligation to protect us from things that are not good for us. Anything that helps the cops to keep us a slim and trim is inherently a good thing, I'm all for it. The government is responsible for our food choices because they pay our health care through medicare/caid.

J

[Elemenope]

The Holy Ostrich sez:

If I can't see it, it doesn't exist!

--------

(Apologies to Bishop Berkeley)

[Juanita Wayback Machine]

Juanita | July 25, 2007, 3:54pm | #
"If we're so concerned about protecting girls that we would dole out lifetime punishments for normal adolescent pranksterism"

This behaviour is offensive, it is illegal and must be punished.

Obey the law and you would be OK. I am sure any woman would want these boys identified and registered.

[Neu Mejican]

Aren't books in the prison library "approved" more than they are "banned?"

I mean, if you are in prison can't you pretty much assume that others are going to be limiting your choices in a whole bunch of ways?

[Mister DNA]

Since when did law enforcement become a "race"?

[Ironic]

Mister DNA, those in charge are all reptillians. You would know this if you listened to Coast to Coast AM late at night.

[scape]

I hope the Black Muslims don't get a copy of the Koran and the Aryan Brotherhood never see the Bible. They'll have a freakin riot!

[Episiarch]

Since when did law enforcement become a "race"?

"Blue" is a race. To them, at least.

[Dello]

Because we wouldn't want a bunch of killers, rapists, arsonists, muggers, buglers, drug dealers, drug users, and punks reading about the kind of stuff they ended up in prison for.

[Dello]

burglers, that is.

[Naga Sadow]

Maybe . . . just maybe . . . having the largest concentration of federal prisons is bad for the Colorado Department of Corrections. Also, sociopaths tend to need little antaganism to do their thing.

[SxCx]

Watch the movie too, although it's not as banned.

[Naga Sadow]

Dello,

What's wrong with drug dealers and drug users?

[Episiarch]

Dello wants to send buglers to prison. First they came for the trumpet players, and I did nothing, because I was a trombonist. Then they came for the saxophonists...

[Dagny T.]

Dello,

burglers, that is.

Nah, you had it right the first time. Ban the bugle! And all bugle-related literature! It's for teh children!

[Dagny T.]

Damn you, Epi! Beat me to it.

[Episiarch]

I win! What did I win?

[Dagny T.]

An all-expenses-paid trip to Rainbow Puppy Island? That, or the thread. Your call.

[Observationalist]

I might want to read this, but since punk is the worst form of music that the FSM ever created, I'll pass. I can't honestly believe it is still getting this sort of attention.

[Episiarch]

Hmm...something imaginary, and something worthless. I will take decline my award like Brando did with his Godfather Oscar. Shasheen Littlefeather will be along soon in my place.

[Dagny T.]

Shasheen Littlefeather will be along soon in my place.

Despite ignominious rejection of my prestigious award, I applaud your courageous stance on behalf of...American Indians?

[Ironic]

"I might want to read this, but since punk is the worst form of music that the FSM ever created, I'll pass. I can't honestly believe it is still getting this sort of attention."

Are you sure you are not thinking of Gangsta Rap? Oh, I forgot, that isn't music. Still, I can enjoy good punk. There is no such thing as good Gangsta Rap. Although not all music that can loosly be defined as "rap" is bad. I LOVE Oxmo Puccino for example but it is not "Gangsta Rap". Seriously, even if you normally hate rap you should give Oxmo Puccino a try. He is quite good. I also like some of Babba Brickman's work.

[Ironic]

If I did not mention Manau that is because I think of Manau as more "hip hop" than rap in the strict sense. They are also brilliant.

[Bingo]

My favorite punk band is Avril Lavigne.

[Mister DNA]

Actually, some gangsta rap is quite beautiful.

[Episiarch]

Despite ignominious rejection of my prestigious award, I applaud your courageous stance on behalf of...American Indians?

American Indians? Damn it! I thought I would at least get some Lamb Vindaloo and Chana Saag out of the deal. Now all I can expect is a buffalo heart.

[Hugh Akston]

It doesn't seem like a book would need to work that hard to inspire contempt for authority in a prison population. The actions and inactions of the authorities in the prison system do a pretty good job on their own.

Personally, I'd prefer to see prisoners reading anything rather than spending all day forcibly bugling one another.

[David E. Gallaher]

As the peaceful anarchist on duty here, I always want to try to set folks straight with regard to anarchy, especially peaceful anarchy, which is the only kind there is, once you understand what I'm saying.
Did you notice in the headline to this piece that violence and anarchy are conflated? That should not be. I'm willing to sacrifice "chaos" when it comes to violence, but "chaos" too is misunderstood.
All who read this could make my burden lighter if you would help me to always distinguish between "anarchy" and "chaos."
I'm not sure what to call this rhetorical trick the "statists" are always playing, but it is surely a classic.

