Summary
A man checked out 100 books from Beachwood Library in Beachwood, Ohio, covering Jewish history, African-American history, and LGBTQ topics, and later posted social media videos showing the books with captions referencing “cleansing” libraries before burning them.
Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative alerted the library about the posts.
The books were worth about $1,700. Since they are not overdue, the library will bill the man later.
Police say the matter is civil unless he fails to pay. He is now banned from returning to the library.
This should be charged as a hate crime or incitement
Terrorism
Same as it ever was.
I mean it’s not illegal
To destroy someone else’s property?
If he hadn’t rented it they might consider calling it that but that’s a normal “oops the books gone” fine.
pretty sure it’s not legal to destroy something you don’t own. The fact that he’s getting fined is a pretty clear indicator.
He’s getting fined by the library for the same amount he’d get fined for “losing” it since it’s $17 a book. That doesn’t seem like it’s illegal or that it matters.
He’s getting fined by the library. But, it can be illegal to destroy something you don’t own. Take for example vandalism. The key for even that is eluding or attempting to elude cleaning it up/paying to do so. Think about it. Is it illegal to dent someone’s car? Not if you pay for repairs. It’s the fleeing the scene without paying that it becomes a crime.
Same could be said here. Yeah he made a vid glorifying an anti-LGBT stance on YouTube by burningthe books. But its fine if you return a full copy in same or better condition to whom you borrowed the book.
deleted by creator
If everyone did that tomorrow, it would be well worth it…
Before its legal to do that, we can identify and jail assholes who hate. So I propose that this is ok, but also mark every controversial book and follow sketchy guys and gals trying to check those out.
“A man”
This person has destroyed public property. Whether or not he pays, his name should be made public. People who know him should know what kind of person he is. His employer should know who they have hired. His employer’s customers should know who they are dealing with.
This is not normal behavior. This person is a sociopath and society needs to know who he is.
If you do that kind is stuff publicly on social media, you’re pretty much begging for people to make the connection between your name and those actions.
Agreed. He didn’t have any problems posting it to social media. There’s no reason not to include his identity in the article. Even if he posted under a pseudonym, that should still be included.
This is not normal behavior. This person is a sociopath and society needs to know who he is.
I wish people would stop throwing clinical terms around like this. Socio/psychopathy is a complicated psychiatric disorder with distinct behavioral and psychological markers, not a synonym for “evil.”
Sadly, you don’t need a psychiatric disorder to engage in despicable behavior. “Normal” people are quite capable of being racist, sexist douchebags, and most racist, sexist douchebags are not mentally ill. Bigotry is a product of culture, not abnormal psychology.
I think the correct clinical diagnosis in his case is “flaming asshole”
Should justice be served, the irony is that this man will end up paying for 100 brand new books on civil rights and LGBT topics.
Oh wait… Ohio? Nevermind, not holding my breath…
Throw the book at him!
Nazis gonna Nazi
Americans gonna let them
And all the other nazis do not see nazis.
Sounds like a hate crime to me.
This has been happening for a while… but I still remember the not too long ago when many conservatives were talking about how all libs were book burning Nazis. Never saw a lib burn a book, but they are, and doing it far more often and with far greater volume.
The library should be taking this douches nozzle to collections, and replacing the destroyed materials.
I think that’s the point. But legally they have to wait for them to be overdue. At least that’s my understanding.
Shouldn’t be too long, most libraries have a 4-wk lending period.
They might get auto-renewed for another 4 weeks, unless someone’s requested the book (which usually disables auto-renewal).
Meanwhile, the library just buys new copies of all the books out of tax money.
That’s assuming that all of the books are still in print and available.
If my personal collection was burned, there are several books that are not replaceable. Especially when you get to books about marginalized groups - things put out by small presses. Limited releases.
Assuming their budget doesn’t get cut
This fucking prick couldn’t read and unluckily could use fire, like a basic caveman.
He can read. At least enough to not pick just random books.
He is probably less than even some cavemen. There are some bits of late cave art that have been interpreted as proto-writing. There were possibly literate cave people.
