We recently discussed how many on the left have discovered the allure of book burning, book banning, and blacklisting of authors. While expressing shock at ISIS and other extremist groups burning books, the practice appears acceptable based on the titles or content. Now educators in Ontario have held a “flame purification ceremony” for the local indigenous population by burning roughly 5,000 books. The notion of teachers burning books is almost as bizarre as the thought of book sellers embracing blacklisting but both are now part of the realities of our age of rage.These school officials actually videotaped the celebration of book burning for students at 30 schools with the announcement that “We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security.”The announcement even has a type of Maoist cultural revolution feel to it. In addition, Lyne Cosette, a spokeswoman for the public French-speaking Catholic schools of Ontario, told the National Post newspaper, “Symbolically, some books were used as fertilizer.” The entire demonstration was a disgrace to educators everywhere. The lesson of book burning left with these children will likely be indelible and lasting. I have worried about the rise of a generation of censors but the Catholic schools of Ontario appear intent on raising a generation of book burners.No administrators or teachers were fired for teaching thousands of kids to be book burners. While other Canadians have voiced their disgust, there is no indication from the Catholic schools that such individuals are fundamentally unsuited to teach children. I would defend any one of them who sought to burn books or flags as a form of free speech despite my disgust for such actions. However, teaching and celebrating book burning is a rejection of the very essence of learning.
What is truly chilling is the Orwellian call for children to burn books in order to be a more “inclusive country.”
Update: The Conseil Scolaire Catholique (CSC) Providence has issued a statement of regret but notably does not state any intention to fire or sanction those responsible for this heinous act.
“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.” “Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.”–Heinrich Heine, from his play Almansor, written at age 26 and published in the year 1823.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it! (George Santayana-1905). In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill changed the quote slightly when he said (paraphrased), “those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
Jonathan: If we really want to “bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes” there is a better way than burning books. California legislators are doing just that. Now I grew up on the beaches of SoCal–Manhattan, Hermosa and Torrance Beach. I would often ride my bike along the strand by the lifeguard training center–oblivious to the history of the 2 pieces of property that housed the center. There is a monument on the property facing Highland Ave. It reads: “Bruce’s Beach”. I recently learned about the history of the property–I “awoke”. In 1912 Willa and Charles Bruce, a black couple, bought the 2 parcels because they wanted a resort for Black people to enjoy the beach at a time of extreme racial segregation in LA. So they built a lodge, cafe and dance hall. Every thing went peacefully for a few years. But the Bruce’s white neighbors became alarmed at the sight of a lot of Black people cavorting on the beach. The local KKK tried but was not able to burn down the resort. But harassment grew. Black beachgoers returning to their cars found the tires slashed. Under pressure from white residents the City eventually seized the Bruce’s property through eminent domain–ostensibly to build a park. But the property remained empty for decades. As a result the descendants of the Bruce’s lost generational wealth. The state is now trying to right that historic wrong by returning the property to the descendants of the Bruce’s. Works for me. I just hope school children in SoCal will learn about “Bruce’s Beach”–perhaps taking a field trip there to learn about one of the important episodes in the racial history of California. Call it “wokeism”, or CRT. It works for me.
Dennis: “Now I grew up on the beaches of SoCal–Manhattan, Hermosa and Torrance Beach”
***
I was wondering what happened to you.
Young,
Your elitism is duly noted.
Jeff,
My elitism has often been targeted by whiny complaints but I have grown used to it.
Where would you be without elites? Remember Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class my child.
Fact:
In 1863, freed slaves must have been summarily deported upon the issuance of the unconstitutional emancipation proclamation as the Naturalization Act of 1802, in full force and effect, required citizens to be “…free white person(s)…,” a classic “cold case” yet awaiting prosecution.
Wholly unconstitutional generational welfare, affirmative action, quotas, forced busing, food stamps, social services, public housing, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HUD, HHS, Obamacare, discriminatory “Non-Discrimination” laws, unfair “Fair Housing” laws, rent control, minimum wage, illegal immigration, etc., are all “…the Ashes of Racism, Discrimination and Stereotypes….”
Wait! Wait! Literal book burning? And here I thought Canadians were civilized.
I read this article and the comments and then I burned a Bible st the curb of my street. You can’t believe some of the odd things stated in there.
