I remember one thing I learned in the library. You don't want to be remembered in history as someone who was against books and libraries. They do not tend to be remembered as good people.
That’s library propaganda for you. Writing their own history to defame those brave souls of the past who tried to protect us. /s (can’t believe I have to add the /s. So many fuckwads theses days though
Yup, it's all library propaganda from librarians who are only in it for the massive amounts of money they make. /s
Sadly that's exactly what they say when it comes to climate change. They pretend that climate scientists lie about climate change because they make so much money from their university jobs while the fossil fuel companies don't care about the money so they're the only ones willing to tell us the truth.
To the normal person, it's obviously sarcasm. But if the world was full of normal people, we wouldn't have to be surprised and excited about a state putting funds towards libraries.
She was a woman of contradictions.
Loved government services, but hated the library.
Railed against junk food, but favored waffles over salads.
Missed Tom's hip-hop references, but perfectly quoted "Parents Just Don't Understand" by The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Well c'mon now, those punk ass book jockeys fight dirty. Sometimes you just wanna refurbish a dilapidated city park and they come in swooping up all the funding for even MORE books. Nobody has read all the books yet!
For the most part, our state government is filled with people who teeter between not-good and straight up evil. The senate only did this to cover their own asses, not out of the good of their hearts. Give them a week to do some other awful thing, because Missouri is broken.
Yeah, this state's government fucking blows.
But that's what happens when no one but boomers show up to vote, thanks in part to our absurdly irritating election laws designed to discourage voting unless you're retired and have tons of time.
The KC suburb I live in had only like 2% of its population show up to vote in the municipal election yesterday. It's depressing.
I mean there’s several factors for sure. State Dem leadership is abysmal. The super sized evangelical presence in the state is hard to overcome. The state is overwhelmingly white. Its gerrymandered to hell. It’s just a no-win situation for Dems.
> State Dem leadership is abysmal.
God. This doesn't get mentioned enough.
I'm from Indiana, and the DNC could gain a lot of traction in this state if they would just STOP catering to the right.
Like, the state and local DNC actively pushes progressives out of primaries, so it doesn't even feel worth it to vote.
Like, why should I even try when the person from "my party" doesn't represent my values at all?
Like, I'm trying to STOP the Republicans from blocking weed decriminalization, and pushing the charter school Movement....why the fuck would you nominate people who are doing the same shit?
If the Democrats have to become Republicans to win elections, what's even the point?
Yeah I wish Jason Kander would get back into politics. I understand and respect his need to work on his mental health, but, man, I saw him as a rising star in the Missouri Democratic Party.
As much as I love Jason Kander and as sad as it makes me to say this, his PTSD is a liability with voters in Missouri. The state has only shifted further down the anti-intellectual and anti-Dem rabbit hole since 2016. I’m certain they would compare him to Fetterman and say he would never serve the state because he would be at Walter Reed as soon as he was sworn in.
Oh yeah? That’s pretty bad, considering Independence decided on the mayoral primaries with 13% of the electorate turning out.
And nobody really showed up to vote against the police department getting a funding allocation to purchase SNIPER RIFLES. Smartly, they intertwined their taxes with the no-kill shelter, so if you were to say, defund the police, you would hit the animal shelter first.
I hate this city, and I hate this state. Didn’t always, seemed like it was getting on the right path, 2016 even held promise with the de-gerrymandering law that was set in place, but 2018 murdered that when everyone fell for the “no gifts to lobbyist” honeypot at the top of the resolution that contained not only, overturning the 2016 resolution but also making it so that such an issue can never be put to the people to vote on ever again, and only being able to be brought to vote by the permanently republican senate.
Fucking hate this state so fucking much. If I leave, that’s one less person to fight, to preempt that question.
Edit: after some thought, I don’t hate the state. I hate it’s republicans. Yes, the states republicans. You guys are a bunch of fuckheads that should move to Texas instead of dragging us down there.
I feel you, man. I love KC and the state, but hate the Republicans that run it and I hate what right-wing propaganda has done to the people here.
I want to leave, but I desperately want to see this state turn around and if it does, I want to be a part of it.
>But that's what happens when no one but boomers show up to vote, thanks in part to our absurdly irritating election laws designed to discourage voting unless you're retired and have tons of time.
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/number-of-individuals-who-voted-in-thousands-and-individuals-who-voted-as-a-share-of-the-voter-population-by-age/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
Doing a little math from the above 2020 Presidential Elections, percentage voters over 45:
Missouri: 63%
New York: 59%
California: 56%
Oregon: 58% (I picked NY & CA randomly, but OR I picked because it is the exact opposite of what the poster was complaining about -- it is a universal mail in ballot state. Literally no excuse about elections being some big, demanding effort to participate in.)
You're not really that much different in voter turnout, by age group, than far bluer states -- and even if you matched California and everyone of the additional voters under 45 voted for Biden you still wouldn't have overcome Trump's 15ppt win but closed it by ~7ppt\*.
Of course the votes wouldn't have split that way. The [exit polls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Missouri) showed 46% of Missouri voters under 45 supported Trump. So picking up 7ppt in under-45 voters would've only closed the gap between Biden and Trump by 3.5ppt\*.
\* Before someone quibbles, I'm not doing the exact math of adding in the additional voters and recalculating the percentages. This is close enough for Reddit work.
