(A response to this comment at Fire Dog Lake, which may be the worst Godwin’s Law violation in human history)

They came first for the Koran, and I did not care because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the dictionary, and I did not care because it was online.

Then they came for Dean Koontz books, and I did not care because he’s a hack.

Then they came for Watership Down, and I did not care because I’m not a rabbit.

Then they came for Canterbury Tales, and I did not care because olde English hurts my eyes.

Then they came for Catcher in the Rye, and I did not care because I hate Holden Caufield.

Then they came for War and Peace, and I did not care because it’s 460,000 words long.

Then they came for ‘Go Dog Go’, and I did not care because I’m not six years old.

Then they came for the coffee table books, and I did not care, because nobody reads them.

Then they came for ‘Dracula’, and I did not care, for I am not a goth.

Then they came for Great Expectations, and I did not care, because the ending is a nonsensical deus ex machina.

Then they came for Oliver Twist, and I did not care because I have the musical on CD.

Then they came for Animal Farm, and I did not care, because I was busy eating bacon with breakfast.

Then they came for 1984, and I did not care because it’s 2010.

Then they came for the thesaurus, and I did not care, because I still had my glossary, language reference book, lexicon, onomasticon, reference book, sourcebook, storehouse of words, terminology, treasury of words, vocabulary, and word list.

Then they came for The Invisible Man, and I did not care for I could not see him.

Then they came for Naruto, and found out it has over 40 volumes, so they left briefly, then returned with a large grocery bag to carry them in.

Then they came for The Joys of Yiddish, and I did not care because it’s meshuggah.

Then they came for Peanuts, and I did not care because Calvin and Hobbes is better.

Then they came for Agatha Christie, and I did not care because I was interrogating the major in the drawing room.

Then they came for Sherlock Holmes, and I did not care, for I had recently slipped down a waterfall.

Then they came for Douglas Adams, and I did not care because I still had my towel.

Then they came for Emily Dickinson, and I did not care because I’m not a shut-in.

Then they came for Edgar Allan Poe, and I did not care because this raven keeps quoting him.

And then, at last, they came for me, only I am not a book, I am a human being, and so they did nothing.

Then I came to realize how monstrous it is to compare even the forms of free expression most odious to me to the deaths of millions of innocent people in concentration camps.

Then I felt ashamed.

(Poem by John J Sears and Andrew Leal. Special thanks to thesaurus.com, and to SouthernDragon for providing the inspiration)