[HPforGrownups] Sympathy for the ... Christians (was Books burnt in Germa...

[Aberforth's Goat]

No: HPFGUIDX 15583

Tobeybickle wrote,

> You can't combat evil by
> ignoring it, and burning Mein Kampf wouldn't have stop Hitler. Willful
> ignorance proves nothing. If you truely want to help against something you
> believe is wrong, you have to understand it first. And no amount of
> spirtitual conviction on your part allows you to dictate morality for
others.

If you mean destroying the bundle of dead tree bits, no, it wouldn't have.
But what if a lot of people had protested vigorously--and agrily--against
the book's contents ... ?

I *would* agree to one thing: I think protesting and banning are two very
different propositions. Even in the specific case of Mein Kampf (which is
banned in several European countries), I wonder whether the bannings don't
give it more allure than it deserves. Trying to ban excellent literature
that one hasn't even bothered to read is irrationaility in its most pure
distillation.

In any case, I think I'll bow out of the argument (or OT it). It was
important for me to make that point because I know several people who'd be
right up at the front of any HP burning and banning orgy. For the record, I
think they're nuts (particularly since some of them want to get a friend of
mine fired for a seminar supportive of HP). But I think people should have
some appreciation of where they're coming from and, in disagreeing with
them, show them the sort of respect I wish they'd show the undersigned,

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray)
_______________________

"My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising
inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers,
but did Aberforth hide? No he did not! He held his head high."