Article of the Week on Book Burning – 3/5-3/9
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Now then . . .
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Here is an introduction to this week’s Article of the Week Post. You DO NOT have to print it.
Censorship has been around forever, and I fear it may be around forevermore. In order for us to know how to deal with it, we must be familiar with it in its most mild and extreme forms.
The article I would like you to read is called Book Burning. It will give you a thorough introduction to the topic. On the linked page you will find related articles, related links – even one specifically about Fahrenheit 451 – at the bottom of the page; along the sidebar you will find a photo show, a map and actual film footage links.
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Read the main article on Book Burning.
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Then dig deeper to find out something you have personal interest in.
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Finally, come back to this post to discuss your findings, your personal reactions, your position on this practice. If you find yourself inspired to write something creative – a story, poem, position statement – share it. If you want to record an audio reply, then do it.
Express yourself without hurting others.
Heinrich Heine, who wrote in his 1820-1821 play Almansor the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen”: “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.”
~I find this quote true because books tell of things in the past and people of the past, but by erasing this you are basically in a way, killing someones presense in the world that they left behind and the good (or bad )impact they created.
(1)”Censorship to any and all artistic production” they said
Doesn’t this world know right from wrong?
Gone is free speech and all expression too
As soon as the offending pieces were burned
The authors and artists slowly sink to depression
Scholar’s sharp brains become dull
As they stand with wicked smirks around the bonfire
(2)The flames climbing higher, high as the sky
(2)Paper slowly burning as words dance around the flame
Painted families crying their artist’s tears
Determined heroines meeting there death at last
As the whole population turns a blind eye
(2)To the “cleansing” (Säuberung) by fire
In 1933, Nazi German authorities strove to synchronize professional and cultural organizations with Nazi ideology and policy (Gleichschaltung).(1) In keeping with this endeavor, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, began an effort to bring German arts and culture in line with Nazi goals. The government purged cultural organizations of Jewish and other officials alleged to be politically suspect or who performed or created art works which Nazi ideologues labeled “degenerate.”
On April 6, 1933, the Nazi German Student Association’s Main Office for Press and Propaganda proclaimed a nationwide “Action against the Un-German Spirit,” to climax in a literary purge or (2)“cleansing” (Säuberung) by fire. Local chapters were to supply the press with releases and commissioned articles, offer blacklists of “un-German” authors, sponsor well-known Nazi figures to speak at public gatherings, and negotiate for radio broadcast time
Book burning destroys the complexity to humanity. Without books, we have no opinions, no thoughts, no emotions. One opinion creates another and if nobody had an opinion everybody would act and think the same way and wouldnt care about anything. I think that no matter what there will be books, even if our world comes to burning books like in Fahrenheit 451 and if we disregard books, then it will be the same thing as burning them because we will have no information or imagination.
Our world will always have books somewhere because there will always be that person who cares about their generation and future generations.
Before my last 2 paragraphs got deleted, I was trying to say that book burning is bad for the society and should be fround upon, in my opinion. Fahrenheit 451 is about book burning to and it destroys knowledge for those who support their economy when in reality knowledge is what you need in life to succeed. The Nazis did it to take away all knowledge from Jews which is wrong and totally unrealistic.
“Book Burning” is just like Fahrenheit 451. People are burning books to destroy knowledge for certain people when in reality you need knowledge to succeed in life. Savion is right if the book was negative then they had every right to do it, But why destroy it if ti brings knowledge to the people that support are economy like are parents, teachers, and us the future of our economy. I watched the Nazi video and they burnt the books to destroy the knowledge of Jew but why does the government burn books in Fahrenheit 451? I’m not saying the Nazi were doing the right thing,
i’m just saying at least they had a reason.
