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Originally Posted by sabredog
I thought the fact that probably 90% of the population in the Middle Ages could not read would be a pretty effective form of DRM.
But I guess those massive manuscripts make effective fire lighters or worse for the average serf.
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Not just the middle ages.
There is a long history of book abuse through the ages, not including the burning of the big one in Alexandria or religious cullings:
http://flavorwire.com/526833/8-weird...of-the-library
Also, the war against genre fiction by the elites goes back a while, too:
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But the commonest problem… was the novel, a literary form that from midcentury, the era of Fielding’s Tom Jones, Richardson’s Pamela, and Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling, was sweeping all before it in public taste, much to the horror of many critics…
The issue with novels was, or was usually held to be, twofold. One concern was that narrative fiction seemed to be so constructed by manipulative and morally bankrupt authors as to sensationalize or white-wash bad behavior and encourage emotional incontinence among readers through blatant titillation.
The other worry, closely related to the first, was that such literature was also simultaneously much more likely to appeal to and therefore to lead astray those vulnerable readers with the weakest constitutions, specifically women, the young, and — a fascinating Georgian Georgian perception — servants…” — David Allan
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Yup. Gotta be careful not to let the rabble get ideas.