Book Burning
Book Burning // 23 June 2023
It has been almost 90 years since the German Student Union proclaimed a nationwide “action against the un-German spirit.”?This resulted in the burning of books, most of which were written by people who were Jewish or whose politics disagreed with those of the Nazi Party.?This included books by Karl Marx, Albert Einstein and even Helen Keller. Among the books burned were those of Heinrich Heine who had written 100 years prior “Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.” ?
It was a movement orchestrated from the highest levels of the Nazi Party. Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels delivered an address to 40,000 people urging “no to decadence and moral corruption…yes, to decency and morality and family and state” ??He stated that “the era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end…the future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character….”?To someone living in the current era, any reference to those ugly times is chilling.
The fact pattern is really very simple: one group of people upon ascending to power decides what everyone else should read.?No books have been burned in Florida yet, although I believe some were burned in Tennessee.?In my opinion, there is nothing more un-American and un-Constitutional than to prevent our citizens from having access to information. ?Ignorance is not bliss!
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If there is any benefit to the electronically dominated era in which we now are living, it is that, even if books are banned or burned, information will still be on the Internet. Let’s hope no one in power challenges that!
Those of us who believe in America and who believe in Democracy should be wary of anyone in power who decides they are smarter than we are and knows better than we do what is good for us to read or watch.
The exercising of dictatorial powers by Gov. DeSantis in Florida, among others, with respect to the pandemic, is a scary precedent.?Those elected to public office should not take away from any family the right to go to a library and pick a book which they feel is appropriate for their child.
Program Director Group Security-Information Security at Philips
1 年Well said, Larry. We really enjoy your insightful take on history and politics. It seems like we need to invoke George Santayana (like you, a Boston Latin School and Harvard College graduate) more frequently these days: “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” What makes me shudder is that we have people in power who know the past full well, and use the ugly bits selectively in their fascist playbook.