[BakedPenguin]

All who read this could make my burden lighter if you would help me to always distinguish between "anarchy" and "chaos."

I'm a minarchist, but this conflation always irritates me.

[BakedPenguin]

I should probable have said "...the use of these words as synonyms..."

[Episiarch]

I'm not sure what to call this rhetorical trick the "statists" are always playing, but it is surely a classic.

The fact that Marxist anti-capitalists call themselves "anarchists", dress up in black, and then smash Starbucks and McDonald's windows during G8 summits doesn't help.

[Jeff P]

I, personally, enjoy the fact that punks elected to eschew the image-dependant pretense and artifice of 70s rock by coloring their mohawks red, dressing in leather and chains, and sporting affected snarls.

I want to know what an oral history of punk sounds like: "right, so I'm up this bird, see, when her wanker mate bursts in, calls me a 'sotty knob,' and makes to slit me right. I forget what happen next, but it ended with me popping into the gig without me trousers..."

[Observationalist]

The fact that you have to bring up an entirely separate genre (?)of music, rather than defending punk on its merits, would make me laugh, except it's pathetic so I really don't feel like laughing at the feeble nature of it all.

RRRg.

*****

"I might want to read this, but since punk is the worst form of music that the FSM ever created, I'll pass. I can't honestly believe it is still getting this sort of attention."

Are you sure you are not thinking of Gangsta Rap? Oh, I forgot, that isn't music. Still, I can enjoy good punk. There is no such thing as good Gangsta Rap. Although not all music that can loosly be defined as "rap" is bad. I LOVE Oxmo Puccino for example but it is not "Gangsta Rap". Seriously, even if you normally hate rap you should give Oxmo Puccino a try. He is quite good. I also like some of Babba Brickman's work.

[Ironic]

"The fact that you have to bring up an entirely separate genre (?)of music, rather than defending punk on its merits, would make me laugh, except it's pathetic so I really don't feel like laughing at the feeble nature of it all."

Punk, like most forms of popular music has wheat and chaff. Some of it is quite horrid but I could say that about ANY genre of mucic or almost any genre of any of form of art.
Have you heard Pati Smith?
What about the Sex Pistols?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols

[Travis]

"The fact that Marxist anti-capitalists call themselves "anarchists", dress up in black, and then smash Starbucks and McDonald's windows during G8 summits doesn't help."

"A Communist sailing under the flag of Anarchism is as false a figure as could be invented."(Benjamin Tucker)

[Dello]

Naga,
"What's wrong with drug dealers and drug users?"

You'd have to ask the Colorodo Corrections Dept.; its their call.

Personally, I have no problems with them.

[Travis]

David E. Gallagher,

I also am annoyed by the MSM confusing Anarchy with chaos(warlord feudalism).

The problem is that true anarchy is impossible, most people prefer security to self autonomy.

[Ironic]

"The problem is that true anarchy is impossible, most people prefer security to self autonomy."

The fact that something has not existed in recorded history does not make it impossible. People once believed that heavier-than-air flight was impossible.

[Naga Sadow]

Ironic,

It's impossible because of the oldest profession known to mankind. What profession is that? Oppressing your fellow man. I know if I had a chance to be a warlord, I'd go for it!

[Travis]

"The fact that something has not existed in recorded history does not make it impossible. People once believed that heavier-than-air flight was impossible."

Try picking up a history book sometime.

The history of man is a long sad tale of exploitation by the powerful.

[Naga Sadow]

For further insight refer to S.M. Stirling novels "Dies the fires", "The Protector'w War", and "A Meeting at Corvallis".

[Les]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but here in California, what the inmates can read and watch is severely limited. And just as arbitrary. I assume there are states less liberal than California in this regard, so it seems to me that this is not really "news."

[Naga Sadow]

Les,

I assume it's only mentioned because Doherty interviewed one of the founders of Feral House in 2002. Kind of a slow news day(except for the Bacon Dog Suppression) so go easy.

[Ironic]

"Try picking up a history book sometime.

The history of man is a long sad tale of exploitation by the powerful."

I have studied history. But history only tells you what DID happen in the past. It cannot tell you what COULD happen in the future.

[Ironic]

"It's impossible because of the oldest profession known to mankind. What profession is that? Oppressing your fellow man. I know if I had a chance to be a warlord, I'd go for it!"