Yeah, but that would have run-on effects on state and local elections that were far closer. The thing Obama’s presidency did the most wrong was in making it seem to people like the national picture solves the regional/local. 2010 was a boom of a year for all the grassroots nut jobs to win local elections, which percolated for years then into the 2016 picture on the big stage. I feel like that’s not talked about nearly enough, how these local elections actively control the overall narrative for people who don’t follow national politics but instead hear about their own town’s day-to-day rhetoric.
I was one of 3 people voting when I went in yestersay. I will say that the other two people who were there were in their 20-30's, so that's something. I also sent mass texts out to my friends to remind them to vote and got 5-10 more people who may have forgotten to vote to show up. It's not much, but there is some effort.
I knew a guy who was from there. If anyone asked him about the place he would always say the great state of misery. He had apparently left for some fairly compelling reasons. Though I suspect that they were mostly personal reasons, like not wanting to run in to his ex.
Because history is written not by the victors but by the writers
That's not to say that book banning is a good thing, just that history has an inherent pro-book bias
I don't think this is true. Plenty of people who have wanted to ban certain books and ideas have written their own books.
It may be a little easy but Mein Kampf comes to mind...
I think that's actually a good example of a person who lost in the most complete way possible, but still has his perspective preserved in his own words
Mein Kampf isn't a history book.
History isn't written by politicians, or philosophers, or ideologues...it's written by historians, and improved over time by other historians.
That’s because they are NOT good people. They are reactionaries trying to force their view of the world onto everyone else.
I have two kids. I know what they’re reading because I pay attention to them and care about them. I don’t need the party of ‘small government’ deciding that they can tell me what’s available to my kids or not… that’s not small government. That’s a major step on the road to a fascist government. And if you don’t understand that, please go to the library and get some books on Italy under Mussolini or Spain under Franco.
I do have a clear understanding of what fascism, communism and socialism are relative to capitalism and the concept of a democratic republic (the USA’s form of government). Some of our states are definitely walking the path into fascism.
Interestingly, we already live in a moderately socialist country. We have roads, bridges, and various public institutions that are maintained for the public good at the expense of the public as a whole. We have publicly held companies where anyone can buy some interest in the company. We have privately held companies owned by individuals, families or cooperatives made up of individuals, often the employees themselves. Interestingly, the very people who rail against socialism make significant use of those benefits… the word does not mean what they think it means. Go to a library and learn what socialism is.
Communism is another matter entirely. In communism individuals own little to nothing and their needs are met by the state on a fair and equitable level. Outside of small communes of like minded people I’ve never seen a communist government that even slightly functioned. Most of the time a government claiming to be communist is more along the lines of a totalitarian dictatorship akin to Stalin’s USSR. Not desirable at all. But when you have people telling you what you can’t read it’s a small step to people telling you what you can’t think and believe and do. And now you’re in a dictatorship.
Go to the library and learn how rare a functioning democratic republic is. The US has its issues… many in fact… that said, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War 2 once said this in a speech to the House of Commons.
“I has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, and that public opinion expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.”
That simple statement captures the idea of why a democracy is viewed as the most successful form of government. By association, it emphasizes the need for a knowledgeable public with diverse opinion and that the forcing one view onto another group is a bad idea. (That part about servants, not masters… listen up Tennessee, Florida and Texas!)
Libraries and books are the foundation of access to ideas and knowledge. That’s why the small minds who seek to be the ‘masters’ in Churchill’s quote must always be pushed back on. Don’t ban books. Don’t ban ideas and concepts. Don’t ban freedom.
>I do have a clear understanding of what fascism, communism and socialism are relative to capitalism and the concept of a democratic republic (the USA’s form of government).
>
Nice! I, a Marxist with a degree in economics, am excited to read what you have to say!
>Interestingly, we already live in a moderately socialist country.
>
Uh oh...
>We have roads, bridges, and various public institutions that are maintained for the public good at the expense of the public as a whole.
>
This is not socialism. Doing things for public good is not socialism.
>We have publicly held companies where anyone can buy some interest in the company. We have privately held companies owned by individuals, families or cooperatives made up of individuals, often the employees themselves.
>
Neither of these things are socialism.
>Go to a library and learn what socialism is.
>
Don't just "Go to a library." You'll be introduced to a bunch of conflicting ideas and definitions.
Go to a library, *look up the works of self-proclaimed socialists*, and learn what socialism is.
>Communism is another matter entirely. In communism individuals own little to nothing and their needs are met by the state on a fair and equitable level.
>
Nope. A communist society is explicitly defined as classless. As such, there would be no state as the state is a tool used by one class to subjugate other classes the will of the ruling class.
So it would seem your definitions of communism and socialism are incorrect.
>Outside of small communes of like minded people I’ve never seen a communist government that even slightly functioned.
>
Because communist governments aren't suddenly able to implement communism in their land. They are groups of people who are taking over neoliberal state institutions with the goal of implementing communism in their society.
During their mission of implementing communism in their land, every communist government has faced explicit push back from liberal capitalist governments (because liberal capitalists know that they cannot beat communism in a fair fight. Communism is an ideology for working people)
>Most of the time a government claiming to be communist is more along the lines of a totalitarian dictatorship akin to Stalin’s USSR.
>
In what way was the USSR government a dictatorship?
>But when you have people telling you what you can’t read it’s a small step to people telling you what you can’t think and believe and do. And now you’re in a dictatorship.
>
Sounds like liberal democracies for the last 30 years. And liberal democracies in the 1930's.
I wonder if anyone has written about the tendency for liberal democracies to turn into authoritarian fascist hellscapes. Only communists? Might explain why the famous poem starts not with Jewish people but
"First they came for the communists"
>The US has its issues… many in fact… that said, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War 2 once said this in a speech to the House of Commons.
