From a San Francisco bookstore forum, reported in Shelf Awareness:
The idea for the panel, said co-owner Margie Scott Tucker, came from a statement made by Alan Kaufman, novelist, memoirist, influential in the Spoken Word movement and editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Literature: "When I hear the term Kindle, I think not of imaginations fired but of crematoria lit." Kaufman moderated the panel, called the "Great Internet Book Burning Panel." (No books e or otherwise were actually burned despite the catchy title.)
Other panelist included beat generation icon Herbert Gold, San Francisco Noir author Peter Plate, Ethan Watters, author of several books including Urban Tribes: Are Friends the New Family? and Cleis Press's Brenda Knight, a participant in the Google case.
Kaufman began by reading an essay soon to be published in Barney Rossett's Evergreen Review, which is now an online-only publication, he noted. "The book is fast becoming the despised Jew of our culture. Der Jude is now der Book," he read. "High-tech propagandists tell us that the book is a tree-murdering, space-devouring, inferior form of technology; that society would simply be better off altogether if we euthanized it even as we begin to carry around, like good little Aryans, whole libraries in our pockets, downloaded on the Uber-Kindle."
Even speaking as someone whose Kindle gathers dust and who views shopping at Amazon.com as an unpleasant act of last resort, get the fuck over yourself.
12 Comments on Hot air didn't stop the Nazis, either., last added: 10/8/2009
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Usually these conversations spiral around for a while before arriving at the absurd, self-important, and offensive Hitler/Holocaust metaphor. By simply starting there, Alan Kaufman has saved us all a great deal of time!
Does Godwin's Law apply outside the internet?
O, snap!
Love it!
Word
Well, he's the editor of "Outlaw Bible," so you'd expect a Howling Jeremiad, no? It's a style thing.
And, Jews being "people of the book" (not "people of the e-book") -- I dunno -- I think he's doing a good job of getting a rise from his audience. Jeremiads are all about getting your people riled up. (Anyway, Roger, it is no fun to agree with you.)
Ah Roger, I would have thought this a comment from my son the rock-and-roller not elegant you. Nevertheless, I howled! GTFOY indeed.
And Anonymous 1--spot on!
Jane
what is GODWIN's law? and who is Godwin?
Wikipedia has a good explanation of Godwin's Law (and who Godwin is); roughly it means that people who need to invoke the Nazis in order to win an argument have already lost. I'm petitioning the Department of Rhetorical Standards to pass Roger's Law, which bans from public discourse any proponent of gay marriage who compares himself to Rosa Parks.
many thanks for the explanation of G"s Law (very useful to know!) and for RS's law, which has wonderful alternate applications when one substitutes new names and causes
just checked wikipedia - what a surprise! all this time I'd been thinking it had something to do with Mary Shelley's father and couldn't rationalize it!
There are two types out there, I am realizing: those who, when curious about an unfamiliar phrase, cut, paste, and Google, and those who don't. I'm confused by the latter. I'm not calling the people asking about Godwin's law Nazis (though it's tempting), but I want to ask, if you don't know what something means, why don't you just look it up?
But beware, Anon., lest you be labeled a "Google is your friend"-Nazi. Personally, I don't mind inquiring minds--they often take the conversation someplace good.