" Where They Burn Books, They Will Also Ultimately Burn People."

[AzDar]

--Heinrich Heine


Just sayin'... :patriot:

[slackmaster]

1. "Writers who abuse hyperbole deserve to be taken out and shot."

--slackmaster

:nuke:

[EmilyKent]

2. And ultimately, they did.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. and that is exactly what they would like to do. The Salem witch trials redux.

[burnsei sensei]

4. The Salem witch trials had nothing to do

with reading or with books.
This may also seem trivial, but no witches were burnt at Salem.
They were all hanged.

[WinkyDink]

6. One was pressed. :-)

[burnsei sensei]

10. Giles Corey, 94, was pressed to death because

he would not testify.
He would not confess.
In other words, he would not submit to the trials or the mobs outside.

[rustydog]

12. I believe he would not confess to his wife being a witch and

was stoned. which was having stones piled upon you until you were dead.

[rustydog]

14. My error, he refused to participate and was pressed

"...Corey was examined by magistrates on April 18, then left to languish with his wife in prison for five months awaiting trial. When Corey's case finally went before the grand jury in September, nearly a dozen witnesses came forward with damning evidence such as testimony that Corey was seen serving bread and wine at a witches' sacrament. Corey knew he faced conviction and execution, so he chose to refuse to stand for trial. By avoiding conviction, it became more likely that his farm, which Corey recently deeded to his two sons-in-law, would not become property of the state upon his death."

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_BCOR.HTM

[burnsei sensei]

15. Those who preserved themselves in this terror

did so by confessing and by spreading accusation.
Corey did neither.
He maintained his individual integrity at the cost of his life.

[WinkyDink]

5. I do think the identity of the "they" would be important to know. Something to do with "power"?

[Pavulon]

7. Protected Speech, even by idiots

is part of what we do here. As much as I hate fred phelps, and wish his entire family would burn in a fiery crash I appreciate the rights he uses to be an asshole.

I think what these people are doing is ignorant but not illegal.

[Bragi]

8. Yep /nt

[gratuitous]

9. Thank you for your concern

But I hardly think the folks down in Florida are in any position now or for the foreseeable future to begin immolating unwilling persons with the same impunity with which they would burn their own books. You may see it differently.

[Brickbat]

11. Which is why we are all free to despise what the people at this church in Flordia are advocating.

When the government wants to burn books, give me a call.

[sabrina 1]

13. They have been refused a permit. So if they go ahead now

they will be violating the law.

[_ed_]

16. There's an obvious

difference between the upcoming Quran burning and what Heine was talking about. The government acted in one case; the other involves private citizens and protected speech.

Just sayin'...

[thereismore]

17. Those that make you believe absurdities will make you commit atrocities. Voltaire nt