Blair, Sarrazin and the amazing power of the book

Question: What do Tony Blair and Thilo Sarrazin have in common? You can write your answer in the comments box below, but here's mine: courage. Both have written books and now neither can appear in public without police protection. They knew that their books would create controversy but they wrote them nonetheless. That's courageous. But isn't it remarkable that in two civilized countries — the United Kingdom and Germany — where the written word is regarded as essential part of culture, Blair and Sarrazin have had to cancel the public promotion of their books in London and Hildesheim? What's happened to tolerance?

Still, despite the protestors and the best efforts of the liberal-leftist media elites who hate the two authors, both books now top the bestseller charts. Clearly, lots of people want to read what the two have to say. Indeed, many may even agree with the authors. So why is Blair despised? Because, unfashionably, he sees the world in terms of good vs. evil. In A Journey, this means that a tyrant like Saddam Hussein has to be removed from power, that Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and that radical Islam is the greatest danger now facing the world.

Sarrazin is equally loathed because in Deutschland schafft sich ab he argues that multiculturalism, the most politically correct dogma of our day, has failed. This is something that one simply cannot say as huge industries and egos have been built on the back of this ideology, and if the whole thing were to fall down, some people would lose comfortable jobs and others would be exposed as frauds.

But, regardless of what the two authors believe and write, the most important thing for me is that the debates they have generated confirm the amazing power of the book. Music, film, theatre and art seem to have lost their ability to cause serious public discussion, but the book remains capable of shaking up the world.

Another thing the success of the Blair and Sarrazin books teaches us is that despite the wonderful technology behind the different digital reading devices now on the market, nothing can match the potency of the printed word on paper. Get on the bus or train at the weekend with your iPad or Kindle and people will see status symbols. But get on the bus or train at the weekend with a copy of the Blair or Sarrazin book and people will see you. We don't need status symbols, but we need courage and we do need ideas, even the ones we don't agree with.