We have previously discussed the burning of rare books by Islamic State. Now, a new report says that the group has burned more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts in Mosul. They then reportedly bombed the Mosul Public Library according to the director of the library. A new video also shows ISIS fighters smashing works of art, including a 9th Century figure.
The latest losses including manuscripts from the 18th century, Ottoman-era books, a sand glass used by ancient Arabs and Iraqi newspapers from the early 20th century. ISIS also destroyed the church of Mary the Virgin in Mosul and Mosul’s University theater.
What is fascinating is how similar these Islamic extremists are to the Nazis in their extermination campaigns coupled with the destruction of cultural and intellectual centers. In some ways, Islamic fascists are more dangerous because they combine this murderous culture with a promise of eternal salvation. As we have seen from the Nazis to the Stalinists to the Kymer Rouge to the Islamic State, intellectuals and their work are some of the first groups to be attacked by these forces of ignorance and hatred.
The thought of the loss of these early Islamic works is heartbreaking. I am only imagine the pain of this director and so many others to see their intellectual history literally go up in smoke.
Yes, Webster, the U.S. bans creationist books from science and public institutions of learning, but at least we are not burning ancient irreplaceable books yet.
These Islamic State guys are barbarians. I am not sure what aggravates me more, all the beheadings, or destroying thousands of books and libraries. They have no regard at all for either life or knowledge.
This is what you get from people who do not value education, knowledge and ingenuity. They distrust and seek to destroy those who have it.
While touring the Balkans last fall, I recall hearing that the unemployment rate was 60% in many areas and seeing lots of young men, in particular, sitting around having coffee and doing nothing. Mosques were busy, however. I wondered why those young men would not busy themselves by cleaning the trash from the streets, creating something with what they had, etc. Contrast with cities in China (on the beaten tourist paths) which are immaculate and there is a sense of pride and beauty —- many advances since my first visit in 1982.
If they destroy their OWN history and history in general, they can make up fantasies and convert more people to their twisted ideology.
This is why it is so important to look at history, dispassionately accepting both the good and the bad. Also why it is so very very important to not view history through a distorted lens of political correctness or ideology of any kind.
So very sad to see the destruction of important books, art and ideas.
Isaac, I have suggested putting tactical nuclear weapons on the table. You have a convoy of these animals in the desert, then turn that patch of desert into glass. What our prez does not understand it the ME culture. They worship not only Allah, but power and strength. The people on the fence see ISIS as strong, and us as weak. They’re not very sophisticated. A tactical nuclear will change that dynamic quickly. Oh, there will be hand wringing and outrage. But, I think one tactical will change the dynamic. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen w/ this guy. He loves to kill w/ drones and hell fires. That’s just poking the bees nest. Stupid. We would be better off doing nothing than just poking the bees nest.
Warren:
“The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality.”
*****************
I think a lot of believers and clergy (in the Catholic Church especially) and elsewhere can write volumes on carnality.
Nick,
Obama is carnally minded. Where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal…?
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth,
are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. But Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). In other words, carnality will disappear.
What need have savages for books?
If ISIS were a single person, that person would be termed a psychotic, murdering, evil, or worse, deviant. It would be a perfect subject for a movie or book. If ever there was an example of collective madness it is ISIS. This rendition of this reoccurring nightmare eclipses Nazi Germany, Pol Pot, Stalin, and the rest. The only question worth entertaining is how to wipe them all out, or as many as possible. There will be chaos and religious extremism for some time to come. Together it is a human sickness that should be treated in a surgical manner as well as a preventative manner. When it metastasizes to this degree, it is time for the knife.
Tragic. I am reminded of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. I can see IS goons rampaging through cities and villages arresting or killing those with impure books and burning the books and homes that house them. Nothing spells ignorance as well as the drive to stop thoughts that don’t fit the needs of the program. Could IS be considered as a murderous cult?
That’s why attempts by some on the right to ban certain books, or parts of from libraries and classrooms should not be taken lightly. Our own government has a different way of banning documents that may upset the tribe’s beliefs, or present factual accounts of history. It instead arrests journalists, jails whistle blowers and marks anything that may be considered a national security ‘treat’ as classified, and it does so under the guise of freedom. As long as the people are made to feel ‘protected’ they need not know the truth….
Warren, Obama and the world appear to be waiting until the number gets close to 6 million, before stomping on this bug.
Interview with Isaac Asimov. While this is directed at Christianity somewhat, his description seems to align with the non-thinking of IS:
MOYERS: But, of course, this is what frightens many, many believers. They see science as uncertain, always tentative, always subject to revisionism. They see science as a complex, chilling and enormous universe, ruled by chance and impersonal laws. They see science as dangerous.
ASIMOV: That is really the glory of science. That science is tentative, that it is not certain, that it is subject to change. What is really, in my way of thinking, disgraceful is to have a set of beliefs that you think is absolute and has been so from the start and can’t change. Where you simply won’t listen to evidence. You say, “If the evidence agrees with me, it’s not necessary. If it doesn’t agree with me, it’s false.”
This is the legendary remark of Omar when they captured Alexandria and asked what to do with the library. He said, if the books agree with the Quran, they are not necessary and may be burned. If they disagree with the Koran, they are pernicious and must be burned.
Well, there are still these Omar-like thinkers, who think that all of knowledge will fit into one book called the Bible and refuse to allow that there is even the conceivability of an error in there. That, to my way of thinking, is much more dangerous than a system of knowledge which is tentative and uncertain.
Burning books is one thing. ISIS rounds up 100’s more Christians in Assyria and Iraq to be put to death.
Actually it was a rough night w/ pain. So, I got up and started going. Laying in bed in pain is horrible. When you get up and go you’re distracted. I’ll take my morning walk on the beach in awhile, that helps as well.
A demonstration of Faith? If they had any, they wouldn’t need to destroy World history. Fear, not Faith.
Nick – it is not even 6 am there and you have had a couple of expressos? Damn, it is going to be a rough day.
On the library and the books, I am not sure why we should be surprised. I think we will see more of it. One way to create a cultural heritage is to destroy the old one. I do hope they at least microfilmed the books and those are at other libraries.
I’ve had a couple espressos Isaac.
Nick
Ya couldn’t wait, could ya?
I do love the use of “Islamic fascists” in this post. No Orwellian contortions here.
How many similarities to Hitler and the Nazi’s before the world steps up and crushes this scourge? We need a Churchill, not an Obama.