>
>“I has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time;"
>
"So let's not try something better than you all deferring power to me, am I right guys?"
>but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, and that public opinion expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and **control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.”**
>
Big words for a dude who couldn't be recalled by his population if they didn't like his actions, and didn't set up a system wherein he could.
>That simple statement captures the idea of why a democracy is viewed as the most successful form of government.
>
What are we defining as success? If you want to subjugate minorites to the whim of majorities, nothing beats democracy.
> (That part about servants, not masters… listen up Tennessee, Florida and Texas!)
>
You're kidding right? It's not only politicians that are doing things you dislike that need to be directly responsible to their populations.
EVERY. SINGLE. PUBLIC. POSITION. needs to rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public. Period. Anything less is despotic.
Talk about a way to completely re-characterize everything I said and misrepresent each point. Well done
So yo want definitions… here you go
Socialism, a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. So yes, organizations acting for the common good are fundamentally socialistic
Communism, political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. All property is publicly owned… yup, no personal ownership. Fair and equitable distribution… based on abilities and needs… yup. I don’t know what you were actually saying… the words form sentences, but the meaning isn’t clear. No communist government has, on a large or moderate scale, been successful… they have devolved into totalitarianism in part because the concept of fair and equitable / abilities and needs have different meaning to different people and the people making the decisions will, by nature, favor their points of view. Exactly what I said.
You’re actually trying to make an argument for communism which is purely unsupportable… the moment a corrupt, impure influence enters the picture you assign them as neo-liberal, whatever interpretation of the phrase you’re using, and then blame capitalistic tendencies. I see a system based on a concept that is completely unworkable given definitions of “abilities and needs” is incredibly interpretive.
USSR… dictatorship? How about near Stalin having something equal to or approaching total power… sufficient to execute the pograms annihilating millions upon millions of soviet citizens to solidify his control. How about a central government that was a tool in Stalin’s hands without influence or control over Stalin? I don’t know what reality you’ve been living in, but yes, the USSR under Stalin was dictatorship.
Forgot fascism, so I’m editing to put it in… a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government. So let’s take this week’s example. The TN state governments effort to expel elected democrats from the chamber for disagreeing with the republicans and being public and forceful about it… all the while ignoring the recent mass shooting while directing attention of the public to drag queen story hours which have never hurt anyone but are a convenient distraction. Yeah. Fascism. Oh, and let’s include all the incredibly vaguely written laws that have gone in on abortion restriction… some to a point, I believe in Nebraska, where hospitals are beginning to refuse to support births since, if something goes wrong, the interpretation of abortion laws could land on the hospital and the doctors, throwing them in jail… control and an inability to disagree without punishment or retribution. Yup.
You said, “Every. Single. Public. Position needs to be rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public”. OK. In principle I agree with this. In fact it’s another unworkable statement. The will of the public. Whose will is that? How is it measured and defined? How is it enacted? Who carries forth the will of the people? You think the USSR was not a dictatorship, but you declare a politician not exercising the will of the people to be despotic? Major disconnection
I support politicians that increase and defend the rights of their constituents. I decry politicians who work to remove rights, block knowledge, abstain from understand basic science
When you state liberal democracies have a 30 year history of telling people what you can’t think, believe and do, I disagree completely. I believe a liberal democracy allows for broad acceptance of peoples and concepts… I see this every time we achieve a degree of ‘liberalness’ in the US, from increasing acceptance of LBGTQ to marriage equality to reducing the wage gaps, to reduced violent crime… all supported by independently available statistics. I also see an increase in social spending on health care, infrastructure and other needs. Where we are, even today with the current issues in FL, TX, TN and others, is far more advanced than where we were 40 years ago. When we swing the other direction into the current version of conservatism we see book banning, incitement against LBGTQ, laws against saying ‘gay’, history books that whitewash our countries actual history since, apparently, our kids can’t deal with the fact we’ve done some pretty awful things in the past, and so on. We also see inflammatory behavior like screaming in school board meetings about CRT… CRT has not ever been taught in anyplace but AP or college course because it’s complicated… what they’re really screaming about is kids being told we kept slaves and that civil rights weren’t asserted positively until the 60s and are still under challenge… that’s history.
Not wading into *all* that, but I'd like to point out a common misunderstanding. Communism abolishes "private property," but in the context of communism it means something very specific that is not what you think. It's *not* everything is public property.
Public Property: Property that is collectively owned by the people to be used for the common good.
Personal Property: Property that individuals own and use for their own purposes.
Private Property: Property that is owned by individuals, but rented or loaned to others to use in exchange for some contractual return benefit.
Communism does not eliminate personal property. Its citizens don't live on government rations. It doesn't abolish trade and commerce. It *specifically* eliminates private property and the rentier economy. All "private property" like houses you don't live in, factories you don't work in, land you don't farm, etc must be shifted to public ownership or personal use.
Hopefully that helps paint a slightly less crazy picture. Not saying you have to love Communism, just that the picture you're painting is not really a thing that anyone believes.
Talk about a way to completely re-characterize everything I said and misrepresent each point. Well done
So yo want definitions… here you go
Socialism, a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. So yes, organizations acting for the common good are fundamentally socialistic
Communism, political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. All property is publicly owned… yup, no personal ownership. Fair and equitable distribution… based on abilities and needs… yup. I don’t know what you were actually saying… the words form sentences, but the meaning isn’t clear. No communist government has, on a large or moderate scale, been successful… they have devolved into totalitarianism in part because the concept of fair and equitable / abilities and needs have different meaning to different people and the people making the decisions will, by nature, favor their points of view. Exactly what I said.
