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   Volume X, Issue II

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   Volume X, Issue I

 
Poetry


A Warning to All Readers Regarding the Insidious Practice of Book Jamming
Stephen Moles

 

A book jammer is a device that prevents works of literature from transmitting meaning to human readers. These instruments are being used increasingly by police forces and governments around the world in order to restrict the flow of meaning.

People need to make a stand against this insidious technology before it is too late.

Jammers work by transmitting black rectangles into the space between a book and a reader, which causes the deep meaning of the text to become inaccessible. When a government feels that the rate of enlightenment among a particular community is reaching a dangerous level, it utilises jamming technology to neutralise the threat. Most people don't realise what's going on and they either assume that the book they are reading is boring or that they themselves are too stupid to understand it.

One way to test if a jammer is being used on you is to try reading a book in several different places. You may find that a book you once considered dull or abstruse when you attempted to read it during a commute to work suddenly "comes alive" when you re-evaluate it on holiday. A cottage in the English countryside or a hotel on Powder Island could provide the precious thinking space you need to see the full picture.

It is worth reminding yourself that there is no such thing as a "nonsense word". If, for example, you read the word "buckarastano" and no meaning is transmitted to you, this is another indication that some sort of jamming device is in use nearby. Such words function as canaries for meaners1 as they venture deeper into a text.

Nothing is inherently boring and no one is inherently stupid. The appearance of "boringness" and "stupidity" should be taken as signs that invisible barriers have been placed on the road to enlightenment by the authorities.

 

1Meaning miners.

 

 

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