The state is a disease. With a healthy dose of two powerful drugs the state could dissolve. Those two drugs are education and firearms in the hands of the general population.

[Jon]

... what the hell is wrong with the Anarchist's Cookbook?

How about the Economist's Cookbook instead?

[Anti-Globalism]

World Peace, by the Cro-Mags:

All you hippies better start to face reality,
All your far fetched dreams of anarchy,
Better start to see things the way they are,
Cause the way things
Are going they won't be goin' far.

World peace can't be done.
It just can't exist.
World peace can't be done.
Anarchy's a mess.

Things are gettin hectic.
It's all gonna end.
You don't know what's waitin' up around the bend.
Open your eyes, perhaps you'll realize.
If AIDS don't get ya then the warheads will.

All you hippies better start to face reality,
All your far fetched dreams of anarchy,
Better start to see things the way they are,
Cause the way things
Are going they won't be goin' far.

World peace can't be done.
It just can't exist.
World peace can't be done.
Anarchy's a mess.

Things are gettin hectic.
It's all gonna end.
You don't know what's waitin' up around the bend.
Open your eyes, perhaps you'll realize.
If AIDS don't get ya then the warheads will.

World peace can't be done!
World peace!
It just can't exist.
World peace!
World peace can't be done.
World peace!
Anarchy's a mess!
World peace can't be done!
World peace!
No it can't.
World peace!
It just won't exist.
World peace! World peace! World peace!

[Rick H.]

punk is the worst form of music that the FSM ever created
...
There is no such thing as good Gangsta Rap
...

People who take the trouble to condemn entire genres of music are just playing at a slightly fancier version of the culture wars. It's image tribalism. Different musical forms affirm different values and fulfill different functions, and even if you dislike a culture that spawns art, you can still enjoy the sounds.

Some of it is quite horrid but I could say that about ANY genre of mucic or almost any genre of any of form of art.

It seems to me that some folks are merely broadcasting the fact that they don't really like music, except as a social tool to advance their group interests. It's a badge of ignorance. Hey, in the main, we're all unaware (no one could possibly listen to even a fraction of the world's music created in one lifetime) but don't try to make your ignorance into a virtue.

[Travis]

"I have studied history. But history only tells you what DID happen in the past. It cannot tell you what COULD happen in the future."

You're right history cannot teach what COULD happen.

History does teach about human nature which DOESN'T change.

[Naga Sadow]

Education and firearms? That's your cure? Wasn't that the same cure offered by the communists? Communism is science and we got the guns to enforce it sounds familiar.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Neither nihilism nor anarchy really seem plausible to me as tenable belief systems. Sorry.

[Jon]

The difference Naga, is in who is holding the firearms...

[TallDave]

Wow, just imagine if the book also had an unflattering depiction of Mohammed!

Haha, just kidding. We all know the publishing industry is too frightened to even print such a book.

You know, they told me if George W Bush was elected, there would be a chilling effect on free speech. And they were right.

[Neu Mejican]

A Communist sailing under the flag of Anarchism is as false a figure as could be invented."(Benjamin Tucker)

A statement that can only be made by uneducated anarchists.

Read some history ya punks.

Start with Proudhon.

[huh]

Educated anarchists have heard of Benjamin Tucker, an important 19th Century anarchist, like Proudhoun, who wrote that in response to the "anarcho-communists" you want us to read about. Proudhon was a pro-market mutalist, not a communist, by the way.

[Pro Libertate]

Friggin' buglers shouldn't have any rights.

[dhex]

Haha, just kidding. We all know the publishing industry is too frightened to even print such a book.

you're right! the other day i tried to get a copy of the satanic verses and...um...uh...

nevermind.

the conservative victimhood script is, like all implausible victimhood narratives, completely full of shit.

[dhex]

People who take the trouble to condemn entire genres of music are just playing at a slightly fancier version of the culture wars.

but if i say j-pop is nazi mind control, or prog is for boring wankers who have difficulty maintaining erections, am i really playing the culture wars or just laying things out as they really are?

🙂

[SugarFree]

dhex,

prog is for boring wankers who have difficulty maintaining erections

Someone finally makes some sense around these parts. Excelsior!

[TallDave]

djhex,

The Satanic Verses was published decades ago (and Salman Rushdie is still the object of fatwas demanding his death).

As of early 2008 he has not been physically harmed, but others connected with the book have suffered violent attacks. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese language translator of the book, was stabbed to death on July 11, 1991; Ettore Capriolo, the Italian language translator, was seriously injured in a stabbing the same month, and William Nygaard, the publisher in Norway, barely survived an attempted assassination in Oslo in October of 1993.

