Let’s Go Burn Some Books, by Mike Gold

Mike Gold

ComicMix's award-winning and spectacularly shy editor-in-chief Mike Gold also performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com (search: Hit Oldies) every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information.

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6 Responses

  1. Neil says:

    Philip Pullman has written that the books are a counter-point to CS Lewis' Narnia. I think that he might be a little heavy handed with some anti-religious aspects at times, but it is still a fascinating series. I can't believe that these Religious Right people are afraid of the books. Do they have so little faith in parenting that they think the books are going to brainwash children? Books like these that may challenge their beliefs should be a starting point to make them stronger.

  2. John Ostrander says:

    Pullman said somewhere that he wanted his books as an agnostic/atheist answer to the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis which use fantasy as a Christian allegory. They made a film out of the first of those books as well. THOSE books and THAT film are meant to indoctrinate children and mold their thinking but that's alright among the Christian Right because its molding the way THEY want it done.And its not really THEIR children about whom they're worried. THEIR children will never see the movie, let alone read the books. No, it's OTHER peoples' children they don't want seeing themovie/reading the book. They don't TRUST other parents to do what the Christian Right feels is correct. They want to CONTROL the situation. And that makes for pretty scary politics.Romney's remarks is not merely a justification for his being a Mormon and running for president. It's a pitch to the Peligious Right. Scarier still, to me, is Mike Huckabee, who has risen in the polls. This is the ex-Baptist minister, ex-Arkansas gov who DOESN'T believe in evolution. He has a shot (as does Romney). My thought? Hillary Clinton vs Mike Huckabee would not be the cakewalk that the Dems are assuming. Much as I dislike Bush (and I do), I can imagine things getting scarier.

  3. Michael H. Price says:

    "The Golden Compass" challenges whatever controlling bureaucracy the viewer might want to project onto it — something of a blank slate that invites the participation of an audience and proposes to send the customers home with a thought or two to ponder.This quality is what scares the controlling anti-intellects who want to reinvent the society as a rule-by-fear Theocracy. So here we are, supposedly intent upon "exporting freedom" to foreign Theocratic realms — while leaning ever more precariously in their established directions. Different theologies, same dictatorial tendencies. The pulpit is as effective a starting-place as any — maybe the most effective starting-place — for totalitarianism. And any condemnation from the pulpit is an invitation to a book-burning ritual.

  4. mike weber says:

    From the "Spirit" story originally entitled* "The Awful Book", parodying the anti-comics hysteria of the late 40s/early 50s (the story is a parody of EC horror/suspense stories, featuring a grade-school teacher who accidentally picks up a comic book): "…the school psyciatrist, Dr Wolfgang Worry, who was having his weekly book-burning…"*The tin-eared rewrites/splash-page reworks on some of the "Spirit" stories when they were recently reprinted could be a subject for an interesting essay…

  5. Vinnie Bartilucci says:

    As always, the actions of the extremes in an issue are the ones who get the press, and the ones who far too many feel represent the majority opinion.The arch-religious trying to "out" this movie are just as wrong as, say, the folks trying to get overtly religious (and sometimes not so religious) Christmas display removed from public places since they might offend people of other (or no fixed) religions. Both groups profess to be helping and protecting others, tho I rarely hear of those other asking for anyone's help. It's just a small group of people trying to further their own agendas under the guise of making sure THAT group doesn't further THEIR agenda.FANATIC religion has spawned many great acts of violence and hatred. The majority of people are in the middle – they don't mind if that guy is a member of another religion, or if they put up a big menorah by the war memorial, and alas, they don't vote.Not for nothing, I've never understood how people converted under the sword could possibly count, since most religions make it clear that intent is 90% of the act (or the sin).

  6. Anonymous says:

    I got to see The Golden Compass as a sneak preview. And have come to the conclusion that if you can't take a little criticism, maybe you need to re-evaluate YOUR RELIGIOUS VALUES. This is a story, pure and simple. Maybe you are seeing how your religion reacts to new ideas, different worlds, different dimensions. They should be using an open mindCheck your brains in at the door, go in, and have a good time. Or, don't, I really don't care. I had a GREAT time during the show. Shall we count the ways that religion has IMPEDED the development of mankind? Look at how long it took the Catholic Church to say that Leonardo Da Vinci was right about hie theories.To paraphrase Shakespeare, "The first thing we need to do is to kill all of the religious fanatics" The problem is with the people with the overblown egos thinking they've got the direct line with the all-mighty. Fine, I put this to them: call your god down so that I can have a good ol' heart to heart chat. If your god is all-knowing, they'll be able to find me with no trouble. Have them knock on my front door during normal daylight hours. They'll know when I'm home. I'll be reading the series.When they don't show up, please do me, and the rest of the human race, the favor of killing yourselves. I'm tired of the space you're taking up in the newspapers, television, radio, internet, jungle drums, and smoke signals.