this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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[–] fubo@lemmy.world 147 points 8 months ago (3 children)

As a reminder, the first targets of Nazi book-burning were LGBT+ too: Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sex Research.

[–] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 24 points 8 months ago

Part of how they can run with the "trans treatment is experimental!" canard, is that they fucking burned the research almost a century ago.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Yup. Even the Nazis didn't full Nazi right away. Don't think it can't happen here.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 58 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Book burnings does not make you the good guy.

[–] SamsonSeinfelder@feddit.de 60 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

That is why I think the "The Cruelty Is the Point" Article by Adam Serwer in 2018 was so important.

The ones who burned the books were always on the wrong side of history. Yet, they still do it. And I guess it is because the vile and harassing actions is an integral part of these people. The pain and suffering they bring to the people around them is what makes them feel good. They want to harm and destroy and are actively looking for people who cheer for them when they do. They want to find the people and the places where they can act in utterly disgrace and inhumane behaviour and are not ejected, but promoted. They are desperate to live out their inner cruel behavior as this is what brings them joy. This woman would literally fuck a guy who strangled a LGBTQ Member in front of her.

Adam Serwer:

But it’s not the burned, mutilated bodies that stick with me. It’s the faces of the white men in the crowd. There’s the photo of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana in 1930, in which a white man can be seen grinning at the camera as he tenderly holds the hand of his wife or girlfriend. There’s the undated photo from Duluth, Minnesota, in which grinning white men stand next to the mutilated, half-naked bodies of two men lashed to a post in the street—one of the white men is straining to get into the picture, his smile cutting from ear to ear. There’s the photo of a crowd of white men huddled behind the smoldering corpse of a man burned to death; one of them is wearing a smart suit, a fedora hat, and a bright smile.

Their names have mostly been lost to time. But these grinning men were someone’s brother, son, husband, father. They were human beings, people who took immense pleasure in the utter cruelty of torturing others to death—and were so proud of doing so that they posed for photographs with their handiwork, jostling to ensure they caught the eye of the lens, so that the world would know they’d been there. Their cruelty made them feel good, it made them feel proud, it made them feel happy. And it made them feel closer to one another.

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Their lack of shame gives them power. When dictators come to power one of their first acts is to make the other people around them direct accomplices in horrible acts. When Saddam Hussein purged the government he had other officials participate in the firing squad. It isn't just cruelty, it's a strategy, it takes the others around you over the edge and binds them to you. Them raising the stakes higher and higher with more and more shameless acts is a strategy to get their members to do whatever they want and to do more bold and brazen acts that can get them more power.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

By doing this the only shame becomes nuance and self reflection. Feeling guilty, becomes being a buzzkill. It becomes socially reinforcing. You can’t be bad because if you’re bad all your loved ones are bad and they’ll judge you for ruining their fun or hate you we not being sufficiently committed to the cause

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Exactly, the point is to isolate their supporters and strengthen their cult.

[–] moistclump@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Thanks for sharing that. What a chilling image.

[–] Additional_Prune@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Wow. That's devastating.

[–] Signtist@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

It's not meant to make them look like the good guy, it's meant to make them look like the guy who's willing to "do what it takes to end the woke agenda." The way you get a bunch of people to support evil isn't by convincing them it's good, but by convincing them it's necessary.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Are we the baddies?

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 50 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

If anyone sane had any sense (and the money to do it, I guess), they'd do a montage of all the fascists of history burning books and end with the one of her - that, or play the historical montage side by side with her video. Do the same for any other candidates elsewhere with similar stances.

Play that on every channel until the money dries up.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 9 points 8 months ago

The money won't dry up.

There're plenty of people out there who do blame "the Jews" or "the Gays" or "the Immigrants" or "the Others" dor all their problems.

They also think they are the heros making a sacrifice by doing the lesser evil in their own stories.

[–] Custoslibera@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Somehow I don’t think rebroadcasting this to an even larger audience is a good idea considering this person is already voluntarily posting a video of them book burning without a shred of irony.

I don’t think the people that they are appealing to will be dissuaded by a contrasting video. They’d probably see the comparison as flattering.

[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 49 points 8 months ago

While I admire her sense of theatre, it’s much easier just to wear a t shirt with a big swastika on it.

[–] Krzd@lemmy.world 46 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The party of burning books will never be the good guys.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 22 points 8 months ago

“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”

He laughed. “That’s against the law!”

“Oh. Of course.”

~Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

[–] Treczoks@kbin.social 42 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Berlin, May 10, 1933

Different time, same kind of people, burning books.

[–] Harpsist@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Next she'll be burning people and defending her actions by saying "they weren't really people by their own admissions"

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago (2 children)

“You want to be gay? Fine be gay. Just don’t do it around children,”

So what about the LGBTQ children. I suppose she has a final solution for that.

Fucking Nazi cunt. How long before these psychos start murdering our LGBTQ children? When do we start pushing back hard on these hateful shitbags?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So what about the LGBTQ children.

They don't believe such a thing exists until gay people turn them gay.

Really.

That's the "gay agenda" they always talk about. Gay people using the homosexual magic.

[–] AnxiousOtter@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"They think I turned him gay with my magic genetalia."

[–] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

I swear most of them must be deeply closeted and repressed for that to seem rational. They think the children can be tempted to gayness because they know, deep down, that they could be tempted.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 4 points 8 months ago

Oh the right is all about final solutions.

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The only thing that needs to be torched is conservatism.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's so easy to torch conservatives, convert if you will, with just a little knowledge. Like over here at the librar...oh. Never mind.

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Well played!

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 26 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

No matter what your opinions are, no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, no matter what your reasons are for having books to destroy, how do you go to (or perform) a public book burning and not feel icky?

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago

no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on

Well see, that's your problem. You're ignoring the fact that one end of the political spectrum adores fascism.

[–] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 12 points 8 months ago

These are Christians doing the book burning (again). Their love language is making people other than themselves "feel icky."

Nearly every atrocity throughout history has had a Christian standing with a smirk watching what they caused with glee.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

That's the big question. What is it psychologically behind such pathologically cruel and hateful people?

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 4 points 8 months ago

I've met so many adults over the years who have said "I've never read a novel in my life". I'd ask about required reading during school. Nope. Absolutely blew my mind the first time it happened. I've begun to really believe that a large percentage of the US population has no internal values or morals. Like not even the concept. Just external ones that they try to push on people.

[–] gloss@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

They are trying to out crazy each other because that makes them the most trump like. It's not enough to talk about banning books from public libraries, now you have to line them up and do a photo op with a flamethrower. It's just more of that virtue signaling they constantly accuse everyone else of doing.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 9 points 8 months ago

What fucking sucks is that, while it may (or may not) initially just be posturing, this signalling is normalizing the craziness among their base. A non-zero amount of people will see this and think, "Hey! That's a good idea!" and replicate it.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

It's always projection with the qons. ALWAYS.

[–] youngGoku@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Outrageous. Imagine being so brainwashed and delusional to do this.

What a dumb person.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

In other words, a perfect candidate for the con cult, oops, I mean "party".

[–] livus@kbin.social 10 points 8 months ago

I know the big picture here is it's a bad sign when mainstream party politicians start using openly fascist rhetoric.... but

I can't get over how derpy she looks in that thumbnail.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I did NOT SEE that one coming.

ETA: I did indeed see it coming. The cons have been on this quest for some time.

[–] alchemist2023@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

horrible horrible woman

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

"FREEEDOOOOMMM! Except if you're not like us, then you can just burn!"

[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

As long as they are focused on books and a pro-LGBTQ person is in charge of the libraries internet filter.... uh, oh, CURSES! Now children who definitely read physical paper books and do not have phones will never accidentally stumble across these books and turn gay! Curse you GOP!

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 8 months ago

Ought to be considered a hate crime.

Hey loudmouth. Suck my dick. Everyone could use a break from hearing your "thoughts".

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


A Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state posted a viral campaign video Tuesday lighting LGBTQ-inclusive books on fire with a flamethrower.

Kathy Belge, one of the authors of “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens,” said Americans “should be concerned that a candidate for public office not only thinks book burning is acceptable, but that it is something that will help her get elected.”

Some people compared Gomez’s actions to Nazi book-burning campaigns in the 1930s, when a student group burned tens of thousands of books in Germany and Austria that were considered “un-German.”

Gomez’s website echoes increasingly common inflammatory language used by conservatives in recent years to describe transition-related medical care for transgender minors.

Gomez’s book-burning video is part of a larger national trend of conservative candidates and lawmakers targeting books related to LGBTQ people and race for removal from public and school libraries, arguing that they are a form of “indoctrination” or are harmful for children.

Some, including Gomez, have even described LGBTQ-inclusive books and curricula as sexually grooming children, invoking a decades-old false moral panic about LGBTQ people.


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