I think that book burning has to be against the law because no person’s thoughts or writing should be burned. that’s like burning your brain because the people in FAREHIET 451 the government “burned” then “brained-washed” the peoples mind’s for they won’t think because they are afraid that the people are going to take over. So they kill everyone who thinks to protect their government. THEY’VE CHANGED HISTORY
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2lVRcI0zsvw&v=2lVRcI0zsvw&gl=US
This video relates to book burning and censorship because Ren (Kevin Bacon) is defending his right to dance. Book burning is a form of censorship because people are burning the books because they do not like the message the book is sending or whatever content they do not like in the book. In Ren’s case, censorship plays a role because the Reverend HATES the music that Ren and his friends listen to, so he told them they could not dance. I agree with what David said because people take their time and life to write down how they feel and what they know. When you burn books you take away the sole meaning and purpose of this knowledge. If it wasn’t for books, there would be no history, virtually no language, there wouldn’t be chemical formulas and equations in science, and there wouldn’t be any math textbooks. All of this could be considered vital to our survival. If there was no communication people could die and get murdered and raped and nobody would know because of the deficiency of communication. I am finished expressing my thoughts.
As I was doing research on book burning I fould this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Every burned book enlightens the world.”
There is a serious problem with this quote. The definition of enlighten is to give intellectual or spiritual light to; instruct; impart knowledge to. So basically to enlighten is to make something better. But when you burn books you in NO way make the world better. So many of us enjoy books and love to read them. When and if they are burned today I know a lot of people would be outraged.
Also another definition of enlightened is to bring light to. Also when I was doing research I saw a lot of pictures of people burning books. As they were burning it left an area of black thick smoke. Therefore when you burn books you make the world a dark and bad place.
I had a heard time puting a reply into words. . . .One quick google, and result at Yahoo answers brought me to something that sums it up succinctly. . . Here is the text fromt he post at Yahoo answers:
Throughout history, there have been religious or political factions that have come into power, that don’t like or don’t agree with certain pieces of literature. Therefore, they would simply outlaw them, ban them from being printed or sold, and burn as many existing copies as they could find.
However, 99% of the time, this had the opposite affect that the government intended. It’s like a mother telling her child “Don’t look in that box!”. The child, who before may never have even thought to open the box, now is enflamed in curiosity. They want nothing more than to know what is the box. The same would happen to the people of that country. While before, the book may have gone unnoticed, they now know that there is something secret, forbidden in that book. The result was that people would hide copies of the book, read them, give them to their friends, talk about them, and often the literature’s audience doubled. All this was because the government DIDN”T want the particular book read.
Emerson is also using a bit of a play on words here. Burning produces light, and light allows people to see more clearly. Thus the word “enLIGHTens”. When books are forbidden, banned, or burned, people are more likely to read them, thus expanding their worldview, and enlightening themselves.
I hope this is clear, and that it helps you write your essay.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100503180853AA3jSSZ
I don’t believe that books should be burned, unless it is for a very good reason. And even then, I don’t believe they should be burned in large, public ceremonies. In some cases however, some books should be banned and destroyed, like if they endanger the safety of the country’s citizens. If, for instance, a book reveals classified information, the book should be destroyed, else it fall into the wrong hands. If the book, for instance, outright encourages criminal activity, it should be destroyed, before someone gets hurt. Only in situations like that should a book be burned. If a book has no value to you, it may be a prized possession of someone else. Only in a case where the book endangers the health and safety of others, or presents false information that could damage the health and safety, should it be banned.
I agree wih Dessie’s side of the story. When you burn a book your really burning that person who wrote it. In the story the people who fight back for their book gets burned with it. I believe that the people who burn others and their books should be burned themselves like Montag said. Authors take their time to write down their ideas on paper. Their ideas are who they are and when you burn their ideas you burn them.
I think that this article is very concerning to me and to actually think all of this happened and how it happened and book burning is really crazy it really is knowledge is power and i know now that’s why they burnt books in Fahrenheit 451 and here because if they people have knowledge then they have power if they have power Hitler becomes more and more powerless and if he becomes more powerless then the people become powerful and that’s when they would take back what is there’s and the war/conterversie would have bein over alot faster
Before I begin I would like to admit that I did not read the entire article, but I did read enough to come up the following understanding.