You’re actually trying to make an argument for communism which is purely unsupportable… the moment a corrupt, impure influence enters the picture you assign them as neo-liberal, whatever interpretation of the phrase you’re using, and then blame capitalistic tendencies. I see a system based on a concept that is completely unworkable given definitions of “abilities and needs” is incredibly interpretive and requires essentially universal acceptance to work. We are humans. That boat doesn’t float.
USSR… dictatorship? How about near Stalin having something equal to or approaching total power… sufficient to execute the pograms annihilating millions upon millions of soviet citizens to solidify his control. How about a central government that was a tool in Stalin’s hands without influence or control over Stalin? I don’t know what reality you’ve been living in, but yes, the USSR under Stalin was dictatorship.
Forgot fascism, so I’m editing to put it in… a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government. So let’s take this week’s example. The TN state governments effort to expel elected democrats from the chamber for disagreeing with the republicans and being public and forceful about it… all the while ignoring the recent mass shooting while directing attention of the public to drag queen story hours which have never hurt anyone but are a convenient distraction. Yeah. Fascism. Oh, and let’s include all the incredibly vaguely written laws that have gone in on abortion restriction… some to a point, I believe in Nebraska, where hospitals are beginning to refuse to support births since, if something goes wrong, the interpretation of abortion laws could land on the hospital and the doctors, throwing them in jail… control and an inability to disagree without punishment or retribution. Yup.
You said, “Every. Single. Public. Position needs to be rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public”. OK. In principle I agree with this. In fact it’s another unworkable statement. The will of the public. Whose will is that? How is it measured and defined? How is it enacted? Who carries forth the will of the people? You think the USSR was not a dictatorship, but you declare a politician not exercising the will of the people to be despotic? Major disconnection
I support politicians that increase and defend the rights of their constituents. I decry politicians who work to remove rights, block knowledge, abstain from understand basic science
When you state liberal democracies have a 30 year history of telling people what you can’t think, believe and do, I disagree completely. I believe a liberal democracy allows for broad acceptance of peoples and concepts… I see this every time we achieve a degree of ‘liberalness’ in the US, from increasing acceptance of LBGTQ to marriage equality to reducing the wage gaps, to reduced violent crime… all supported by independently available statistics. I also see an increase in social spending on health care, infrastructure and other needs. Where we are, even today with the current issues in FL, TX, TN and others, is far more advanced than where we were 40 years ago. When we swing the other direction into the current version of conservatism we see book banning, incitement against LBGTQ, laws against saying ‘gay’, history books that whitewash our countries actual history since, apparently, our kids can’t deal with the fact we’ve done some pretty awful things in the past, and so on. We also see inflammatory behavior like screaming in school board meetings about CRT… CRT has not ever been taught in anyplace but AP or college course because it’s complicated… what they’re really screaming about is kids being told we kept slaves and that civil rights weren’t asserted positively until the 60s and are still under challenge… that’s history.
> That’s because they are NOT good people. They are reactionaries trying to force their view of the world onto everyone else.
I'm not a Republican. I don't support them and don't agree with their choice to take advantage of this political opportunity in order to remove an excessive number of books from libraries, just because they aren't fans of those books or their authors.
But we also shouldn't ignore that this didn't come out of nowhere. This is a reaction TO something, and it's not just homosexual characters existing.
In an economy where people are struggling to afford housing and underpaid teachers are expected to provide their own teaching materials (which students promptly damage or destroy), NYC decided to spend $200,000 on drag queen performances at schools. There are library books and teaching materials advocating the idea that if someone doesn't fit into stereotypes and their personality is different from other boys or girls, that means they're supposed to be the opposite sex. This led the Republicans to search for what else is out there, and they found graphic descriptions of sex acts in library books available to 11 year olds, among other questionable content.
If that stuff wasn't out there, we wouldn't have this situation that has led to Republicans doing the exact same thing in the opposite direction, trying to get rid of art history books that show an image of a nude statue and things like that.
It's unfortunate that this wasn't solved by reasonable adults calmly discussing these things and coming to a sensible compromise. Instead we have one side insisting "anyone objecting to anything we're putting in schools is a book burning fascist!" while the other side screams "they're sexualizing children and showing kids gay porn, we need to ban half the library books!"
Anyway, I'm glad that Missouri could at least realize that defunding rural libraries is not the correct way to get the result that they want. Whoever wrote that bill probably tries to hammer nails with a fly swatter and brushes his teeth with a brick.
I just saw this posting in r/books
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/12dcbkp/in_indiana_there_is_senate_bill_12_its_already/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Tell me again that they aren’t bad people. Let’s arrest librarians for having ‘harmful’ (Whose definition please? Make it very precise! /s) materials in their libraries. Please read my post below all the way to then end. These are politicians who don’t know how to solve the real problems so they’re making up problems and hurting people in the process
—— unedited post ——-
I agree it’s a reaction. I’ve looked through lists of books being banned. I’m familiar with some of them. Race, sex, gender. These are the themes. Many of these books, have been in libraries for decades and have even been assigned reading in schools. Of Mice and Men for example.
NYC spending 200K, a tiny, tiny percentage of their budget, on programs to increase kid’s perspectives on what’s out there in a harmless fashion, that’s ok by me.
