Meditations on book burning

Whole lot of kerfuffle in the Mainstream Media and upon the Internet concerning some folks off to burn some copies of the Qur’an.

I’m not going to get into the military/political/sociological/diplomatic ramifications of this issue — countless others (more qualified than Your Humble Scribe) have opined at length on this subject — but I will offer my general Thoughts Upon The Subject.

As usual, I’m of multiple minds concerning this.

On one hand, the idea of burning a book — any book — leaves me cold. A book is knowledge made tangible; it is far more than just ink, paper, glue and leather: it is ideas, dreams, hopes, fantasies … it is all those things that make us human — those that separate us from animals — distilled into an object one can touch.

To burn a book is to spurn those ideas, those hopes; to reject those things that do separate us from animals, and to symbolically reject at least a small part of our humanity.

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine, in his 1821 play, Almansor, uttered a stark, uncomfortable truth:

Das war Vorspiel nur. Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.

(Loosely) translated thus: “That was merely a prelude. For where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.

It is a small, small step to go from destroying the ideas of people, to destroying the people who have ideas.

Are there books that inflame the passions, and may influence the small-minded into criminal actions? Hell, yes, but so do many other things: Speech inflames and influences the small of mind far more than any book — but we do not condone gunning down a man in the street for a hateful speech.

On the other hand, a book is nothing more than ink, paper and glue. Burning one book is not going to remove the knowledge contained there-in from history. Especially a book as widely-printed as the Qur’an. You could — if you so chose — burn every Qur’an in the Western Hemisphere, and you would make less than the tiniest dent in the numbers of that book.

To burn a book — or a pile of them — is, quite literally, useless for any purpose other than symbolism or to ensure the livelihood of those who will — inevitably — print more books to replace those you have incinerated.

As long as the books you are burning are yours to burn, have at it. For all the fire, and all the rhetoric, you will have accomplished … what? A pile of ashes you now have to dispose of? A symbolic gesture that you can hope someone else actually gives two hoots in hell about?

The publishing companies, however, will thank you — there is that.

On the gripping hand …

… I wasn’t born in Texas; sometimes I don’t sound like I’m from Texas, but I am Texan.

There is a short list of people who can tell me to do any-sodding-thing with my own property, and Abdul the Moderately Rabid isn’t on it.

You can ask me to do (or not to do) something with my property, or you can explain why it’s necessary to do (or not to do) something with my property, but you gods-damned well don’t order me to do it (or not).

And, son, if you threaten me about anything — and you’re within bad-breath distance — you’d better be on Good Terms with your Dear and Fluffy Lord … because I’ll strike the bloody match on your snaggle teeth if I have to, and I’ll gladly slide into Sessrúmnir with you in a choke-hold if that’s what it takes to make sure you don’t ever pull that sort of crap again.

LawDog

Heard at Rancho LawDog

Upon receiving a call that one of Tole’s offspring has a loose fang what needs pulling.

Herself: “Do I have any Tooth Ferret money?”

Me: (Blinking) “Tooth Ferret?”

Herself: “Like the Tooth Fairy, only pays better. Probably meaner, too.”

Snerk. Am I lucky, or what?

LawDog

Requiscat in Pacem

June of 1944, the British 1st Special Service Brigade storms Sword Beach in Normandy.

As they fight ashore, in their midst a man wearing the Cameron kilt his father wore in World War 1 calmly marches back and forth along the sand playing the bagpipes.



Armed with nothing more than a
skean dubh in his stocking, William “Piper Bill” Millin not only survived the landing, but piped his laddies inland and survived the war without injury.

I don’t think I can add anything to that.

Rest in Peace, Mad Piper Millin.

LawDog

Huh

Last few days the blog kept only partially opening. Being hip-deep in problems at work (‘n rising fast!) I really didn’t have the time available to sit down and suss things out.

This morning I find that the opening process is stuck at The Truth Laid Bear widget.

Quick Google search seems to show that The Truth Laid Bear has done gone Paws Up. We have removed the TTLB HTML, and things are back to normal.

LawDog

Voila!

Long term readers of The LawDog Files are familiar with my brother, “Chrisas the dead-pan foil in a lot of my stories.

At the infrequent blog-parties Herself takes me to, folks familiar with my stories often ask me why Chris doesn’t blog, and I reply that as introverted and anti-social as I am, Chris makes me look like a Beverly Hills socialite.

Well, no more!

Ladies, gentlemen and Gentle Readers, may I present:

Chris Ex Machina

Welcome to Blogworld, brother!

LawDog

Do let me get this straight

From Gentle Reader D. Fisher in the comments to the “WikiLeaks” post:

Ethically, I don’t think either Wikileaks nor the leaker is in the wrong, and that’s coming from someone who’s ex-military.”

Do allow me understand you. WikiLeaks has released — for all to read — the names of Afghanistan citizens who have helped American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Afghani citizens who have provided the names of Taleban leaders to American so that we may remove these Taleban.

