Priests burning Harry Potter and Twilight books in Poland

[Valentine Z]

Well, seems like a waste of paper and the such when those items can instead be recycled. That being said, as long as those items are actually owned by the people who gave them over to be burned, I don't really have an issue. Silly religious acts are silly. Although...the article was posted on April 1st.

Oh goodness gracious, Batman! Are you telling me... I got bamboozled AGAIN?!

Have I been fooled by April Fool again?

What I find kind of annoying is how many people are saying “omg that one issue became real!” Since Harry Potter first hit the shelves, there have been people calling it Satanic propaganda. Didn’t help that the female wizards were called “witches” either.

I mean... we are in NationStates, so might as well talk about the issue!

Of course I'm going to talk about the issue when this very website has this! I am not saying the issue became real, but... it was just so similar with the book title and everything... minus Twlight, of course.

If you're not answering issues while you're on NS, you're missing out.

[Neutraligon]

Ah yes, the world just seems to like throwing common sense out the window these days. I'm Catholic and I love reading the Harry Potter books.

I mean HP is somewhat of a Jesus narrative. Think about it, a prophecy about a chosen one destined to fight an absolute evil until either one of them dies/is destroyed. He is repeatedly tempted, forms a group of "followers" dies and is reborn for the world.

[Salus Maior]

Yes, but you also implied that all of the Catholic Church thinks Harry Potter is the new Necronomicon.

No I stated that’s where crazy radicals get the logic

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

[Neutraligon]

Well, seems like a waste of paper and the such when those items can instead be recycled. That being said, as long as those items are actually owned by the people who gave them over to be burned, I don't really have an issue. Silly religious acts are silly. Although...the article was posted on April 1st.

Oh goodness gracious, Batman! Are you telling me... I got bamboozled AGAIN?!

Have I been fooled by April Fool again?

Can't tell since the article only shows a pile of books and things burning (no image of who started it), and has a video of nazis burning books. The "facebook link" is to their own facebook page.

[Minzerland II]

No I stated that’s where crazy radicals get the logic

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

Don’t you see? We’re regressing, regressing, regressing. Christians are fascists, just like the Nazi book burnings!

[Internationalist Bastard]

No I stated that’s where crazy radicals get the logic

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

True
Which sorta makes it among the craziest, that of all the problems in the world, you devote your energy to destroying young adult fiction

[Internationalist Bastard]

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

Don’t you see? We’re regressing, regressing, regressing. Christians are fascists, just like the Nazi book burnings!

Sigh
I’m not saying that
If they burning books on a large scale of say, an academic nature and calling for all such books to be banned I’d say it’d be very bad
This is just some crazy people being crazy

[Salus Maior]

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

True
Which sorta makes it among the craziest, that of all the problems in the world, you devote your energy to destroying young adult fiction

It's not really any more crazy than knocking over a trash can to protest "the establishment".

The way I see it, it's a form of protest. Against liberal progressivism in culture I guess.

[Hanafuridake]

I think of all the "radical actions" one can take, burning a few lame fictional books is a bit low on the list.

Don’t you see? We’re regressing, regressing, regressing. Christians are fascists, just like the Nazi book burnings!

As someone who rants about how books are dangerous, you don't really get to accuse other people of hyperbole.

[Ifreann]

True
Which sorta makes it among the craziest, that of all the problems in the world, you devote your energy to destroying young adult fiction

It's not really any more crazy than knocking over a trash can to protest "the establishment".

The way I see it, it's a form of protest. Against liberal progressivism in culture I guess.

Neither series is particularly liberal or progressive.

[Internationalist Bastard]

True
Which sorta makes it among the craziest, that of all the problems in the world, you devote your energy to destroying young adult fiction

It's not really any more crazy than knocking over a trash can to protest "the establishment".

The way I see it, it's a form of protest. Against liberal progressivism in culture I guess.

I agree
It’s silly, but I’m not yelling at them to stop
They have the freedom to burn those books, the same as I have the freedom to say that what they’re doing is stupid

[Salus Maior]

It's not really any more crazy than knocking over a trash can to protest "the establishment".

The way I see it, it's a form of protest. Against liberal progressivism in culture I guess.