So far I agree with everything that everyone has said, but, if by chance they were burning a book that could have been negative they had every right too do so. I think the main goal though was to try to control everything and everyone using censorship, as in the book, or they were just trying to control other people within the nation.
Read the entire article. Don’t talk about something you only know half as much about as you should. Get informed before someone informs you. Practice humility before you get humiliated. Do your HW, people.
I did some extra research on book burning and found an article that was posted on book burning in 2009. A preacher believed that “satan’s books” should be burnt. As in “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, scissors cut paper and paper tears very easily, as he is talking about the protesters against BOOK BURNING. Some say they were hiding from them, the truth but they say otherwise.
Acts 13:7-10 “Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?”
They believe that certain authors are demons but they do not believe in burning bibles in another language.
http://amazinggracebaptistchurchkjv.com/Download99.html
Watching that video ” The Twilight Zone : The Obsolete Man ” , made was like a eye opener to me. Because these events really did happen! And to get killed because you love doing what you do, and its unnecessary in life? And that it’s not important and that its a waste in life? Books? A waste? Seriously? They teach us so much! They are like an inspiration! And if society really was to be like this, the world should just end! What would then be the purpose of going to school? College? Having a job? These things are a big part of our lives and and so are books! And I should really start reading more, because they will be so helpful in the long run. Books are needed in this world, if we actually want to be somebody or for the world to actually be something. ( I just realized the books REALLY ARE important , writing all of this . )
Well to start one of the first things that I learn from this article of the week was that book burning is a type of cenership. I also learn some of the reasons of why is was done, like censoring out cultral, religious, and government opposition to brain wash people of a political party or a country like Hitler did. Hitler did his best to wipe out any books that were un-German so that it would be much easier for him to stay in control. Hitler guided and had many German students burn books so his idea was to get the following generations with the mind set that censorship was the right thing to do.
You rock!! I can’t wait for our first home game!!
I totally agree with Jenna! and I have to confess that I am guilty of spending hours on playing video games or just watching tv. I should really reflect on myself, and just start picking up a book and reading it.. I mean its not like I don’t read, but I just don’t read as much as I really should. And yes not reading a book is just like burning books, because you are neglecting the information and it’s just like the book was never there.
knowledge is power!
David, I can tell you feel very strongly about this comment. Follow through. Read more. You will grow in directions you could never have predicted. Get outside your comfort zone. Just look at what is going on here. This book. Most of you would NEVER have chosen to read this book. And, now get ready for this. Most of you are, repeat, ARE GRATEFUL that I forced you to read this. This is one of those life experiences you can not, no mater how hard some might try, CAN NOT ignore. This time in your life can make all the difference. And isn’t THAT what we have been talking about in class? EVERY MOMENT CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Live every moment as if it is the most important moment of all time for you, AND for the person next to you. If we all live that way, then we will all make sure that we all get everything out of each moment. (( Moment: (noun) the present time or any other particular time )) Interesting how moment – the definition I like at any rate – has no specific length of time assigned to it. It could be seconds, minutes, days . . . It could be a lifetime. The moment I want to make meaningfull is my lifetime. Hey class, what moment do you want to live fully?
I agree with everyone BUT Kyle. I think without books there is no fun to life. Of course some may think different, and I understand. If you think about it ALL the books you read were burned and never was there because it was “un-German” For example “No David” was my favorite childhood book. That would have been burned with many more of my favorite books. Again I find the book burning was terrible.
proofed by Mr. Moshe
Strong well thought out comment . . . . Nuff said.
I belive that book burnings were bad because in countries like Germany, they had a dictator who told them what to do and they thought that Hitler would avenge them from there loses in world war one.
The German author Heinrich Heine,who warned that burning books would end in burning people,was sadley right.