WikiLeaks has released — upon the World Wide Web — the names of Afghani citizens who have identified Taleban who were hiding from Americans; who have provided invaluable intel on the activities of the Taleban; who have, in point of fact, aided NATO and the Americans in hurting the Taleban.

These informants — whose names we held in secrecy to protect their lives, the lives of their families and the lives of their friends — WikiLeaks has posted these names on the Internet for the Taleban to read at their leisure. And then to do … whatever the Taleban feels to be appropriate.

And you don’t find anything ethically wrong with WikiLeaks doing this.

Is that about right?

Correct me if I’m wrong, do.

LawDog

WikiLeaks.

By now anyone not living under a rock has heard that the Internet whistle-blower site called WikiLeaks was provided several tens of thousands of pages of US military documents relating to Afghanistan which it promptly published for all to read on the World Wide Web.

The little dacoit who runs WikiLeaks — one Julian Assange — piously asserted that all the documents had been checked to make sure that names were not named that would put people in mortal jeopardy.

Yeah, well, not so much.

A dozen — or more — people who tried to do the right thing now have their lives, and the lives of their families, placed in jeopardy by Mr. Assange for … what?

Mr. Assange’s ego? His self-aggrandizement?

On the altar of what god, what idea, has Julian Assange seen fit to sacrifice the lives of these people, the lives of their families and those of their friends?

What religion does Mr. Assange follow that demands the blood of the innocent and the righteous to be spilled in such a cowardly fashion?

I truly can not wrap my mind around the end-justifies-the-means mindset of such a creature.

Anyhoo.

As Mr. Assange is an Australian national, and seeing as how Australia’s children have their own boots on the ground in Afghanistan, I’ll leave the Aussies to deal with their own garbage.

However, I would like to take a moment to point out that Mr. Assange couldn’t have done this without the willing co-operation of an American with access to the information leaked.

That American, when he is found — and he will be found — will be tried.

If, and when, convicted, that American should be immediately dragged out of the courtroom, placed against a wall and shot.

Period. Full stop. End of story.

LawDog

And the problem is … what, exactly?

In news from Afghanistan, seems that the Brits identified a high-value target — in this case a Taleban warlord.

Local British Command rounded up a Gurkha patrol, gave them the intel and mentioned that they really needed positive ID once the Gurks caught up with him.

Well, catch up they did, with the result that said warlord became intimately acquainted with the Gurkhas “Air In, Blood Out” diplomatic skills.

Things got a little too warmish for the Gurkhas to retrieve the body — positive ID and all that — so when the patrol returned to base and the CO asked if they were sure they got the bastard …

… A Gurkha pulled the warlord’s head out of a backpack.

*shrug*

The end of the tale should read: “The Gurkha patrol was issued one case of gin, and three days leave.”

Unfortunately, we have discovered that the British Army has deemed this as being “culturally insensitive” and is in the process of disciplining the Gurkha who did the whacking and the carrying.

You have …

Of all the …

Are you sodding …

Words can not …

IT’S WAR, YOU SODDING NUMPTIES, NOT A DAMNED GAME OF CONKERS!

“… it offends the Muslim tradition of burying the dead with all body parts, attached or unattached”.

Bushwa. How many body parts do you think they recover after a suicide bombing?

And I can sure tell that they’re all sensitive about traumatic head removal, seeing as how they pretty much lead the world in beheadings, televised and otherwise.

Tell you jackanapes what: you stop cutting the heads off of police officers, engineers, headmasters, nuns, soldiers, journalists, Christians, women, geologists, and anyone else who trips your “We’re Offended” trigger, and we’ll stop cutting the heads off of your bloody-handed buddies.

Deal?

Seeing as how said body part is still in inventory — so to speak — sounds like an amiable solution to this stinker is to grab some good paper, write a nice little note explaining how you’re sorry that the grieving kin got stuck with a terrorist dirt-bag as a relative, nail it to the forehead with a sixty-penny nail, and have Wee Jock hammer-throw it over the Hesco for the dearly bereaved to collect come sun-up.

See? That’s diplomacy, that is.

While we’re being all culturally-sensitive here, part of the Gurkhas culture involves lopping (significant) bits off of designated Bad Guys with bloody huge knives. Isn’t it a bit “culturally insensitive” to chastise one who is, after all, just expressing his culture?

The allies are blowing quantities of Taleban into mincemeat with assorted artillery rounds, bombs, mortar shells, bombs, rockets, bombs, missiles, and bombs — you damned well can’t tell me that all the sticky bits are getting recovered after Abdul the Moderately Rabid catches a 500-pound GBU amidships — so why are you getting all wrapped around the axle because one or more Gurkhas did the needful with a knife instead of high-explosive?

There is not one single, gods-be-damned thing “culturally sensitive” about war. It’s war. It’s killing the other guy, and breaking his stuff, in job lots, until his side gives up.

Period. Full stop.

The Afghanis know this. Britain used to know this, and they’d better jolly well remember it.

LawDog