Neither series is particularly liberal or progressive.

Rowling herself is certainly an obnoxious progressive.

[Serene Ravenia]

I get that Twilight is an affront to the English language and JK Rowling is a bit crazy nowadays but that doesn’t make it okay to fucking burn books.

It sets a precedent that any free thought could be shot down or destroyed in favor of “defending tradition” or some dumb shit.

[Alvecia]

Where'd they get the books?

[Hanafuridake]

Books are dangerous. People are swayed by books, books do this all the time, this is not something unheard of.

Books are no more dangerous than people allow them to be.

How is this so inconceivable? People have read books like The God Delusion, Das Kapital, the Bible and have assented to the positions of the text because of it, so swayed are they of its rhetoric or its forcefulness or its supposed ‘facts AND logic’.

Changing your mind is not a dangerous act. And I wouldn't classify Harry Potter or Twilight in the same category as those books. The three you mentioned are ideological works which put forth a philosophy. The only books that I could remotely see as being dangerous on their own would be manuals on making bombs and firearms, and that still requires someone with terrorist intent.

If a priest believes in what they think is the Truth, then that priest has every reason to suppress in his parish that which could teach things contrary to the Truth and endanger faith and morals.

So, in other words, no different from the logic that a cult leader uses to keep his flock isolated.

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

It's not really any more crazy than knocking over a trash can to protest "the establishment".

The way I see it, it's a form of protest. Against liberal progressivism in culture I guess.

Neither series is particularly liberal or progressive.

HP at least takes a stab at an anti-prejudice message, but imagine thinking Twilight is liberal.

[Minzerland II]

Don’t you see? We’re regressing, regressing, regressing. Christians are fascists, just like the Nazi book burnings!

As someone who rants about how books are dangerous, you don't really get to accuse other people of hyperbole.

I haven’t gone to any lengths to accuse anyone of hyperbole, I’m using hyperbole to emphasis and call attention to absurd notions being spread in this thread. Like that this is somehow regression, that book burnings are fascist (this is seemingly a symbolic act) and that books are harmless (they’re actually useful vectors for disseminating ideas).

[Salus Maior]

Neither series is particularly liberal or progressive.

HP at least takes a stab at an anti-prejudice message, but imagine thinking Twilight is liberal.

No, burning Twilight is just good taste.

[Alvecia]

Neither series is particularly liberal or progressive.

HP at least takes a stab at an anti-prejudice message, but imagine thinking Twilight is liberal.

What are you talking about? "Stick with your abusive partner" is totally liberal and progressive /s

[TURTLESHROOM II]

THOSE WHO START BY BURNING BOOKS, END BY BURNING MEN

That said, torching idols, talismans, and occult items are different from torching fantasy novels! For that, I commend the Poles.
Also, people who blame "Harry Potter" for kids getting into the occult should instead be blaming stupid parents who didn't teach their kids to fear the supernatural and demonic forces, much less right from wrong and reality from fiction. (This is the same logic against violent video games.)

"Harry Potter" was a mistake and I feel vindicated now that Rowling is corrupting her own work. I read the first book in elementary school and hated it.

[Neutraligon]

Books are dangerous. People are swayed by books, books do this all the time, this is not something unheard of.

Books are no more dangerous than people allow them to be.

I don't know, I am pretty sure some of the bigger heavier books could do some damage.

[Luziyca]

I reckon one of the priests was/is a player on NationStates at some point, because I swear I seen that issue a few times, and a question about it on the trivia game.

[Iciaros]

Books are no more dangerous than people allow them to be.

I don't know, I am pretty sure some of the bigger heavier books could do some damage.

Exactly, and they are dangerous precisely because the author made them that way by writing so much!

We must limit all books to 50 pages at most to ensure they can never do damage again.

As a bonus, that'll make it easier to pull two interlocked books apart. Take that, my brother's silly party trick!

[Serene Ravenia]

Where'd they get the books?

I bet from all the pre-teens they molested.

[The New California Republic]

Books are no more dangerous than people allow them to be.

I don't know, I am pretty sure some of the bigger heavier books could do some damage.

I got hit on the head pretty hard by a falling book once. That's a real nerd injury...