Burn, Baby, Burn

10/17/2022

"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
- Heinrich Heine (1821)

Explain the quote above. Why do you think Heine makes the leap from burning books to burning people? What are some cultures you are aware of that burn books? Are those cultures also dangerous to people?

65 Comments

Megan Aiello

10/17/2022 09:07:35 am

I think this quote is referring to that when people burn books they are burning peoples opinions and cultures. I think he was making the connection of books have a piece of the author and shouldn’t be burned. I once read an article about china burning their books. I’m entirely not sure sure what it was about.

Chanci Phillips

10/17/2022 09:11:51 am

I agree that burning books is like burning people’s opinion and cultures.

Kennedi

10/17/2022 09:16:36 am

That's cool, I like the way you correlated burning books to burning the authors opinion.

Chanci Phillips

10/17/2022 09:10:13 am

Burning books will lead to people getting curious on why the books are getting burned. Then people oppose the idea of burning to books and being punished for thinking against their culture. A society that burned books in the past were Catholics. Cultures that oppose other cultures can be danger depending on their nature and beliefs.

Shay Woolf

10/17/2022 09:15:10 am

I agree with your statement about getting curious!

Wyatt Nelson

10/17/2022 09:16:01 am

I agree with the idea that people will get curious and want to oppose those ideas.

Chloe

10/17/2022 09:18:31 am

These are some good points, especially that on oppression

Travis

10/17/2022 09:25:17 am

I agree with what you said

Mariah

10/17/2022 09:12:08 am

I think it goes from books to people because when you burn books, you also are burning the people and characters in the books. There are some cultures out there that burn religious books and bibles which can be really dangerous to people because they can get into a lot of trouble if they are found in possession of these books.

Shay Woolf

10/17/2022 09:14:17 am

I loved your points about the characters inside the books burning.

Megan Aiello

10/17/2022 09:17:01 am

Yeah I totally agree with you!

Emylee Perkins

10/17/2022 09:20:13 am

I agree that erasing people's memory can make it seem like they never existed.

Brylee Ganske

10/17/2022 09:27:36 am

I never would have thought of the characters in the books, good thinking.

nicolas sessions

10/17/2022 09:35:28 am

I didn't think of the danger for the people in cultures who burned books that are hiding books.

Shay Woolf

10/17/2022 09:13:04 am

I think he is trying to convey that is can escalate quickly and spiral out of control. I remember hearing that some German cultures burned books as a celebratory ritual to cleanse the German culture from different ideas. These people weren't considered dangerous but I can see how it can look intimidating from an outside perspective.

Mariah

10/17/2022 09:15:17 am

I agree with what you said about how he is trying to convey that it escalates quickly!

Carter Bill

10/17/2022 09:16:44 am

I like how talked about how things can escalate so quickly.

Kennedi

10/17/2022 09:17:52 am

Isn't it kind of dumb how things escalate so quickly over dumb things. But we all do it, but does that make it right?

Briella

10/17/2022 09:23:22 am

I completely agree, stuff like this can definitely spiral way, way out of hand.

Kanyon Tolman

10/17/2022 09:24:07 am

I liked how you referred it to how a small thing can quickly escalate to something dangerous.

Travis

10/17/2022 09:26:38 am

I agree it can get out of control

Brylee Ganske

10/17/2022 09:28:18 am

I agree strongly with your ideas.

Wyatt Nelson

10/17/2022 09:13:29 am

I think this quote means that they are burning parts of people when they burn this book and the people that want to read those books. Back when Hitler was around he burned books. I think these cultures are afraid of the people that want to read and grow.

Carter Bill

10/17/2022 09:15:33 am

I like how you mentioned Hitler

Carter Caywood

10/17/2022 09:16:19 am

I also used Hitler as an example, with how cruel he was.

Britton Hanson

10/17/2022 09:18:00 am

I like your connections as well.

Kanyon Tolman

10/17/2022 09:25:06 am

I agree that most of the time, books get burned books the people are afraid of change.

nicolas

10/17/2022 09:34:32 am

I see what you mean with books being part of human culture.

Eilah Foss

10/17/2022 09:13:35 am

Many books hold a lot of cultural value that is meaningful to some groups of people and are old/rare. If those cultural books are burned, it burns their culture down in a way and leaves it with nothing to commemorate it by. Some cultures in China burn books under leadership because they were afraid of undermining themselves and their beliefs. These cultures has potential to be dangerous to people because not only does it limit their education and open-mindedness, it also hurts other cultures too.