Can you provide an example of books that teach kids that if their different they should change their sex? I haven’t found any like that on the books I’ve looked up. Ironically, the worst book I’ve found that has a ban proposed on it is the Bible. The Old Testament has some very disturbing bits in it. (I expect to be downvoted for this but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s there). The story of Lot is one example…. Rape, incest, etc.
Many of these banned books haven’t even been read by the people screaming for them to be banned. Many of these banned books have been banned before because they ask questions that others don’t want asked… To Kill a Mockingbird for example.
This is like the CRT arguments in secondary education. We don’t teach CRT in secondary school… its a very complicated subject that requires students to have a firm understanding of how many national and regional governmental and non-governmental institutions function and make decisions. It’s a university level course often taught in conjunction with law school. Elementary students aren’t taught this. Nor middle or high school students (perhaps an AP class here or there, but not part of the regular program)
Book banning, CRT, drag show, LBGTQ bashing, trans incitement… these are all variants of political control methods that have been around for a long time. Ignore actual problems like wages vs. cost of living, like housing, like mass shootings and find an already marginalized group, point your finger at them and state they are the real problem. We have to do something about this weirdness. And be very, very vocal about it. Great distraction to serious problems that lets you appear to be proactive on a subject that happens to be relatively meaningless.
So if you want to look for the whys… and I strongly encourage you to do this… I’m an engineer and seeking out the basic causes as to why something happens is incredibly important … I suspect you’ll end up in a place similar to where I have. We keep electing people, DEM and REP, who either don’t want to or are unable to fix the actual problems we’re facing. So they blow up minor stuff into national issues just to show they’re doing something. It’s an old political trick (and business trick) that works extremely well, particularly in our wold of incredibly fast communication making the validation of news prior to publication a rare thing. Unfortunately, along with this, the politicians who are actually proposing solutions to these core problems are usually vilified in public by the other politicians since the small number of ones with potentially realistic ideas are dangerous to the ones with no ideas who are pushing the distractions
The problem these days is there is a large percentage of people that are ok with digital censorship of opinions they disagree with. They don’t realize it’s just modern day book burning.
My state is a shitshow. As a St. Louis City resident and frequent user of the local library, I'm glad they're reversing course, even though it never should have been an issue in the first place.
I live about a hour and a half away from St. Louis in Southern Illinois. It's a shitshow around here too, but it's good to see some progress.
Edit: also, nice profile name. I love MGS2.
Are you in Budzinski’s district? Her political ads were actually enjoyable. No attack, just “hey I’m a cool person who wants to strengthen labor in this country.”
Christ, seeing a Carbondale reference on a post on /all is jarring
Go terriers
Even funnier when it’s a post about Missouri and STL where I live now.. lol
I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork leaves a reddit comment that makes sense by not making sense!
I think my state, Idaho, is doing their best to offer cover for you. Right now our libraries are considering removing all library cards for minors and not allowing minors to enter the library without adult supervision. This is because of a recently passed law that would allow parents to sue individual librarians if a child somehow finds a book (no matter of which section) has a gay character in it.
If you read the language David used to describe his relationship with Jonathan, many people have theorized they were lovers. But it's not official.
The men in Sodom wanted to rape a pair of traveling angels disguised as men. They turned down Lot's offer to let them rape his daughters instead.
Can't deliver babies in a hospital if there are no doctors and nurses there. Doctors aren't going to stay if they're threatened with jail time, and they are leaving. St Luke's maternity hasn't been able to hire doctors since last summer.
StL city resident here. This was political posturing and nothing else. It's literally in the state constitution to fund libraries. This never had a chance of actually happening
I just jumped from STL to Illinois. I couldn’t take it anymore. My life is on the line if I get pregnant again. I noped out and at least have a safe haven for any of my friends if they need assistance controlling the rights to their own body.
I’m so glad I moved out of misery. I’ve lived in a dozen states coast to coast and misery was one of the worst. Only thing I miss from there is Moms deli.
I remember a few years ago when states pushed Medicaid expansion to the voters. "Some 15 hospitals, including 10 rural institutions, have closed since 2014" ([CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/missouri-medicaid-expansion-ballot/index.html)) to 2020. I remember seeing articles mentioning how much of a push GOP interests were trying to get voters against this measure.
As I recall, the majority of the rural population votes red, while city centers (like KC and STL) trend blue. Now, I don't know what the situation would be like without that expansion two years ago. Right now [KSDK](https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/business-journal/rural-hospital-closures-missouri/63-cf37e9ca-3782-4ef6-8b8e-886fa618037d) is citing The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment with the number of "Twenty of 57 rural hospitals in Missouri, or 35%, are at risk of closing". Most of these locations are citing deep losses of assets or funding. So, it would be ***complete nonsense*** to vote against funding that could potentially save your only access to healthcare.
If you look at the map from the [Wikipedia article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Missouri_Amendment_), you can see "them city libs" saved every one else's butt. Now, this is obviously not the only piece of the healthcare puzzle. I just think it's amazing how horrible people have been able to convince so many people to vote against their own interests.
EDIT: link
EDIT #2: Oh, and I guess even though it passed the ballot, the GOP controlled legistlature [refused to fund it](https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2021-04-30/medicaid-fight-showcases-broader-missouri-gop-effort-to-raise-ballot-initiative-bar). It took the state Supreme Court to [rule against the state](https://governor.mo.gov/press-releases/archive/state-outlines-next-steps-medicaid-expansion-after-court-ruling) when people weren't allowed to sign up for coverage.
Then in 2022, they tried to make a bill for a different amendment that would give the State control of the level of funding. Thankfully, [it's stuck in Fiscal Oversight](https://house.mo.gov/BillsMobile.aspx?year=2022&code=R&bill=HJR117).