See: http://scragged.com/articles/how-i-became-a-banned-author-in-canada –
The banned book (now available on Amazon etc.) is at https://www.amazon.com/Second-Catastrophe-Howard-Rotberg/dp/097340650X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&qid=1631377245&refinements=p_27%3AHoward+Rotberg&s=books&sr=1-2
Those who know history know that the NAZIS burned books.
I can’t believe I’m reading this. I have to head to work and at the moment I am speechless. This really happened? They’re really burning books? I honestly don’t know what to say here.
This will no doubt weigh heavy on my mind today and I may have a thing or two to say this evening when I get home.
I will believe they are serious about ‘decolonization’ when they get rid of their white toys.
Dump their phones, televisions, computers, movies, cars, central heating, anesthesia, antibiotics, electricity, buildings, libraries, museums, schools, highways, mass production, nuclear power, wind power, steam power, science, grammar, etc, etc, etc.
Get rid of all of it. Then we will believe you are serious about rejecting white culture and invention.
I don’t think most of us wanted to have this conversation but you are leaving little choice with your constant anti-white crap.
Young: Because blacks and other non-white people never use “phones, televisions, computers, movies, cars, central heating, anesthesia, antibiotics, electricity, buildings, libraries, museums, schools, highways, mass production, nuclear power, wind power, steam power, science, grammar, etc, etc, etc.” Do you not realize how pathetic your arguments are?
Giocon1: “Do you not realize how pathetic your arguments are?”
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No, I don’t so I will keep making them
The point isn’t whether non-whites use those toys . The point is that they never created them.
Enjoy sitting in your loincloth under a tree playing your goat-skin drum. That’s pretty much what you will be left with when you finish purging white-created culture.
I think giocon forgot that people actually invent and create these things rather than that they just appear in stores. AOC was said to have been astonished that it was really possible to grow food.
Out of the thousands of human languages that exist, how about you start by naming 50 non-white languages that you believe either have no grammar or only have grammar because it was introduced by whites?
To Anoonymous, September 11, 2021 at 4:32 PM
Even animals have language—it seems to be an inborn genetic propensity and essential necessity to be able to communicate.
So what’s your point?
Note, the ability to use language to communicate and the development of culture are different matters. Human languages without without a writing system seem to retain up to about 3000 words, while languages with a rich written culture…. well, have a look at the Oxford English Dictionary for example and see for yourself.
Olde Edo– True. All languages, even some of those in the animal kingdom, have grammatical elements. I was, of course, referring to the formal analysis of grammar, that which has been called racist. I think that type of formalizing took place with the Greeks, possibly as a part of investigations into logic, but I would not be surprised if it were earlier.
The formal analysis of sub-Saharan languages was pretty much done by white men who studied the languages and created written dictionaries and grammar books. African people have been spectacularly uninventive. Their total contributions to civilization barely move the meter compared to Asians, Europeans and American Indians. They appear to have accomplished almost nothing. What has been left to them by colonists is being destroyed.
Young says:
“African people have been spectacularly uninventive. Their total contributions to civilization barely move the meter compared to Asians, Europeans and American Indians.”
The voluminous Wikipedia entry, List of Jewish Nobel laureates, states that “as of 2017, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 902 individuals, of whom 203 or 22.5% were Jews, although the total Jewish population comprises less than 0.2% of the world’s population.
Where would the Goyim be without the vastly disproportionate brilliance of The Chosen People?
Jeff,
“Where would the Goyim be without the vastly disproportionate brilliance of The Chosen People?”
I hate to admit agreeing with you, but I agree with that. Most of the brilliant physicists of modern times have been Jewish. Truly a people touched with genius.
My point is that Young made the ridiculous racist claim that “grammar” is a “white toy” and “non-whites use those toys . The point is that they never created them” — that non-whites use grammar but never created grammar.
Now he’s claiming that he really meant “the formal analysis of grammar,” not grammar itself. He doesn’t provide any evidence that the formal analysis of the grammar in Asian languages, for example, was invented by whites. He just assumes this, because he’s a racist who can’t imagine non-whites creating anything of value.
Anon– Anyone reading my statement recognizes your distortion.
For an easy example:
“He just assumes this, because he’s a racist who can’t imagine non-whites creating anything of value.”
