Gregory's ServerClosing libraries is how you burn books without lighting a match.
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@martijn @aral currently working on a project to also aid distributed tool libraries as well - https://meansofp.org #meansofp  @martijn @aral Little Free Libraries are great, sure. We should have more of them. But they provide almost none of the things that real public libraries do, whether it's books you specifically want/need, reference materials, computers + internet, tax-filing resources, meeting spaces, air conditioning, or so much more.  @aral In "I Will Bear Witness, Volume 1" by Victor Klemperer, he notes how first books by Jewish authors were off-limits to people, then how he as a Jew was not allowed to check books out, then not allowed to read them in the Reading Room, then had bits of his personal library made verboten. If folks keep letting fascists fash, personal libraries become unavailable as well.  @glightly Not just extremists from the right but also left. Both believe in the sane thing. Burning books, putting people in concentration camps. Books are our future and if anyone suggest banning books, run away from them. @HolgerFiallo @glightly Sure, there are extremists on both sides. But only one of those sides is actually using their power to DO these things in an appreciable quantity right now. Don't be complacent, certainly, but focus your energy where it will do the most good.  @aral I never thought Fahrenheit 451 would get this relevant anymore. https://archive.org/details/fahrenheit-451-1966-696p  @aral 😡 exactly. We kept our library open by manning it with volunteers. It has been a big success 😀  Literate Resistance: Public bookcases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_bookcase You'd probably have to put it on private property close to the boardwalk and maybe struggle with local authorities about permits. But there is a Good Fight… Yes, 'Fahrenheit 451' has metaphorically come true. The themes in the book about television and propaganda have literally come true. @aral but also through defunding libraries and archives, which has been common practice for decades! Public libraries also get screwed when other social services get cut and their resources get stretched even further. Meanwhile funding for policing and prison systems continues to grow. Any local politician that even mumbles ‘crime and safety’ is going to quietly toss another book into the fire when you’re not looking. “Can't have the peasants reading books, they might get ideas above their station!” 😡   @aral Yep. Cut off access to information and then they will probably initiate a PragerU curriculum... Kids won't know anything other than ultra conservative dogma. Scary.  @aral  @aral The conservatives attack on the 'right to read' is apparently following the pattern of the attack on the right to an abortion: close the local brick &. morter facilities, then attack the online access to supplies. Laws requiring personal identification to access adult web sites can easily be used for stopping access to banned books at online libraries also. #libraries #ConservativesReallyAreThatBad |
@aral yes, but do you know about those cute little tiny libraries you can make at your home so neighbours can lend and give a book? Those can do small things for people. We have a few of them around my city 😍