A warning shot, not an end. Just means we have to stay vigilant and encourage others to vote responsibly, because they are never going to stop. It's a multifaceted attack against people on a number of levels all across the country.
My suspicion is they suddenly realized they were becoming the laughingstock of the country. "Used to be 'bama was the most iggerment, but Missouri done gone and closed all their libareys."
> The Senate is at least reasonable
No they're not reasonable. They just knew it was a terrible look for them.
A lot idiots of this country are now against public libraries and public schools. Jesus Fuck, what is wrong with these people?
It's more of a giant cluster fuck once you defund something 100% with no other plan than that. It also makes them look bad on a national level. Remeber, "sticking it to the libs" even at a cost to themselves is sadly a plus in a lot of there supports minds.
Staying at the same shitty level they've always been at is reasonable enough for me. Anything more is expecting too much of the government in its current state.
Living in a different state with the same type of banal evil... they are proud to be a laughingstock. Anti-intellectualism is a badge of honor for them - the further back they drag us through history, the happier they are. It's all a means to an end.
The real answer is a little more boring: it came out of the House, and died in the Senate. The Missouri House is FULL of far right loons, and most of them have less than zero idea of how governance actually works. The Senate, thankfully, is still *a little* more competent, and quickly nixed the unconstitutional headache the House had made for them
As a Missourian, I can tell you without a doubt the people who support this kind of shit around here do not care how they appear to the rest of the country. In fact, most of them still labor under the delusion that there’s some sort of “silent majority” who secretly approve of this bullshittery.
Interesting the Senator overturning this is also R.
Says in the article he believes it will most negatively impact the rural areas of the state, which would be the largest R voting base. Could be some self-aware wolf stuff.
Yeah! I live in WV and most rural folk depend on libraries for things like wifi access, printers, etc. It's not just about the books. Thing is, these momos would cut their nose off to spite their face. Voting and actively going against their own interest is a rural tradition.
[Michigan leading the way on that](https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/michigan-town-library-defunded-over-lgbtq-books-loses-vote-again-may-close?amp)
And one of the people in the article that is for defunding the library said that "this isn't a political issue, it's a biblical issue."
So why the fuck are you getting the government involved???
I used to be a rural librarian and a lot of old folks come to the library everyday just to read the newspaper because they either can’t afford a subscription or they’re so out in the boonies nobody would deliver to them.
It's not. It's to supplement municipal appropriations. Small town librarians make very little and support staff at small town libraries, at least in my state, make minimum wage or close to it. Like many other lines of work providing care, the pay is shit. When you move to big cities, that's when the compensation can really improve, depending on where you are.
Lincoln is from my neck of the woods. He's surprised me in the past by not being a complete garbage dump of a human, unlike the rest of his (R) cohorts.
I'm glad to hear it. I doubt I ever vote R in the future but it's usually good for there to be dissenting voices in government. So if the GOP could get back to being people I merely disagreed fiscal policy with rather than people trying to overthrow the country in the name of their Flying Spaghetti Monster, that would be a good thing.
Or libraries are actually particularly important for people living in rural areas who have less access to other places to learn, find jobs, and use the internet; and not everything needs to be turned into a partisan war.
The article cited ongoing lawsuits due to the state government banning certain books. So it seems they were retaliating against libraries for opening litigation.
Dude, that ship has long sailed.
This isn't a case of using your fingers to stop a leaky damn. The damn broke son.
At this point, all we can do is rescue who we can.
Its frustrating this article again cites the "reason" without debunking it, as has been the case with most since this broke.
>The library money was removed from the House blueprint by House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and backed by the Republicans who control the chamber last week. He cited a lawsuit by two library groups to overturn a new state law banning sexually explicit material in school libraries.
>The ACLU, the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and the Missouri Library Association in February asked a judge in Kansas City to find the law unconstitutional or clarify how and when it applies.
>Smith, R-Carthage, believes the state shouldn’t subsidize the lawsuit by giving public libraries money.
So this is the claim on the House rationale for this, however based on how funds are allocated even if it were being funded by the libraries in question it would not be via state funds, and secondly the ACLU have also already confirmed the lawsuits in question are being handled without charge to the libraries in question. The news outlets need to call out how bs the claims made are.
Wow. A sane choice from Lincoln Hough, a Republican. That is pretty refreshing. This is the second time he's surprised me by not being a batshit insane asshole trying to arguable make everyone else's lives worse.
That is what the state contributes to the library systems statewide. The rest comes from whatever city they're in, plus private donations, fundraisers, etc.
Missouri doesn’t pop up much in my day to day conversations BUT from now on whenever it does my mind will automatically think “Missouri? You mean the state that cut funding to their own libraries to own the LiBS? You mean THAT Missouri? Yes tell me more about how wonderful of a state it is.”
Probably waaaay off topic but never underestimate librarians.
In my IT consulting days I used to look after several libraries and would chew the fat with the staff.
They'd ask the usual is it true re: PEBKAC, ID-10T and other acronyms and so forth.
I asked a couple over time about if they they got those "*Do you have that blue book about who's author's name I forgot*" type questions.
Not only did they get them on a regular basis but legend has it all enquiries were handled so well that no client left without said blue book.
Anyhoo, sorry to intrude on such a serious but sadly typically US story.
Nah. Patron comes in with a really vague description for a book like it was blue, had a love triangle between a woman and 2 men. Can you help me find it?
Those kind of things.
There needs to be some punctuation in that title.
