Poll: Would you ever burn a book?

Elric Randall

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Aug 7, 2010
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If there's a good enough reason to burn a book, I'd do it. So no, books aren't sacred to me, though they are well worth taking care of.

For instance, I'd burn a copy of a Harry Potter book for 50 bucks, easy.
 

Fire Daemon

Quoth the Daemon
Dec 18, 2007
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Books burn terribly, so even in a survival situation I doubt I'll be tempted to burn a book.

So no, never.
 

duowolf

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Mar 26, 2011
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I would burn a book but only if the choice was between burning some books and freezing to death. Otherwise there really isn't any reason to do such a thing.
 

Philip Petrunak

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Apr 3, 2010
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Depends. If the book as gains life and randomly starts trying to bite my junk off, and the only way to stop it is to kill it with fire, yea, I'd burn it.
 

IDTheftVictim

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Jan 20, 2011
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Farenheit 451 for irony
Biographies of people I believe should be wiped from history
A holy book of a group who was preaching to much to me
Any book for a crude makeshift weapon

In all honesty it would have to be an extreme situation for me to burn a book
 

mushy262626

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Feb 27, 2011
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Joseph Valdez said:
And if so why?
it depends if you mean taking place in a book burning or are you talking about burning a few pieces of paper for fun? i would never take place in a book burning, because ever piece of litterateur was published for a reason
 

gamefreakbsp

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Sep 27, 2009
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Sure. If I find sufficient reason to burn said book. Like for instance, If I want to start a fire and the only thing around that will get it started is the book, then I would.
 

Calbeck

Bearer of Pointed Commentary
Jul 13, 2008
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I once burned a Jack Chick tract.

But then again, I needed kindling.
 

Joel Soh

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Dec 17, 2010
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It's 50/50 for me.

I know my girlfriend hates burning books, but to me, it's just paper and ink. they can always be preserved electronically etc. Also they build up and take up space...

Then again, it's a waste of paper and some book contain some valuable knowledge.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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I think "burning a book" in itself isn't bad, as in A book, it's the principal of the thing. Fahrenheit-451 used it as the most powerful symbolism (though IMHO, a bit ham fisted).

Many Far-Right groups throughout the 20th century have held book-burning events as a very open and dramatic way of expressing their anti-intellectual attitudes. It's demonstrative of a mindset that is not to counter the opposing argument but to literally destroy the medium of it by force.

It's the ultimate troll move.

But goes the concept of book burning really apply in this modern age?

Book burning in Nazi Germany works by the Nazis going out to the community and in a kind of "bonfire of the vanities" imploring them to bring out all their books, films and recordings all their HARD MEDIA that the previous nazi rally had cast as a corrupting influence particularly on deep and complex ideas.

One think I've discovered about the Nazis studying them is they didn't really have philosophy that could be debated on equal terms, they didn't really have an argument, they just had an ideal and learned that if they could shout it loud enough, rouse the emotions enough, and succeed in crushing intellectual opposition then they could thrive. It's politics of the primitive brain.

White Power is just yelling "WHIIAAAAT POWARRR" with animalistic intensity and whipping up the base emptions of racial conflict. All the "philosophical arguments" for right-wing superiority ONLY work once all opposing argument have been PHYSICALLY crushed. In other words all these Nazis could only preach to the choir about 'Aryan supremacy' if their bully-boys physically silence anyone from pointing out what bollocks that is.

But how many of us get our information, ideas and philosophies from books any more?

With the internet, the computer revolution and the EXPLOSION of storage capacity not to mention translating and encoding technology mean books are obsolete.

The WORD is what matters.

I'd say the modern equivalent of burning books is what China is doing with the internet, though it falls far short of the worst of nazi excesses as it has not succeeded in rallying large parts of the population to assist in the cultural mutilation... or at least not to the same extent.

It seems China's government is in a cold war with it's people, they constantly want to know more and the government keeps withholding.
 

Tim_Buoy

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Jul 7, 2010
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yes they make good kindling for marshmallow roasting and if i dont have any attachment to the book then it doesn't matter
 

Corporal Yakob

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Nov 28, 2009
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If its good enough for the Nazis.....

Seriously though, yes I would burn all copies of "Rhubarb" and do Mankind a favour.
 

Kakujin

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Oct 19, 2008
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I would never burn a book, for the sake of burning that book, i.e taking a stand against what is in it, there are far better ways to do that.

However I would of course burn one if it meant my survival form cold or some such. But that is more burning anything than "burning a book"
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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Apr 15, 2009
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For warmth during the zombie apocalypse.

And the only time I have ever come close was reading a radical feminist book on Islamist terrorism, which explained its rise because men are evil violent beasts at the core of their being. Radical Islam is just one expression of the male dark nature.

:[


Sigh.
 

Fwee

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Sep 23, 2009
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Pig Mazurka said:
Fwee said:
The bible.
Darnit... I was going to say that.
I guess don't because I got a warning for it. Whatevz, if someone's really pissed about it maybe they could ask for a bit of clarification?
 

LostTimeLady

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Dec 17, 2009
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I wouldn't do it for several reasons:

Burning one book might not distroy an idea but who am I to decide what get's read and what doesn't. The destruction of even one book might have stopped someone learning something new about themselves or the world.

I love books. To me they are not property but possessions they belong to the owner as much as the person who first wrote those words.

Faranhit 451 scared me a lot. That's a book about a dystopia that burns books. It's freaky stuff but a classic.

Finally... Nazis... Need I say more? The Nazi's sucessfully distroyed almost all of Gemany's literary heratage the burning of a book is only two steps away from burning them all.

By the by, yes, if it was cold and I needed heat and there was no other fuel source sure, I'd burn a yellow pages or something similar but you wouldn't ever catch me reaching for Lord of the Rings or His Dark Materials even though they've got about as much paper in them as two yellow pages. (Sometimes you've got to be pragmatic...)
 

Altanese

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Mar 17, 2010
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All smart-ass comments about burning them for warmth or some means other than protest or wishing to get rid of them aside...

No. You may as well be asking me if I would ever relieve myself on a painting or break a sculpture. Even if I personally find a book distasteful, abhorrent, offensive, rude, crude, disgusting, and even mediocre, I would defend it's existence. Doesn't matter what book it is. Going Rogue, Twilight, Green Eggs and Ham, Catcher in the Rye, Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit, the Bible, Mein Kampf, the Anarchist Cookbook (or was it Handbook?), the Communist Manifesto, Choke, Johnny Got His Gun, or the one Snookie from Jersey Shore wrote.