To the editor:

I am glad to see that the Lawrence Public Library’s Banned Books trading cards are doing so well.

The quotation for banning George Orwell’s “1984” comes from Jackson County, Fla., and was written by someone with no knowledge of communism. George Orwell imagined what a communist regime would do with technology to oppress its citizens. Of course, technology has developed to the point where our actions can be traced through our cellphones.

But there is still no comparison between Stalin’s Soviet Union, which Orwell had in mind, and George W. Bush’s USA. Under Stalin, even a suspicion of anti-government feelings was enough to land the suspect in a labor camp for 15 years.

By all means, let us read “1984,” but, at the same time, realize the differences between a totalitarian system and one where citizens’ rights are protected by law (expensive though that protection might be).