Yet I expressly referred to the accomplishments of “Asians, Europeans and American Indians.”
Perhaps you don’t really know that two of those groups are not white.
Your level of ignorance in this is astonishing. Or is it just naked dishonesty?
No, Young, I’m neither ignorant nor dishonest, simply someone who failed to read your entire 5:42 comment before responding to Old Edo’s 4:55 reply to me.
Again, you made the ridiculous racist claim that “grammar” is a “white toy” and “non-whites use those toys . The point is that they never created them” — that non-whites use grammar but never created grammar. You then said you really meant “the formal analysis of grammar,” not grammar itself. But even with that huge narrowing of your claim, you do not provide even a shred of evidence that the formal analysis of the grammar in Asian languages, for example, was invented by whites. You just assume it.
As for my claim that you’re “a racist who can’t imagine non-whites creating anything of value,” it was too strong. You can apparently imagine Asians and American Indians creating some things of value. But you clearly don’t believe that they created “phones, televisions, computers, movies, cars, central heating, anesthesia, antibiotics, electricity, buildings, libraries, museums, schools, highways, mass production, nuclear power, wind power, steam power, science, grammar, etc, etc, etc.,” because for every single one of **those** things, you insisted “non-whites use those toys . The point is that they never created them”. I’m sure that the diasporas of Asians and American Indians and Pacific Islanders and sub-Saharan Africans will say “he’s totally correct that we never created any science, you’re wrong that he’s racist.”
Anon– That’s a lot of blabbering to try to show you are not a liar. Too late. The evidence is in. You are.
I already said it was too strong. I have no problem retracting my claim that you’re “a racist who can’t imagine non-whites creating anything of value.” I shouldn’t have said it. Based on what you’ve written, you don’t believe that that non-whites never create anything of value, so my claim was false.
You’re still a racist who insists that for “phones, televisions, computers, movies, cars, central heating, anesthesia, antibiotics, electricity, buildings, libraries, museums, schools, highways, mass production, nuclear power, wind power, steam power, science, grammar, etc, etc, etc.,” “non-whites use those toys . The point is that they never created them.”
Instead of having the spine to admit that your claim is also false, you run away when I ask you for evidence of just a bit of what you claimed: show us that the formal analysis of the grammar in Asian languages was invented by whites.
I am honest enough to admit that I made a false claim that was stronger than is warranted. Apparently you are not.
Anon –
I will ignore your post. It is just your usual blathering concoction of insults and falsehoods.
However, I do have a legitimate question for which I don’t have a final answer.
Do you know of any sub-Saharan population that independently invented civilization as the Europeans, Asians and American Indians have done?
By civilization I mean cities, monumental buildings, mathematics and writing as well as the other recognized ornaments of civilized life.
I have been challenged before when I have said almost nothing has come from there to contribute to world knowledge, and I have asked the same thing. Nobody has answered. I can’t rule it out that some people in that part of Africa have advanced to that point, but I have never seen any evidence of it.
Usually somebody points to the rock walls of Zimbabwe, but if that is all they have to offer it isn’t much. You can guess what the Inca, Maya or Aztec would have thought of it…just a stupid pile of rocks.
I was tempted to think of Nubia, but it isn’t quite sub-Saharan and it obviously drew much in culture and genes from ancient Egypt, so I don’t think that quite fits the bill.
Put aside your usual deflections, insults and b.s., and answer the question if you can. I don’t know the answer for sure.
By the way, big village empires don’t actually count. If they did I would include the Cucuteni-Trypillia Culture in Europe, which I don’t.
I asked you to show us that the formal analysis of the grammar in Asian languages was invented by whites — a clear subset of what you yourself already claimed. You’ve refused, and now you have the gall to make an even larger ask right after insulting me and falsely claiming that my comment included falsehoods.
Anon– Typical dodge on your part. I am not playing word ping pong with you. I asked a serious question not to corner or embarrass you but in the hope you might actually have an answer. I don’t know the answer with certainty and thought you might. Obviously you don’t or you would have said.
It is an issue, however. While people in Europe, Asia and America have independently created remarkable civilizations the people of sub-Saharan Africa haven’t even laid the cornerstones of one.
