Book Burning

On May 10, 1933 and other dates shortly thereafter German students in coordination with the office of Reichspropaganda Minister Josef Goebbels burned mountains of books considered un-German. The American reaction was swift and strong and, although it did not include the physical intimidation or murder of Germans and the destruction of symbols of German culture, the displeasure of the American public was amply made manifest.

On March 20, 2011, following an earlier promise he had made for September 11, 2010, Terry Jones, an evangelical minister in Gainesville, Florida had ignited a copy of the Koran. The book had been soaking in kerosene and burned for about 10 minutes. Before the date of his first planned burning, he had been warned by high officials both within and without the United States that such an act conducted in public would most likely cause a firestorm in reaction in Muslim countries where American troops are engaged in military actions and need the cooperation of local populations. Terry Jones only relented after supposedly receiving a promise that the Islamic Center slated for construction a few blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan would be moved. Since it has become apparent that the plans for the Center’s construction have not changed, Jones felt it was necessary to make the original point he had intended. So in his church where about 30 were in attendance, a trial was held to establish the “guilt” of the Koran and then a punishment was executed.

Unfortunately, as predicted, parts of the Muslim world exploded in rage. In particular, in Afghanistan as of April 3, 2011 24 people have been killed, including 7 United Nations staffers overrun by an hysterical crowd. The number of wounded is over 100. Even in the best of times, Christian minorities are at risk throughout that region and after this provocation, one can only assume that the lives of Christians and Westerners are at greater risk. Is it fair to bring this episode into the context of Nazi bookburning? I believe so. When the Nazis burned books we as American reacted. When the holiest of Muslim texts is burned, the Muslim world reacted, each of course in an entirely different fashion.

Let us engage in a mind experiment. Suppose a crowd in Kandahar (Afghanistan) or Peshawar (Pakistan) burned copies of our Constitution or Declaration of Independence. Would we be thrown into a murderous rage? Probably not. The hypothetical scenario seems somewhat hilarious to a degree because it appears on one level to be a sandbox conflict. “Are too!” “Am not.” We are more sophisticated than to imagine that any real insult could be leveled against us merely by burning pieces of paper. Great parts of the Muslim world are still living in an age where symbols still count for something. What in fact would get our dander up to the point that we lose our self control and commit acts of mayhem and murder? Well, we use our armed forces when the “interests” of the United States are at stake. And when is that? Here I inject a subjective response. Those interests are really commercial interests. If attempts are made to compete with us in markets we deem sole access to or if threats are made to strategic resources such as oil or natural gas, bullets will surely fly. Some might ask – isn’t the mission to bring democracy and prosperity to the deprived of the earth. Looking at the record, our elites seem quite content to do business with ruinous and bloody dictators as long as they secure those commercial interests. As inhabitants of the quite daffy 21st century, we have our priorities straight, don’t we?

Of course, there are those in this country who think that Terry Jones did a noble thing by taking a match to helpless paper. That is because they belong to a segment of American opinion that has substituted magical thinking for reason and meaningless display for analysis and dialogue. There are entire broadcast networks devoted to a non-stop form of figurative bookburning, giving to the American people the kind of satisfaction found by the crowds on the streets of parts of the Muslim world. The Nazis were smarter and stronger and see how far their bookburning got them.