Photo By Asad Chishti for illustrative purposes.
Burning books is a Nazi-like sacrilege
Column By Walt Mares
I am a voracious lover of books, even more so since I retired after four decades of being a newspaper reporter.
I am dismayed by those in America who are burning books or demanding that many be removed from school libraries.
For me, that is a sacrilege.
These people are acting out against anything that may be controversial, such as the fact that racism and slavery ever existed. Yet I am not aware of any who are complaining or banning or burning books or other sources that may contain violence. Perhaps they are not aware of or do not care about the violence portrayed in video games millions of American children play.
Sure enough, many of those games involve destroying the opposition via violence. But no problem there, eh? What could possibly be wrong with Junior or Missy being involved in killing others, albeit on a screen?
My love for books dates back to fourth grade but began flourishing as an 8th grader when I got to take high school journalism.
That’s also when I fell in love with the school library. There, sitting alone, I read books that by today’s standards might be outlawed – then again, maybe not. Among them were Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf (My Struggle)” and the follow-up, “My New Order.”
Why was I so interested in the horror of Nazism? I wanted to learn how so many people could buy into what the maniac was espousing. It just did not make sense to me that so, so many would fall for something so ugly and dangerous.
At the time I began having a strong interest in a world-shaping event that involved the deaths of millions of people and the deaths of thousands of American troops. All because of Hitler’s repeated lies.
I believe that interest may have been shaped by having learned what so many World War II veterans experienced when they served in the European Theater and battled the Nazis.
Another important book, though I found it difficult to read, was Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.” It required me to use a dictionary to understand some of the words.
The book has over the years made many evangelicals shudder and decry Darwin and evolution as atheistic – and more.
Fast-forward to my freshman year. I had saved up some money from working in the fields during the summer. I bought a paperback copy of “Doctor Zhivago.” I had it on top of some other books I took to an English class. The teacher, who claimed to be part of a church in which the members call themselves “saints,” saw the book and took it away from me claiming it was not fit for people to be read, especially for someone as young as I.
What a bummer. He rejected my pleas when I told him I had worked hard to buy it.
I had underestimated the zeal of his self-righteousness. Maybe the teacher considered the book taboo as it involved Russia and at that time the U.S. and Russia were mortal enemies – the Cold War. However, I doubt that.
After I graduated from high school, I borrowed “Dr. Zhivago” from the library of our local college. It was long but excellent. It was astounding to me that it was not loaded with anything sexual or vulgar – things that might have caused a teacher to snatch it away.
These many years later what remains in my mind from my readings in the high school library are the many, many book burnings that occurred during Hitler’s reign. He demanded that materials that did not align with his way of thinking were not just banned but burned. He particularly hated any texts that dealt with psychology or anything he considered intellectual.
In other words, anything that might cause people to think about anything other than loyalty to him and the murderous Nazi philosophy. That is if one could even consider that as a philosophy. Better yet, describe it as evil dogma and propaganda.
Hitler used fear as a quite effective tool to rule, and people fell under his spell. He frequently used lies to stir the masses. Lies and more lies. “Any lie frequently repeated gradually gains acceptance.” So said a Nazi propagandist.
Sound familiar?
As for books, nothing was allowed that might dispel that fear or contradict Hitler’s lies. The fewer people knew, the better for the madman.
Toward his ends, burning books was very effective. That is one of the reasons I was shocked — make that stunned — when I saw a video of books being burned by a group in Texas. The culprits were shown gleefully cheering as the flames climbed.
Were they drunk? Perhaps. Then again maybe they were just under the spell of ignorance, ugliness, stupidity, and, foremost, lies repeated on television or online.
It is frightening to see actual books burning here in the nation that defeated Hitler. What might come next?
So now I am concerned about freedom of thought in the land of the free.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
