Burning books to protest decline in reading
Burning books is usually associated with censorship and can be seen as the ultimate act of literary protest. But one small bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri burned hundreds of books for quite a different reason: they were protesting the decline of reading in America:
"We hope to spark a conversation about the importance of books in the face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste streams of actual books," said Prospero’s Books owner, Tom Wayne.
Whether or not burning books is the right way to get the message across is up for debate. There’s no doubt, however, that the act can certainly raise emotions. When I saw the headline of a book burning this morning, I thought "Oh no, here we go again, another attempt at censorship". So I was surprised to read that the book burning was really a protest of the decline of reading. But don’t think that these bookstore owners didn’t try to give the condemned books a proper home first:
Prospero’s has publicized for months that it was looking for a good home for thousands of books, and saying it would burn the books if no one wanted them.
The article continues:
"With all of the public outcry, I thought more people would step up to give these books a home," said Wayne. "Maybe people thought being outraged would accomplish something."
It seems strange, and sad, that people would turn down so many books. I’m assuming from the article that the bookstore owners would’ve gladly given the books to anyone for free if it didn’t involve the bookstore spending a lot of time or money. Heck, if I would’ve known about it, I would’ve pulled up in a rented U-Haul and taken them myself! There’s gotta be more than a handful of gems among several thousand books.
Whether or not this will have any impact on the reading public remains to be seen. I somehow doubt it will. For now reading appears doomed to take a back seat to more "exciting" forms of entertainment that include television, computers and game consoles.
Read the entire book burning saga here:
Store owners burn books in protest
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It’s a striking story, though a shame to hear of all the books burnt.
)
Some people just don’t realise that you can usually pick up a lot more knowledge in a good book, than in a hundred free ebooks. xD (Not to mention fictional books being more just a tad more interesting than fanfictions.