Music Publisher Suddenly Claims 80s Australian Pop Hit Infringed On 1930s Kids Tune

Dear People Offended By Books; Requesting Permission To Burn Them Will Drive More Attention To Them

from the that's-not-what-you-want dept

Tue, Jun 9th 2009 3:34pm — Mike Masnick

A reader named Frosty840 points out that, if you thought the idea of a good old fashioned "book burning" had gone out of style in the US, a group of offended individuals in Wisconsin are petitioning the local library for permission to burn its only copy of a book called Baby Be-Bop. A book burning? Apparently it hasn't occurred to these offended folks that (beyond the disgrace of wanting to burn books they dislike), this entire action has only served to call a lot more attention to that book. The folks asking for the right to burn the book, are also demanding $120,000 for "being exposed to the book in a library display," which seems likely to (again) only drive much more interest in the book. A book that can cause that much damage? Where can I get my copy?

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: baby be-bop, book burning, censorship, streisand effect, wisconsin

23 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 9 Jun 2009 @ 4:05pm

of course -- because if you ignore/destroy all references to homosexuality it just goes away -- just like in Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_3RUwAJ_MI
[ link to this | view in thread ]
CopyJosh (profile), 9 Jun 2009 @ 4:43pm

Always brings me to this ruling...
“Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books …”
— U.S. Supreme Court in Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982)

I think the same should be applied to ignorant groups of people and libraries. Hey, if Pope Paul can ban books, why can't I? (not trying to bash Christianity.. but it's just too easy.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
pegr, 9 Jun 2009 @ 4:46pm

Do the world a favor!
Buy a copy of that book and slip it on the shelves of your local library!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 9 Jun 2009 @ 5:34pm

book burning?

what is this?

1940's Nazi Germany????

haven't we gone beyond such intolerance and be able to accept any and everything in this age of free flowing information and internet?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mechwarrior, 9 Jun 2009 @ 6:41pm

Re:
Book burners are usually the same ones who are bigoted and racist. Its no wonder they usually share similar characteristics as brainwashed NAZI's.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
aguywhoneedstenbucks, 9 Jun 2009 @ 6:45pm

Ender's Game used one of the words that seems to be a problem. Then they reprinted without the word. Now I'm sad.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Poster, 9 Jun 2009 @ 7:09pm

I'm offended by these idiots. Can I make a request to burn them?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Matt (profile), 9 Jun 2009 @ 7:13pm

Re:
If they don't have homosexuals then who are these people?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAzMuHyg8Eg

Someone should suggest to these people that they burn a book the "offended group" likes, but offends OTHER people. Hell I'd tell them a book they like offends me and demand they burn it just to see how retarded it is.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kyle Smith, 9 Jun 2009 @ 7:40pm

It's for the Children!
How about burning the Bible? Don't want to expose any poor kids to all the demons, mythical creatures, and the violence, I bet they'd love that.

Let's make a deal, we'll accept you for believing in miracles and demons, and you accept that gays can't just choose to like the opposite sex, and if that's too hard, just accept that they actually exist in society.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wolfy, 10 Jun 2009 @ 5:28am

"christian civil liberties union"... ROTFLMAO!!! How tacky! How un-original! How typical of the religious intolerants!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2009 @ 5:59am

a lot of religious bashing and very little religious people taking up arms to defend their fantasy world. They must be to busy praying for a fortunate moon to smile upon them today.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2009 @ 6:23am

No, we just know to ignore idiots like you, cause if you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 10 Jun 2009 @ 6:36am

Re:
"No, we just know to ignore idiots like you, cause if you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell."

Way to cast the first stone there, retard.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rebel Freek (profile), 10 Jun 2009 @ 7:09am

Re:
Didnt they change the name of that town to Hello????
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jjmsan (profile), 10 Jun 2009 @ 9:19am

Re: Re:
Actually, he or she is correct. The question becomes what is the definition of hell. Roman Catholicism believed that if you were not baptized you could not go to heaven. Since many people only have a belief in heaven or hell, obviously if you are not in heaven you are in hell. In your case you wind up there because you are so unimaginative as to use the term retard as an insult
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 10 Jun 2009 @ 9:33am

Re: Re: Re:
"No, we just know to ignore idiots like you, cause if you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell."

So the usage of idiot, which originally meant someone who didn't go to the polls and vote in Athens, is ok? And then follow that up with BS about how he was using the term "go to hell"?

C'mon, you can do better than that. Admittedly, using the word retard as an insult is/was wrong. Fortunately I don't believe in fairy land heavens or hells, so I'll just allow the admission of wrongdoing to suffice and not worry about the invisible man in the sky being upset with me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 10 Jun 2009 @ 9:34am

Re: Re: Re:
Plus my Shwartz is bigger than yours...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
tdr, 10 Jun 2009 @ 11:45am

Re: It's for the Children!
Then you'll have to accept that ex-gays exist as well. You want the real story about that lifestyle, they're the ones to ask. Not the ones still in it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2009 @ 5:31pm

Re: Re: It's for the Children!
Then you'll have to accept that ex-gays exist as well. You want the real story about that lifestyle, they're the ones to ask. Not the ones still in it.

Anyone who claims to have changed their innate sexual orientation is probably lying and liars are not good ones to ask questions of.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2009 @ 5:38pm

Re:
No, we just know to ignore idiots like you, cause if you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell.

You should realize that accepting Jesus involves accepting his teachings as well. (Matthew 5:22) - "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell."

Repent while you still can.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
tdr, 11 Jun 2009 @ 7:24am

Re: Re: Re: It's for the Children!
www.exgaywatch.com

No liars there, and you can find more information about them just by googling "ex-gay". I've met some before, so yes they do exist.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
tdr, 11 Jun 2009 @ 7:26am

Re: Re: Re: Re: It's for the Children!
www.beyondexgay.com

Another one, and wikipedia even has an entry on the term. So you can't deny their existence.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Swim, 11 Jun 2009 @ 11:33am

Santa tough on books
This guy is a gem!

http://trueslant.com/jeffhoard/tag/christian-civil-liberties-union/

Video @ bottom
[ link to this | view in thread ]