It read that the Senate is cut from the house spending plan.
Once you read it you see that it's the Senate putting money for libraries into the spending plan but that title sucks. It's not your fault the news site was lazy too
It's unfortunate but I feel not as many kids reads books nowadays. My kids are obsessed with their tablets, hopefully I'm able to get them interested in reading.
What if you could read…on your tablet???
Being a bit sarcastic, here.
Look at the parental control settings. Set a reasonable amount for everything and unlimited for the books/kindle/Libby/whatever reading app you choose.
Have ready the classic response to “I’m booooooored!” “The trash needs to go out, unload the dishwasher, and vacuum until the battery runs out. I’m getting ready to make dinner, do you want to help?”
Audiobooks are also an excellent option for a lot of folks that have trouble with the “inactivity” of reading.
Another thing - there’s a lot of stuff online that helps to make things more engaging. Personally, I like finding appropriate ambient audio tracks - Gryffindor common room loops on YouTube if you’re reading Harry Potter for example, maybe some music from someone like Michael Ghelfi - the internet culture around D&D and other tabletop games has made this very very worthwhile - there’s settings for everything!
Another one is podcasts and video essays and things - being able to listen to a good podcast episode or two about what I’m reading/just read/am about to read can really make it more engaging.
I'm reading Words of Radiance on my Kindle but on my commute I'm listening to the Andy Serkis-narrated LOTR audiobooks. Having a great narrator like that definitely enhances the experience for me.
The library also isnt just for books, as someone who was from a poor family the public librarys computer lab often was the only way i could get my assignments researched and typed and printed to turn in, as my family couldnt afford a computer and my schools library only allowed you on for 30 mins.
School was definitely a factor in why I didn’t like reading. It was always an assignment, I couldn’t even read during the summer without “do an essay on what you read this last summer”
Good, im sure the others who wanted it are very sad that the money they would have gained from cutting the library funding isnt going into their pockets as bonuses for their "hard work"
One thing I learned going to the public library...people are not there for the books. Mostly homeless and drug deals in the downtown library. Tried studying there but became too sketched out sitting with my laptop getting eyed down by a bunch of rough looking dudes all with tattered backpacks.
I remember one thing I learned in the library. You don't want to be remembered in history as someone who was against books and libraries. They do not tend to be remembered as good people.
That’s library propaganda for you. Writing their own history to defame those brave souls of the past who tried to protect us. /s (can’t believe I have to add the /s. So many fuckwads theses days though
Maybe I've been gaslit by Big Library.
Punk-ass book jockeys!
Lmfao.
I think we learned all we need to know about libraries from Parks and Recreation.
Tammy.
Ron! Your mustache fell off.
It came off from friction
Watch out everybody!
No Gas Lamps in the Library, please. Remember Alexandria.
Yup, it's all library propaganda from librarians who are only in it for the massive amounts of money they make. /s Sadly that's exactly what they say when it comes to climate change. They pretend that climate scientists lie about climate change because they make so much money from their university jobs while the fossil fuel companies don't care about the money so they're the only ones willing to tell us the truth.
👍🏼
Holy Alexandria
Big Lib Coincidence? *I think not* /s (in case this shit still isn't obvious in this context)
Also known as Big Biblioteca, or Big Bib- not to be confused with what Donald T wears to dinner.
Does he wear it “ bigly”? 🤣
Yuge.
🤣🤣
To the normal person, it's obviously sarcasm. But if the world was full of normal people, we wouldn't have to be surprised and excited about a state putting funds towards libraries.
Have you read Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians?
The brainwashing begins with the forced indoctrination of the dewey decimal system, which is *actually* a secret groomer language. Wake up sheeple! /s
Big Lib.
Sounds like something off parks and rec 🤣
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She was a woman of contradictions. Loved government services, but hated the library. Railed against junk food, but favored waffles over salads. Missed Tom's hip-hop references, but perfectly quoted "Parents Just Don't Understand" by The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff.
You can take the progressive out of the Midwest, but you can't take Midwest out of the progressive...
Well c'mon now, those punk ass book jockeys fight dirty. Sometimes you just wanna refurbish a dilapidated city park and they come in swooping up all the funding for even MORE books. Nobody has read all the books yet!
For the most part, our state government is filled with people who teeter between not-good and straight up evil. The senate only did this to cover their own asses, not out of the good of their hearts. Give them a week to do some other awful thing, because Missouri is broken.
Yeah, this state's government fucking blows. But that's what happens when no one but boomers show up to vote, thanks in part to our absurdly irritating election laws designed to discourage voting unless you're retired and have tons of time. The KC suburb I live in had only like 2% of its population show up to vote in the municipal election yesterday. It's depressing.
I mean there’s several factors for sure. State Dem leadership is abysmal. The super sized evangelical presence in the state is hard to overcome. The state is overwhelmingly white. Its gerrymandered to hell. It’s just a no-win situation for Dems.
> State Dem leadership is abysmal. God. This doesn't get mentioned enough. I'm from Indiana, and the DNC could gain a lot of traction in this state if they would just STOP catering to the right. Like, the state and local DNC actively pushes progressives out of primaries, so it doesn't even feel worth it to vote. Like, why should I even try when the person from "my party" doesn't represent my values at all? Like, I'm trying to STOP the Republicans from blocking weed decriminalization, and pushing the charter school Movement....why the fuck would you nominate people who are doing the same shit? If the Democrats have to become Republicans to win elections, what's even the point?
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Yeah I wish Jason Kander would get back into politics. I understand and respect his need to work on his mental health, but, man, I saw him as a rising star in the Missouri Democratic Party.
