The plan to burn copies of the Koran by the congregation of a small church in the city of Gainesville, Florida has been making the news headlines all over the world.
Besides the fact that this is an offensive act against the Muslim world (although the US Constitution gives the pastor Terry Jones the right to do so) there is also the added bonus of bringing to mind the bonfires that the Nazis built upon work that they also deemed to be “not for the common good”.
The irony for the NinjaBeaver though is this. “Print is dead” say all the futurists. “Within a decade, all physical newspapers and books will be gone. You’ll be able to sit and read at your own leisure with your IPad, Kindle or e-reader of choice”. But the events in Gainesville bring home how important books are and how they still will be in the future, because – and lets be honest here – throwing your Kindle/IPad onto a bonfire or Delete a Koran Day just doesn’t have the same kind of feel to it, now does it.
P.S. The NinjaBeaver, being a bibliophile, has never burnt a book.
P.P.S The last time this was done in the beautiful South of the US was when a lot of people threw all their Beatles records onto the fire. How many of them do you think are now crying over what they could have gotten for them on E-Bay?
“Delete a Koran Day” – *smirk*