Chanci Phillips

10/17/2022 09:17:54 am

I agree that burning books limit education and hurts their culture.

Mariah

10/17/2022 09:17:56 am

I agree with you about how burning books limits education and open-mindedness.

Megan Aiello link

10/17/2022 09:17:57 am

Yeah! I agree with you!

Carter Bill

10/17/2022 09:14:22 am

I feel like this quote explains why it's important for us to read these books that are being banned. They have information that may be harsh but we need to know. Without this type of knowledge it won't give people the right mindset which can cause people to get into a bad situation just because they don't have the right information and respect for the other people or whatever is being talked about.

Carter Caywood

10/17/2022 09:16:58 am

Respect is a great way to show how we should be.

Wyatt Nelson

10/17/2022 09:17:31 am

I agree with how things may be harsh but sometimes when things are harsh that is what we need.

Kanyon Tolman

10/17/2022 09:26:54 am

I liked how you talked about attaining knowledge we might need, and that some people just don't have respect.

Kennedi

10/17/2022 09:14:36 am

Humans cannot tolerate differing opinions. We "burn" each other to the ground and just break each other apart until it seems nothing is left, like ashes. I don't think I know of any groups that burn books. I can't anything about the last question, because like I said, I don't know of any groups. Maybe I do know groups, I just cant think of any right now.

Chanci Phillips

10/17/2022 09:19:52 am

I agree that people can’t tolerate different opinions and cultures and try to change them.

Sean Sapp

10/17/2022 09:20:48 am

I like how you said we burn each other to the ground because of differing opinions

Carter Caywood

10/17/2022 09:15:02 am

I believe this quote is referring to that when people burn books they are burning a person's identity or else its stripping away of their cultures. When I heard of burning books I thought of Hitler and how he was very dangerous to people back in his time.

Britton Hanson

10/17/2022 09:17:20 am

I like the connections you had.

Carter Bill

10/17/2022 09:18:37 am

I like how you said when you burn a book you burn a person's identity.

Raelynn

10/17/2022 09:18:53 am

I agree, I like how you said that the identiy of a person could be in a book.

Sean Sapp

10/17/2022 09:22:15 am

I like how you said burning books burns an individuals identity and the cultures they are in.

Travis

10/17/2022 09:28:11 am

I agree with what you said about the quote

Britton Hanson

10/17/2022 09:15:22 am

This quote is referring to that when people burn books we end up burning others opinions and maybe cultures and lifestyles of others. I dont really know of other countries burning books but I do know of a lot high crime and violent countries. I would think that they might have retaliations towards books.

Eilah

10/17/2022 09:19:46 am

I agree that it refers to burning opinions and other cultures!

Chloe

10/17/2022 09:20:18 am

This is an interesting look on the prompt, I like your ideas

Chloe

10/17/2022 09:15:29 am

I feel like this quote is suggesting that if a society will go as far as to burn the literature that came to be the foundation that they stand on, how ludicrous would it be to also say that they would turn on to the people that put them on the pedestal that of which they stand and reduce them to ash, as well? Many followers of the Nazi ideals carried out the burning of books, and they too eventually turned on the people that made them great. This alone should suggest the dangers of this society’s belief, should it not?

Raelynn

10/17/2022 09:19:57 am

Good point, I agree.

Raelynn

10/17/2022 09:16:51 am

I believe this quote is saying that if you are able to destroy the culture of a society in words and on pages how much harder is it to destroy the entire culture and society all together. Some mid Eastern countries if you are caught with certain books you could go to jail or be put to death. If people cannot be able to handle books that oppose there point of view why would they deal with people opposing it.

Eilah Foss

10/17/2022 09:22:29 am

I agree with how they probably would not be able to handle the people if they can't handle what's on paper!

Emylee Perkins

10/17/2022 09:24:56 am

I agree; I think you worded your opinion really well. People may burn books to intimidate other people into disregarding information or new ideas.

Sean Sapp

10/17/2022 09:19:15 am

Basically the quote is saying that burning books is burning information, and burning the information is destructive to people. The burning of books takes away history meaning we will be doomed to repeat it. I think the most famous group and period of book burnings was the nazis in world war 2. Yes nazis are absolutely destructive to people.

Emylee Perkins

10/17/2022 09:21:09 am

I agree that the Nazis did evil and terrible things by burning books and destroying information.