Instead of throwing your usual epithets of ‘racist’ and ‘despicable’ etc at me I should think you would be glad of the opportunity to point to a black civilization to show that I was wrong. That you haven’t taken that opportunity tells me that you, like the other loudmouths, can’t find one.
If you subsequently do I would be delighted. I would rather know the truth of the matter. You apparently do not. Screaming ‘racist’ doesn’t actually answer the question.
It’s not “a dodge.” You have not been arguing in good faith, and I will not flip on a dime and respond as if you have been.
“Obviously you don’t … That you haven’t taken that opportunity tells me …”
This is new evidence that you’re still not arguing in good faith. You pretend that my reason for not answering your question is what you wish to believe, when the actual reason is: You have not been arguing in good faith, and I will not flip on a dime and respond as if you have been, especially when you continue to show that you’re not going to argue in good faith.
“If you subsequently do I would be delighted.”
And if I someday discover that you’re now choosing to consistently argue in good faith, I will likewise be delighted.
Weasel words and everyone knows it.
While Trudeau and others on the Left are now condemning this action, due to its perceived similarity to the Nazi book burning, book-burning is actually a natural extension of the censorships already practiced by Trudeau and the Left, as exemplified by his many pieces of censorship legislation. The teachers in question, who did this, are being chastised for an action that the Left is already doing in other ways, through social media censorship and by banning certain movies and books from being sold e.g., Dr. Seuss.
Leftism is actually a violent religion (see https://townhall.com/columnists/alliestuckey/2018/11/30/the-religion-of-leftism-n2536798) so censorship, book-burning — and by extension, murder itself — are entirely consistent with its overall trajectory. Therefore, it’s disingenuous of Trudeau to disavow an action that’s consistent with the censorship he’s already engaged in, in other ways.
The Leftists are not concerned with actual censorship – that is, why it may be wrong (they don’t think it is: their entire worldview is predicated on it). Rather, they’re concerned with how people see them, and that’s the only reason any disavowal has taken place.
Jonathan: I am opposed to book burning. For years I had a copy of “Mein Kampf” in my library. I am also opposed to the destruction of the statues of Columbus or Robert E. Lee. Put them in private museums so school children can see the symbols of slavery and exploitation of native peoples. You don’t learn the lessons of the ugly history of this country by destroying those symbols. That’s why the concentration camp at Dachau is preserved as a reminder of the evils of the Nazi regime. The book burning in Ontario is lamentable. The educators who conducted that ceremony later apologized. I think they realized the optics of burning books is not the best was to address the racist historical portrayal of Canada’s native peoples.
But you have misstated the facts about that ceremony. You say: “Now educators in Ontario have held a ‘flame purification ceremony’ for the local indigenous population by burning roughly 5,000 books”. The ceremony actually took place in 2019–not “Now”. Only about 30 books were burned–not the 5,000 you claim. It is curious you would now mention this incident. I think I know why. Brendan O’Neill, the editor of “Spiked”, just published an article about that incident saying: “…the self-selected guardians of correct thought, the neo-priestly elites of political correctness, are now purging problematic literature with fire, purifying public life with the flames of their woke fury”. Who is Brendan O’Neill? He is a British racist pundit who says efforts to combat racism as a “class war” and calls BLM “virtue-signaling non-sense”. He says acceptance of homosexuality is “queer imperialism” and he opposes same sex marriage. Just a sampling of O’Neill’s racist and homophobic views. I don’t think it is coincidence your column appears at the same time of O’Neill’s article. You use almost the same language as O’Neill who compares the 2019 incident to the “neo-Maoist war on allegedly bad books, bad ideas and bad history”. In your column you say: “The announcement [of the book burning] even has a type of Maoist cultural revolution feel to it”. Don’t you think in the interests of full disclosure you should have mentioned that your column was drawn from O’Neill’s article? That way we would know you were inspired by another racist and homophobe.
It did happen in 2019; however, you sound like Joe Biden saying “that was 4 or 5 days ago.”
It still is book burning and it is terrible. Period.