More recently, probably because of the above, major newspapers have declined to publish cartoons of the prophet, and books and operas are being cancelled:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080818/ts_alt_afp/usbookreligionislam

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23368315-details/Opera%20cancelled%20over%20Muslim%20backlash%20fears%20at%20Mohammed%20decaptitation%20scene/article.do?expand=true

[dhex]

i know about the verses history - i don't like it as much as midnight's children, but it's still very good - but i am fairly certain jones will find a publisher for jewel of medina. ballantine was silly to back out.

[dhex]

and hey, no one's blown up feral house, and extreme islam came out in 2002.

[Rufus T. Fisch]

Big Brother knows what he can do with the soft dangly bits of my nether regions.

[Neu Mejican]

Educated anarchists have heard of Benjamin Tucker, an important 19th Century anarchist, like Proudhoun, who wrote that in response to the "anarcho-communists" you want us to read about. Proudhon was a pro-market mutalist, not a communist, by the way.

Indeed.

Of course, the context and implication of the quote demonstrates a misunderstanding of both Tucker's point, and the history of communism.

Yes, Proudhon was a mutualist and a critic of communinism. That was one reason I suggested him as a good place to start.

The point, of course, is that "communism" and "anarchy" were nearly synonymous terms for much of their history. To pull Tucker out of context without a discussion of the debate he had with communistic-anarchy over property rights as a way to make a point about communinists "pretending to be" anarchists is just so much bumper-sticker politics.

He was making a "real anarchist agree with me" argument. It was in-fighting in the anarchist movement as it figured itself out. Individualist anarchists didn't end up owning the word.

[Neu Mejican]

To clarify:

It was in-fighting in the anarchist movement...

or more like Democratic/Republican debates.

Partisan anarchy.

;^)

My team's rules for anarchy are the correct ones.

[huh]

"The point, of course, is that "communism" and "anarchy" were nearly synonymous terms for much of their history."

Really? I thought it was more along the lines of socialism and anarchy being nearly synonymous. The 19th Century definition of socialism, much like its definition of capitalism, being pretty different from the common modern definition

[Travis]

Neu Mejican,

I am well aware of the history of both anarchism & commmunism.

The point that Tucker was trying to make is that communists are not anarchists because they want to create a form of govenment. Tucker's statement is as true today as it was back then.

Finally, both the individualist anarchists & communist anarchists lost control of the term. Now a days it refers to political instability in a region(like Somalia).

[Brandybuck]

I'm not sure what to call this rhetorical trick the "statists" are always playing, but it is surely a classic.

There is this huge wing of anarchism that is into violence. Really. They might not be "anarchists" by your definition, but that is what they call themselves. Wobbies, WTO rioters, punks, etc. Classic anarchists were against hierarchy, not just government. To them it was just as legitimate to murder a employer or priest as it was to murder a bureaucrat.

[TallDave]

i know about the verses history

And yet a little while ago you said the whole issue was a "complete bullshit" conservative victim thing.

and hey, no one's blown up feral house, and extreme islam came out in 2002.

"Extreme Islam" was more of profile of Islamic extremists than heresy against Mohammed.

Ask Theo Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali if they think it's bullshit. Oh wait, sorry, you can't ask Theo, he was murdered.

[Neu Mejican]

communists are not anarchists because they want to create a form of govenment

But that is an inaccurate statement.
Communism presents an anarchistic vision of a society without coercive power structures.

Tucker disagreed with how a stateless society would end up being structured. But that doesn't mean communists wanted to create a form of government. Tucker's vision, actually seems to be closer to one that includes a state.

Tucker's vision involved war lords providing protection services for a fee. Communists would have felt that this was no better than a state and was motivated by ownership. Get rid of ownership and you get rid of the need for force, the argued.

Silliness all around.

[Travis]

Neu Mejican,

I agree.

Anarchy in any from ends up turning into warlord feudalism. IMO that is usually the worst form of government because it's rule by terror.

[Travis]

Anarchy in any form ends up turning into warlord feudalism.

[David E. Gallaher]

"Classic anarchists were against hierarchy, not just government. To them it was just as legitimate to murder a employer or priest as it was to murder a bureaucrat."

Brandybuck,
I'm against hierarchy, but I have zero desire to murder somebody.

If I thought it would help, I might have the desire, but I'm convinced it would make an inferior situation worse.
Which reminds me of governments and war. War is the reason for the existence of government, so it must always be on the lookout for a "just" war. Ironically, there might be such a concept as a "just" war, but there exists no government which could execute one either justly or effectively.

[huh]

Yeah, no ownership, great. But who's going to make it remains ownerless, and how will they do it?