“From these ashes will rise the phoenix of the new spirit”,Gooebbels optimisticly declared as the flames devoured massive funeral pyres of some 20,000 volumes of offensive books in Germany in 1933.
http://www.beaconforfreedom.org
You said, “they had a dictator who told them what to do and they thought that Hitler would avenge them from there loses in world war one.”
Are you saying that Germany had a dictator before Hitler came to power? They didn’t. Germany was a republic much like our own republic we live in now. They had a President as we do too who was elected by the people. One thing they had that we don’t and didn’t is a Chancelor which was appointed. There, now there was the catch.
Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. On this famous document was listed the reasons why he believed that the Roman Catholic Church was corrupted. He went on to say that the practices that the Catholic Church had everyone follow, were wrong. This included people paying for repentance. By the Nazis choosing the day Martin Luther posted the 95 theses to burn all the books, they wanted to show what they were doing was right. It’s a horrible thing to destroy books because of how much they teach us and inform us. The Nazis saw all these books as threats, and to make people believe what they were doing was right, they tried to compare the book burning to Martin Luther’s 95 theses.
proofed by Mr. Moshe
I absolutley agree with the comments above, not reading books is exactly like book burning. They say you don’t love something until it’s gone, but in this case is it true? Use what you have because one day what you take for granted, might not be there anymore. People act like you HAVE to have a cellphone, but the world was just fine before they were invented; if anything they have caused problems among users. Say you lost your phone, you’re freaking out are’nt you? What you really should be freaking out about is losing your grammar and punctuation skills, like Mr. Mosh’e was saying. The world we live in is absolutley ignorant and lazy, don’t make it worse by not reading books. Take it from Montag, to just have a book in his possession his precious enough. If we are not careful, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 might not be a book at all. Instead just a very highly accurate prediction of our generation and the generation to come. Think about that, the next time you choose wasting hours on faceBOOK or “Modern Warfare” over reading a simple book.
I think that the two events of book burning with the Nazis and the Burschenschaften, over one hundred years apart, is an example of history repeating itself. The two groups, both in Germany, burned “un-German” books. The Burshenschaften wanted to celebrate the 300th aniversary of Luther’s 95 Theses. The Nazis also wanted to follow Martin L uthers theses and “cleanse” the German culture by getting rid of everything Jewish and everything “un-German”. This goes to show that you need to learn your history in order for it to not repeat itself.
proofed by Mr. Moshe
I looked into one of the authors who had some of her books burned by the Nazis. Her name is Vicki Baum and she wrote about liberation for women and independence. She moved to the United States in 1932 because she was uncomfortable with the fascism and antisemitism that was increasing. She was a best-selling author and was a supporter for the modern women.
I found this information here:
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/bookburning/author_detail.php?content=bbbaum.xml
Adding on to what Kyle said that was the main goal of the Nazi forces, to censor everything.They went to all extremes to get power or control over all.
When Hitler burned “un-German” books to censor them from his country, he took away the right for his people to explore other knowledge and opinions outside their country. Those people who were interested in learning about things outside their country couldn’t because Hitler wanted a pure “Aryan” race. Heinrich Heine was right when he said ‘Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.” I did more research on Heinrich Heine and found that he converted to Protestantism to have a possible civil service career which at that time was closed to Jewish people but he never got the job. He became a great German poet of his time. One of his famous poems is called “Die Lorelei”
“I do not know what haunts me,
What saddened my mind all day;
An age-old tale confounds me,
A spell I cannot allay.”
