Poll: Would you ever burn a book?
- Thread starter Joseph Valdez
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I am willing to bet the vast majority of people who say they would not burn a book, would happily burn a book if it promoted an ideology they found personally disgusting and knew they could get away with it. Have them tell you they would not burn a book because they believe in the free expression of thought and yadda yadda, then present them with the above scenario in which case the book was wholely offensive to them and they would want to (and would if in said scenario they could do it without consequence) suppress it because they do not want the ideology it represented spreading intellectually (whether or not they believe said book had anything intellectually stimulating would necessarily be subjective in this affair)
My opinion is that it is 'what you are in the dark' that counts, There are plenty of non-fascists in this world who would gleefully engage in the burning of books if they knew it would stop the spread of some ideology or thinking or way of thinking they despised, found repugnant or politically abhorrent. I honestly believe very, very few of you would actually resolve to not burn a book in such a scenario. Most people, especially in the modern era, don't count much for self discipline and often have very poorly defined principles (even to themselves) so I honestly believe that most people who said no to this poll, are not being entirely intellectually honest with themselves and are paying lip service to freedom of expression. Who among you wouldn't, if you could, suppress the spread of an increasingly popular modern Communist Manifesto, or Mein Kampf, if burning the books would aid in ceasing the spread of the ideology's influence?
My guess would be 1 in a hundred, and that's a generous estimate.
My opinion is that it is 'what you are in the dark' that counts, There are plenty of non-fascists in this world who would gleefully engage in the burning of books if they knew it would stop the spread of some ideology or thinking or way of thinking they despised, found repugnant or politically abhorrent. I honestly believe very, very few of you would actually resolve to not burn a book in such a scenario. Most people, especially in the modern era, don't count much for self discipline and often have very poorly defined principles (even to themselves) so I honestly believe that most people who said no to this poll, are not being entirely intellectually honest with themselves and are paying lip service to freedom of expression. Who among you wouldn't, if you could, suppress the spread of an increasingly popular modern Communist Manifesto, or Mein Kampf, if burning the books would aid in ceasing the spread of the ideology's influence?
My guess would be 1 in a hundred, and that's a generous estimate.
If I was freezing to death and the only way for me to NOT freeze to death was burning a book, then yes. Other then that however there is literally no valid reason to ever burn a book (no matter what it is).
As burning a book has historically served to deny humanity of the information within, whether I would burn a single book largely depends on the content and circulation. If say, it were a best selling, widely circulated book that I deem terrible, I would have no problem burning it. Would I burn a rare book that was independently published in 1960 with only a dozen surviving copies even if I hated it? No.
Called me a dick and an idiot.Professor James said:
I agreed that I was both. They're not religious but they still don't want to "tempt fate".
Eh, it was the last year or so of school, we all moved on, I like to think we've all grown up a little since then.
I have not the self-righteousness or narrow-mindness to cast heavy opinions on subjects/books/programs/beliefs I'm not versed on; it's called "not judging a book by it's cover".
I doubt anybody has the unequivocal authority to decide what would go and what would stay, so either it all goes or it all stays. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451] provides an insightful look at such a "what if" scenario.
I doubt anybody has the unequivocal authority to decide what would go and what would stay, so either it all goes or it all stays. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451] provides an insightful look at such a "what if" scenario.
Well yea, I would burn a book for warmth in the cold in some kind of horribly hypothetical situation where that was the only option- beyond that kind of scenario... no, there's no point to it. Not to mention that burning a book symbolizes destroying knowledge, the medium to absorb knowledge beyond your own experiences or outside your lifestyle. Horrible thing to do.
No because for me to be in possession of that book would mean that I paid money for it. Why would I buy a book just to burn it?
There is the obvious exception of if I was given the Twilight books (or any really really bad book) as a gift, but such situation would never happen.
edit: If you mean me burning the 1 copy of the book I own, then sure. If you mean throwing every copy of a book into bonfires, then no.
There is the obvious exception of if I was given the Twilight books (or any really really bad book) as a gift, but such situation would never happen.
edit: If you mean me burning the 1 copy of the book I own, then sure. If you mean throwing every copy of a book into bonfires, then no.
