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Can books be negative?
I speak in generalities, so I'll let you elaborate at your discretion.
After reading up about the 'International Burn A Qu'ran' , my immediate response was one of disgust. I find the idea of the willful destruction of books, and symbolically, ideas, one that is so perversely adverse to everything that seems important to myself that it angers me.
In saying that, I do not agree with the ideas contained within the Qu'ran, and, we are talking about a book which seems to propagate censorship, scientific repression (Apparently a recent feature, as it wasn't read that way historically) and is the inspiration for murder and mutilation in some cases.
So it got me thinking. Can books have a negative effect on society? Are they always worth their paper because ideas will always need to be critically examined? And if so, do you consider that others who aren't quite so into critical examination might be won over by some loony, illogical cult work?
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