Via Tengrain, we have news of a book burning in Tennessee, in which a MAGA-loving pastor burned books to be deemed 'demonic':
This happened about a mile from my house tonight. Book burning. Harry Potter. Twilight. Anything else deemed demonic. Some say to ignore the madman who leads this congregation. But how can one be silent? What/who gets burned next? @TheTNHoller pic.twitter.com/A0yXPAVDuw
— Sarah Moore (@shmoore75) February 3, 2022
As a nerd, and someone who enjoys gaming and fantasy literature, this immediately reminded me of the Satanic Panic which gripped much of the country in the 1980s and never quite went away. Back in 1985, Uncle Gary spoke about this nonsense in a 60 Minutes interview:
One of rhe artifacts of the Satanic Panic is a Chick Tract, Dark Dungeons, which is simultaneously beloved of and reviled by gaming nerds. Whom among us wasn't reduced to paroxysms of laughter as we followed Debbie on her quest for the real power?
Oddly enough, none of us learned how to really cast spells, but we did learn a shitload about probability and statistics, and picked up High Gygaxian vocabulary words such as milieu, weal, and hoddypeak. Personally, I would love to see a study about the effects of playing D&D on SAT scores.
Of course, the real solution to the occult dilemma which ensnared Debbie was an old-fashioned book-burning, like that we just saw in Tennessee:
Why mess with a winning formula? The burning of objects they deem demonic scratches an itch among these people, and will do so until the dark time when they get to burn people they deem demonic.
3 comments:
I hope they feel better after this ceremony. Looks like they needed it. Those books aren't going anywhere, they are already in the world.
One of the problems is the young people don't stay, they go out into the big world. Can you blame them?
If i was born in a poor Tennessee mountain town, i would leave as soon as i could. There is no work, there is nothing to do. Of course we can serve tourists and talk about fireflies and autumn leaves and all of that.
We can highlight our local cuisine for homesick tourists. But really, is that a life?
This book burning is the worst. It means we have given up on books and knowledge. It means we are just going to go along with the local bigman preacher.
I am disappointed to see this. I know there are better ways.
I hope this book burning is the worst. And I hope that it's getting enough attention from sane people that we can make sure no one crosses the line to worse than the worst.
This book burning is the worst. It means we have given up on books and knowledge. It means we are just going to go along with the local bigman preacher.
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I hope this book burning is the worst. And I hope that it's getting enough attention from sane people that we can make sure no one crosses the line to worse than the worst.
I think the ridicule they are receiving from all quarters shows them that they are a marginal set of freaks.
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