Emylee Perkins

10/17/2022 09:19:18 am

I think that the author means that people and events can be remembered through books recording them, and burning those books can erase those memories and make it seem like they never existed at all. I know that the Nazis burned books to prevent other people from forming their own opinions. They used fear to eradicate all other rational thinking and alienate a certain group of people by dehumanizing them. Those cultures are dangerous to people because by getting rid of important historical and truthful resources, it is hard to form positive ideas about people if we don't actually know the facts about them and rely on opinion instead.

Kanyon Tolman

10/17/2022 09:28:54 am

I agree that burning books is like destroying the thoughts of the author, and that it's used to rule by fear, and limit the forming of opinions of the society.

Briella

10/17/2022 09:21:34 am

I agree with the quote completely. As Mr. Pace's wall says "We're all just stories in the end. Just make it a good one." - The Doctor. Books are one of our only access to past events and people, these past people are the books they have left behind. That is their legacy, what they left behind, denying people knowledge and assess to the worlds past. Natzies burned books, as a way to deny knowledge to the Jewish.

Kanyon Tolman

10/17/2022 09:21:39 am

I believe that the quote is referencing that burning books is like burning a person's opinions or ideas, which could've had a chance to make people grow and learn, helping the land prosper, but since the book was burned, it could cause a later downfall. I don't really know any cultures that have burned books, but they could be dangerous since they're limiting ideas which can halter growth, possibly plummeting us slowly into despair.

Travis

10/17/2022 09:22:54 am

The quote I think means that all people have their own opinions and beliefs and if you disregard/burn their opinions or beliefs in a book, there could become conflict. Hitlers time of rule in Germany, is a culture that burned a lot of books made by other raises. I do think it is dangerous for people because it can lead to violence and conflict.

Ava

10/17/2022 09:24:25 am

I feel like this quote is referring to disregarding others opinions if they don't agree. Kind of what is happening right now.. Nazi's have burned books. Along with many other cultures, yes I would say this is very dangerous because you are literally setting something on fire! And not to mention everything we lose as a society as well.

Brylee Ganske

10/17/2022 09:25:38 am

The quote means that if they were to burn books then it would result in some type of revolt, that the book burners will have to end, or it could mean it is burning people figuratively by stopping them from learning and growing into better version of themselves. This jump is a very easy jump because they both will end in destruction of civilization. Hitler maybe I'm not entirely sure what cultures that did, but yes they are very dangerous to people, because they want to destroy a society and try to do this by eliminated a way of collecting knowledge.

Daniel Davidson

10/17/2022 09:26:11 am

Maybe he means that the same government or controlling entity that would be enforcing book burning, is the same entity that would attack a people or the mob mentality that would act in such an aggressive manner, are capable of much more aggression. I am not aware of any modern cultures that burn books (not to say there aren't any), but a culture of that nature would definitely be dangerous. I don't think anyone would feel safe in a society that promotes that kind of mob aggression.

nicolas

10/17/2022 09:32:49 am

I feel like the quote expresses how books are about human nature and our knowledge and our growth and ideas and that if we burn the books we burn our knowledge and in a way ourselves. Germany, a culture known in the past for burning books. They did this to get rid of all un-German things and get rid of all opinions against their Nazi beliefs. In that time the Nazis were very dangerous and had the Majority of the German population under their thumb or under their power. The burning of the books put the people in the power of the Nazis because there was now no opinion against the Nazi view so it is dangerous to the people and it would be dangerous for any culture now.

Carson

10/19/2022 08:22:31 am

I think this quote is showing how people put their thoughts, opinions, and even their love into books, and that they show and express those things in the pages they wrote. There usually is a lot of thought and effort put into a book, but when you burn it, you take all of that away with a spark. I think it is talking about how books are a way to leave memories on earth, and to show someone a glimpse of your life. When you burn that, you then get rid of that memory, leaving nothing but scorch marks. Germany burned books during world war 2 and they did that to try to wipe all evidence of the Jews off the face of the earth. Mostly because they were trying to establish them as the dominate empire, and they wanted absolute power. Then there was the library of Alexandria that got burned by Julius Caesar, and that is still talked about today. That was not on purpose, but Rome did like burning things. (I'm looking at you, Nero) I think burning books tends to do the opposite thing the burner wants it to have. It tends to cause a lot of heads to turn to the direction of being burned.

Burn, Baby, Burn

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