"snakefiddler" wrote in message
...

"Greg Pavlov" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 17:52:16 -0400, "Jim" wrote:

Whether you agree with their actions, don't they have as much right to
burn
them as you have to read them?


I think that the Taliban used similar logic for destroying
those statues. That aside, if the books, etc are theirs, yes,
tho


I'd object if they were destroying the only known copies
of some works.


good point, greg.
i am a lover of books, and as i think i have stated earlier, anyone
visiting my home would probably notice that first off.

I would. Bookshelves, if present, are about the first things I notice when
entering someone's house for the first time.......usually.

while i am
*personally* offended by the action of book burning, i have to support the
right of an individual or group to do so, (however distasteful i may find
it), if i am to justify my right to read, say, and write whatever i want,
or
even stand on the at the intersection of 105 and 321 , participating in an
anti-war protest. it is a difficult juxtaposition to accept, but a
necessary one.
to support greg's statement, i would become more concerned over the
burning
of non- duplicated materials, however.

So much in life depends on perspective. As has been pointed out, burning
books is largely a symbolic gesture these days.......has been at least since
the invention of the linotype, which allowed cheap and easy mass production.
Except in the noted exception of rare works (which rarely fall into the
hands of anyone who wants to burn them......thieves for profit are another
matter entirely) no harm is done by the actual burning of the books. In
fact, if all the would be book burners in today's world were given free
reign, their efforts would be negligible, if even noticeable, as compared to
what is routinely discarded on a daily basis. Personally, I believe they
SHOULD be given free reign and all the publicity they want. All I ask is
that the faces in the crowd be recorded. It is good to know who the enemy
is. And preventing them from burning books will not stop them from being
book burners.

Dickie's inability to distinguish between people who burn flags and flag
burners notwithstanding, I should think that people concerned about the
latter would benefit from taking a similar perspective. Of course, they
don't. This doesn't make them idiots......it merely illustrates that they
are.

Wolfgang