Books may be inanimate objects, but they contain above all, ideas which may be positive or negative depending upon your point of view.
In a political world, ideas can become like a virus; again, either positive or negative; a disease of the mind that spreads or a vaccine to counter toxic ideas of others that are spreading in the silence of one's thoughts until given voice in a public forum such as television or actual open debates concerning the viabilities of those ideas or declarations made within the book, which may be fiction or non-fiction. A good example of a fictional book that became both positive for many and a anathema for others was the Sci-Fi novel Starship Troopers by noted writer Robert A. Heinlein in 1959. The public controversy that it aroused made it virtually "too hot" for a movie version until 1997. Then you have "The Bible" or Mien Kampf by Adolf Hitler or the Koran...or a book on Martin Luther King...
Reading certainly has positive aspects for whatever slant or politics one has in learning and dare I say it, it does help develop one's brain and even has a certain 'spiritual' benefits.
What doe a Flag offer? Refuge for some who have symbolized what they think that particular country is or allegedly stands for which may or may not be the stark reality for many others. A Flag is myth.It is, in the end, a piece of cloth with decorations of some sort and some colours of all manner of shapes that is wide open to all sorts of personal and international interpretations.(Doesn't the flag of South Carolina resemble an Islamic State with its palm tree and crescent moon...Islamic extremists wouldn't have much to change in that flag...)
My own opinion concerning all current flags from having served under several and of getting to know the minds and thoughts of the respective military people in many countries is that they are all just rags fit to be used as toilet paper. The one flag or rather symbol that seems to be in the hearts of many across this planet is that of the skull and crossbones on a field as black as their hearts in regards to all laws and morality of what we call a civilized country; or simply black for the death that comes when we die as victims or as volunteers in any war, anywhere, anytime. And there have been many elite units in many military organizations that adopted the skull and crossbones as their symbol either openly or a hidden patch/ badge or pin on/ in their uniforms...
Flags are never a symbol of all people but only those that crave to be politically correct within their own little groups. Books are far more to many more.

I would never burn another countries flag. Out of respect for their military veterans.

There are always some that believe. However, the majority seem to think that such pride is not warrented. There seems to be a large group that feels they may burn & defile the flag as they chose. People emptying their bowels on the flag is a proper course of action. We used to enforce laws about that. Now it is applauded & publicized across the country.

Pride is self? People walk the streets showing their underware & worse. Their mouths LOUDLY speak words that shame their throats. Parents may not enforce proper rules in their homes. The younger generation HIDES behind their age, as a right to be rude & break laws, as they cannot be touched & deserve special treatment when they break laws. I can go on & on.

Simply worried about the world we are passing on to our young. I know that there is a large group of good out there. Just seems to be very quiet & getting smaller. OPINION

The ONLY time any flag should be burned; is at the end of it's service to the world. WHATEVER that service may be.

Yeah, we used to have laws about that.

ALL the same laws are still there. Now people don't seem to care & thus the "LAWS" are not enforced.

I thought when SCOTUS said it was free speech it threw out the laws.

I don't know for sure. If that is true, to me, that would go towards the "lack of pride in country".

Some people don't understand what it represents. Oh well, lack of pride as you say. That is why in my profile it says "God, family and country are what matters to me."

Sorry to hear you don't spend much time with people who have pride in themselves and their country. I can't imagine what that would be like .

I don't like either of these activities, but burning books is the one that gets me in the gut and makes me worry about tyranny.

Now for more questions: which is worse, burning books or just banning them from, say, a library? Which is worse, burning your country's flag or wearing it as shorts (and I mean the actual flag, not flag-inspired fabric)?

The way I view it, banning a book and burning one is exactly the same thing.

I see them as similar things, too. Both are preventing people from reading those particular books. Both are people deciding to use censorship.

Burning a book will not prevent others from reading copies of said book. Banning will however prevent the book from being available period.

Libraries are a problem for many of the so called "holier-than-thou" moral minorities who constantly badger Library boards to ban many works, especially those that can and are classified as "classics" be they translations of Greek or Latin texts or of the 20th century and all others in between. Their so called 'brains' must be infected by a germ called "Everyone must think like I do".
It is bad enough that many libraries do this themselves among their "politically correct" staff to remove works they find objectionable for whatever reason(s), be it a book by Eldridge Cleaver such as Soul on Ice or one by Gore Vidal, such as The City and The Pillar or one how-to on building a nuclear bomb... many conveniently disappear and are 'lost' or damaged somehow,(like when a staff member rips it to shreds in a fit of patriotic or evangelical zealousness). Some simply are 'borrowed',ie stolen by patrons and are never replaced. I have worked in many, including the Library of Congress and books, even manuscripts were always 'disappearing' into the private collections of some Congressmen or aid. Some have been stolen outright and have turned up in used bookshops in Washington DC as have valuable prints from certain books of the 18th and 19th century. Sold for money... by these so called 'representatives of the people'. On the much darker side however, there are lists that few are privy to, even in the best libraries, be they public or institutional, like universities or even some private ones(though they have the money and clout to refuse), lists that contain titles that are deemed 'dangerous to the public welfare' and those are refused or eliminated from collections. "Memoirs" are always watched and scrutinized is written by certain people, if it becomes known or suspected they are writing a book...
While we all realize that there are restrictions upon "freedom of speech", there are even more restrictions on 'freedom of thought' and to actually publish them and have a copy in a library...a better chance, perhaps in the underground library/ archives of a certain set of buildings located in Langley, Virginia perhaps....

Im not offended by either,,,,so long as its not my own property.

Shot in the nose, Slang for a PUNCH IN THE NOSE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Yep, that's already been explained earlier in the thread. Sorry, not up on slang for violence.

Not necessarily. A library can ban a book, but copies will still be available elsewhere. Still, both are censorship.