Dennis McIntyre, The linked article, if it is to be believed, states “The program has been ongoing since 2019,” which implies they have been doing it regularly for the past two or so years. The initial 2019 ceremony may have only burnt 50 books, but the “ongoing” program could have easily burned north of 5,000. Also, the “indigenous” proponent, “Suzy Kies — the co-chair of the Indigenous peoples’ commission of the Liberal Party of Canada — does not in fact have status with Indigenous Services Canada.” What gullible fools to have believed Ms. Kies and then transform her lies into ceremonial book burning that has continued for two years. Yes, I can now see how it happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. It is happening in Ontario, Canada, 90 years later, in the 2000s.
May 10, 1933 has arrived in North America. July 14, 1933, coming soon to the USA.
My oh my. For those that find themselves conflicted with the direction the Left is dragging things and don’t know how to jump off this crazy train; just jump. It’s safe and you will have a lot of people respecting your decision.
Indeed, Olly. Or they could just think of the jump as crowd surfing with sane people waiting to catch them and move them away from the madness.
👍
My son, we’re pilgrims in an unholy land.(Professor Henry Jones)
It can’t happen here. Wait, what?
Speaking as a Canadian, here are the worst and most damning parts of this sad situation:
No one will lose a job over this disgrace!
In fact, none of the school board employees involved have the slightest fear of losing their jobs. They will wait for the whole thing to blow over and then seek out new, more obnoxious ways to signal their virtue.
And none of the elected officials overseeing the school board will lose their comfortable sinecures!.
It’s the Canadian way…at least in the central part of the country, the Province of Ontario, we are a nation of “excellent sheep,” as in the title of the William Deresiewicz book of a few years back.
20 years ago we were all together. Now it’s almost a civil war. This decade will be very interesting for the US and the world.
Former Presidents Obama and Clinton joined President Biden in NYC to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Former President Bush joined VP Harris in Pennsylvania to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Former President Trump chose not to go to either ceremony. Even today, he will not stand with our other Presidents. Instead, he released a couple of 9/11 videos, one of himself with clips from when he was President and earlier, and another in which he spends half his time criticizing Biden. Tonight, he’s hosting a boxing match in Florida.
The REAL President, President Trump is going to Ground Zero later today. Watch and see the reception HE gets compared to the delusional one who left Americans behind in Afghanistan.
Biden is now the REAL President.
Trump is a former president, just like Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
Trump promised to end the war in Afghanistan, but he left that for Biden to do.
Biden isn’t even a real human being.
Your point? Do you really think Obama, Clinton, Bush and Harris — masters of hypocrisy — give a crap about the 9/11 victims? Bush took us down the road to endless war in the ME with his neocon mob, attacking Iraq for…we still haven’t found those darn WMDs. Obama escalated in Afghanistan and pushed us into Libya and Syria. Clinton and Obama’s illegal bombings of civilians clearly demonstrate their concern with humanity. If you think these war criminals and pathological liars are any better than Trump, your brain has been hacked.
I made my point: Independent Bob commented that “20 years ago we were all together. Now it’s almost a civil war,” and Trump is the sole former President who would not come together even today and a key reason that the country seems to be moving towards civil war.
BTW, more civilians were illegally killed under 4 years of Trump than any 4 years of Obama, so if you think Trump isn’t ALSO a war criminal, you’re not paying attention. Trump is also just as big a master of hypocrisy.
What’s going on with Bill Mahr? He almost sounds like a Republican. For me the scary thing is I’m starting to agree with him.
To: Independent Bob, September 11, 2021 at 9:14 AM
Perhaps Bill Maher graduated from “Woke” and woke up.
Lefties will argue that conservatives started it with our opposition to the 1619 project.
That is being disingenuous since we opposed a false narrative and argued facts. We did not burn books.
What Lefties want is erasure; debate is so last century to them.
As an author and historian I can’t help but make the comparison between this group from Ontario and the Nazis during the 1930s. Both fear points of view and narratives other than their own. Sadly, it would appear that fascism has come to Canada.
Read about this the other day. Our neighbors to the north were allies against fascist during WW-2, now they practice the very thing they fought. Not being Jewish and it being their holidays this must bring chills to them. What next arm bands, little red books, red scarfs, painting emblems on store windows? Americans better take heed of what’s going on especially our veterans and active military. It seems there’s a malignant growth trying to destroy our constitution and in dire need of a physician.
Now the left is trying to say there’s a rally coming (a rally that no one knows about but them) for support of January 6. Gleiwitz Incident?