Source:http://kirjasto.sci.fi/hheine.htm
Honestly I dont like reading books and I know theres some of you out there that are like me but book burning is unnecessary. You gain knowledge from reading books and I think Hitlers whole purpose for book burning and censorship was to have control over his people and manipulate them. Just like Heinrich Heine said “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people
I think that book burning was an important time in history. Books have evolved all throughout history, they are how we have history today, they are how we learn not to do the same mistakes, our world gets better everyday because of books, we learn not only about history but about all subjects, you can learn absalutley anything by reading. I think book burning was so important becasue it was a mistake we made, and we learn from our mistakes. I dont know how I would think without knowing what I have read. We wouldnt have anything without books, we dont realize how much books have contributed to our lives, but without them we wouldnt have much. Books hold things for us; memories, stories, and information, without it we wouldnt have any records of book burning and we would make the same mistakes again. Books are an important aspect in everyones life, you need to read to expand your mind and your way of thinking. We are the next generation and we need to realize that we need to read as much as we can and learn as much as we can, because our generation is neglecting books, like burning a book many years ago it is a mistake and we dont want that to happen again. So I encourage everyone and anyone to try to read a book even if they dont know how at least they are attempting and showing an example for others to do the same. I know that our ancestors who watched their most precious books burn dont want us to watch our books to burn either.
Burning Books : Loosing Information :: Neglecting Books : Not Learning Information
I say this anology because we are going to make the same mistakes this world has made in the past whether we realize it or not. Not reading books is like Burning Books in a way.
The Nazi’s burning the books showed how much they hated the Jews. To burn books by jewish authors are like talking the culture of their family away from them.Also just recently U.S soldiers had burn Bill O’Reilly’s book ” Pinheads and Patriots” in Afghanistan.
I did research on the Opernplatz, which was where Joseph Goebbels made a serious speech. An Oplernplatz is a square stage located in the capitol of Germany, Berlin. It was used for important speeches and performances. There are still some in Germany today. The Opernplatz is a historic landmark!
The article “Book Burning” was mainly about how all the stuff about book burning started, this all started with the Nazis and their associations many Germans students also participated in this type of action. I found interested that they would burn un-germans books in a way of censorship.
I did research on the 95 Theses. It was written by Martin Luther. During that time, Christians were told they could pay money to be forgiven for their sins. Martin Luther was outraged by this. So he wrote the 95 Theses to explain every thing that was wrong with paying to be forgiven. He posted his Theses on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenburg.
C overing up the world as we know it
E verything one has can be lost forever
N o freedom of speech
S aving innocence and providing ignorance
O mitting language, books, or other material
R estriction of material and language
S corching books and letting art die
H orrific destruction of literature
I gniting the flame in Fahrenheit 451
P aper burning and words lost
Maybe this poem can be used as a warm up in class sometime soon.
In the book Fahrenheit 451 book burning is a natural thing, and I’ve always been upset about just the idea of book burning. But when I read this article and found out book burning is actually real, I was going crazy! I had no idea people did this in real life, but it’s no surprise the Nazis and Germans took part in it. The fact someone could celebrate a topic like this makes my stomach churn. I’m so glad things have changed, since then. Here’s a poem I found while researching, by: Sydney Lynn
Witness, I was
To the words ablaze.
Auburn lighting,
To covers of glaze.
Printed was lost,
But minds were saved.
So one can express,
The wrong of that day.
Personally, I feel that burning books is so ignorant which is what Hitler’s entire strategies towards controlling his people. He’s just taking away everyone’s rights and not allowing them to read and/or believe what they want to believe. No one has the right to take things like that away from you. In the end, Heinrich Heine was right, “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.” He’s burning the right to read and learn and have opinions about things, he’s burning true art.
In the article book burning they talked about important facts like In May 1933, the Nazi party wanted any book and the German home , and the driving forces of our people was to be burnt. they wanted the books to be burned because the german nazi party was trying to make the world more pure by burning books other reasons why they burned books was to remove all non-German ideas from Germany, and they burned books because they didnt want the people to start beleiving the opposite of what they were believing. and the books didnt follow what the nazis believed so they started getting rid of certain books.
I did some extra reaserch on the group of German students called the Burschenschaften. I found out that this group first appeared in 1815 and that these groups were suppresed under Carlsbad Decrees and they then went underground until the German Revolution. This German student group started as an expression of the nationalism prevalent in post-Napoleonic Europe. I found that some people think of this group of people as “American fraternities” because of the way some of the peeple acted. While they were in this group.
Great Stuff. Please cite your source.