Arson Ick & Old Lace

By Margaret Hicks in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 21, 2006 2:41PM

Okay, so remember the book burning from last week? The buttheads who burned some 70 Gay and Lesbian books (and 23 from the African American section) in the Merlo Library?

About thirty people showed up at the library last night, to protest the lackadaisical attitude of the police and the press regarding the crime.

And honestly? We’re torn. There are a couple of issues here. The fire was set with no accelerants, they left no note, no one has claimed responsibility, even the sign above the books reads “books in foreign languages and fiction”, it says nothing about “Gay and Lesbian” books. What was the impetus behind the crime? Was it meant to burn Gay and Lesbian books during Gay Pride month? Or was it, as Eric Zorn puts it “some kids playing with matches or attempting what they thought was a little prank”?

Also, and this goes back to some of the great comments we had on the previous book burning post, does the action deserve the title of “hate crime” or “vandalism”?

Can we ask any more questions? But the reality is, this thing is chock full of questions. Do we keep reporting on the crime and giving publicity to the buttheads who did it? Do we not report it and push the “hate” of the crime to the back burner?

The only one thing we can know for sure, above all other things, is that whoever did this is still a butthead, will remain a butthead and most likely will do something buttheadish in the future. Be on the lookout, alot of time, buttheads look just like regular people.