"We regret that you noticed our enlightened book-burning."

You can tart it up all you like, but at the end of the day, you're still burning books.

And even more piquant: Catholics instigated it.

A book burning held by an Ontario francophone school board as an act of reconciliation with Indigenous people has received sharp condemnation from Canadian political leaders and the board itself now says it regrets its symbolic gesture.

The “flame purification” ceremony, first reported by Radio Canada, was held in 2019 by the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, which oversees elementary and secondary schools in southwestern Ontario. Some 30 books, the national broadcaster reported, were burned for “educational purposes” and then the ashes were used as fertilizer to plant a tree.

Neat to see the resources of the Faithful so carefully-shepherded into the ground.

As White Goodman said in Dodge Ball: "It's a metaphor--but it really happened!"

The gauleiters of inclusion are, as stated in the title, just sorry that it came to the attention of the public:

“We regret that we did not intervene to ensure a more appropriate plan for the commemorative ceremony and that it was offensive to some members of the community. We sincerely regret the negative impact of this initiative intended as a gesture of reconciliation,” [school board spokesperson Lyne] Cossette wrote.

The old liberal consensus is on its deathbed, and illiberalism is ready to grab the spoils.

But here's the thing: this version isn't the only possible illiberal future. And behavior like this makes other versions more attractive.