Book burning revisited
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 9:34 pmhttps://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/paren ... 8fa4adb383
Remember when there was an uproar over someone who made a big public spectacle of burning his own copy of the Qur'an? At least that was his to burn. Aren't the taxpayers whose money was taken from them to fund libraries at public schools at least entitled to a refund for the cost of the books that were burned? And when you consider that some of said taxpayers are no longer around to receive their refund, or to weigh in on whether they're okay with the books their tax dollars paid for being burned as long as the money is paid to their loved ones, is even a refund enough to make it ethical? People condemn this stuff, but condemn it more mildly than the Qu'ran one, when it should be the other way around.
As I seem to recall, at the time popular opinion, however split on Islam itself, seemed to be making book burning out to be an especially distasteful way to express your disapproval of a book. I disagree. I don't mind the act of book burning itself if it's your own book. The publisher's already got your money, dude. But shouldn't this be even worse? That book is no longer just a book. That is now public property that is being destroyed. Wouldn't that make it vandalism at the very least?
I also recall that popular opinion blamed "right-wing" ideology for why they thought it appropriate to burn books. But obviously it depends on the books. In this case it's pretty clear that they're not burning books in spite of their "left-wing" ideology, but partly because of it. So why associate book burning with "right-wing" ideology in particular?
Remember when there was an uproar over someone who made a big public spectacle of burning his own copy of the Qur'an? At least that was his to burn. Aren't the taxpayers whose money was taken from them to fund libraries at public schools at least entitled to a refund for the cost of the books that were burned? And when you consider that some of said taxpayers are no longer around to receive their refund, or to weigh in on whether they're okay with the books their tax dollars paid for being burned as long as the money is paid to their loved ones, is even a refund enough to make it ethical? People condemn this stuff, but condemn it more mildly than the Qu'ran one, when it should be the other way around.
As I seem to recall, at the time popular opinion, however split on Islam itself, seemed to be making book burning out to be an especially distasteful way to express your disapproval of a book. I disagree. I don't mind the act of book burning itself if it's your own book. The publisher's already got your money, dude. But shouldn't this be even worse? That book is no longer just a book. That is now public property that is being destroyed. Wouldn't that make it vandalism at the very least?
I also recall that popular opinion blamed "right-wing" ideology for why they thought it appropriate to burn books. But obviously it depends on the books. In this case it's pretty clear that they're not burning books in spite of their "left-wing" ideology, but partly because of it. So why associate book burning with "right-wing" ideology in particular?