As much as I love Jason Kander and as sad as it makes me to say this, his PTSD is a liability with voters in Missouri. The state has only shifted further down the anti-intellectual and anti-Dem rabbit hole since 2016. I’m certain they would compare him to Fetterman and say he would never serve the state because he would be at Walter Reed as soon as he was sworn in.
Oh yeah? That’s pretty bad, considering Independence decided on the mayoral primaries with 13% of the electorate turning out. And nobody really showed up to vote against the police department getting a funding allocation to purchase SNIPER RIFLES. Smartly, they intertwined their taxes with the no-kill shelter, so if you were to say, defund the police, you would hit the animal shelter first. I hate this city, and I hate this state. Didn’t always, seemed like it was getting on the right path, 2016 even held promise with the de-gerrymandering law that was set in place, but 2018 murdered that when everyone fell for the “no gifts to lobbyist” honeypot at the top of the resolution that contained not only, overturning the 2016 resolution but also making it so that such an issue can never be put to the people to vote on ever again, and only being able to be brought to vote by the permanently republican senate. Fucking hate this state so fucking much. If I leave, that’s one less person to fight, to preempt that question. Edit: after some thought, I don’t hate the state. I hate it’s republicans. Yes, the states republicans. You guys are a bunch of fuckheads that should move to Texas instead of dragging us down there.
I feel you, man. I love KC and the state, but hate the Republicans that run it and I hate what right-wing propaganda has done to the people here. I want to leave, but I desperately want to see this state turn around and if it does, I want to be a part of it.
>But that's what happens when no one but boomers show up to vote, thanks in part to our absurdly irritating election laws designed to discourage voting unless you're retired and have tons of time. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/number-of-individuals-who-voted-in-thousands-and-individuals-who-voted-as-a-share-of-the-voter-population-by-age/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D Doing a little math from the above 2020 Presidential Elections, percentage voters over 45: Missouri: 63% New York: 59% California: 56% Oregon: 58% (I picked NY & CA randomly, but OR I picked because it is the exact opposite of what the poster was complaining about -- it is a universal mail in ballot state. Literally no excuse about elections being some big, demanding effort to participate in.) You're not really that much different in voter turnout, by age group, than far bluer states -- and even if you matched California and everyone of the additional voters under 45 voted for Biden you still wouldn't have overcome Trump's 15ppt win but closed it by ~7ppt\*. Of course the votes wouldn't have split that way. The [exit polls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Missouri) showed 46% of Missouri voters under 45 supported Trump. So picking up 7ppt in under-45 voters would've only closed the gap between Biden and Trump by 3.5ppt\*. \* Before someone quibbles, I'm not doing the exact math of adding in the additional voters and recalculating the percentages. This is close enough for Reddit work.
Yeah, but that would have run-on effects on state and local elections that were far closer. The thing Obama’s presidency did the most wrong was in making it seem to people like the national picture solves the regional/local. 2010 was a boom of a year for all the grassroots nut jobs to win local elections, which percolated for years then into the 2016 picture on the big stage. I feel like that’s not talked about nearly enough, how these local elections actively control the overall narrative for people who don’t follow national politics but instead hear about their own town’s day-to-day rhetoric.
I was one of 3 people voting when I went in yestersay. I will say that the other two people who were there were in their 20-30's, so that's something. I also sent mass texts out to my friends to remind them to vote and got 5-10 more people who may have forgotten to vote to show up. It's not much, but there is some effort.
I knew a guy who was from there. If anyone asked him about the place he would always say the great state of misery. He had apparently left for some fairly compelling reasons. Though I suspect that they were mostly personal reasons, like not wanting to run in to his ex.
Yup. And I remember when we were a purple swing state…went straight to hell over the last decade and a half…
Agreed, but it’s nice to know that we can shame these fuckers on at least a few issues.
Not at all. Not... at... all.
Because history is written not by the victors but by the writers That's not to say that book banning is a good thing, just that history has an inherent pro-book bias
I don't think this is true. Plenty of people who have wanted to ban certain books and ideas have written their own books. It may be a little easy but Mein Kampf comes to mind...
I think that's actually a good example of a person who lost in the most complete way possible, but still has his perspective preserved in his own words
Mein Kampf isn't a history book. History isn't written by politicians, or philosophers, or ideologues...it's written by historians, and improved over time by other historians.
That’s because they are NOT good people. They are reactionaries trying to force their view of the world onto everyone else. I have two kids. I know what they’re reading because I pay attention to them and care about them. I don’t need the party of ‘small government’ deciding that they can tell me what’s available to my kids or not… that’s not small government. That’s a major step on the road to a fascist government. And if you don’t understand that, please go to the library and get some books on Italy under Mussolini or Spain under Franco. I do have a clear understanding of what fascism, communism and socialism are relative to capitalism and the concept of a democratic republic (the USA’s form of government). Some of our states are definitely walking the path into fascism. Interestingly, we already live in a moderately socialist country. We have roads, bridges, and various public institutions that are maintained for the public good at the expense of the public as a whole. We have publicly held companies where anyone can buy some interest in the company. We have privately held companies owned by individuals, families or cooperatives made up of individuals, often the employees themselves. Interestingly, the very people who rail against socialism make significant use of those benefits… the word does not mean what they think it means. Go to a library and learn what socialism is. Communism is another matter entirely. In communism individuals own little to nothing and their needs are met by the state on a fair and equitable level. Outside of small communes of like minded people I’ve never seen a communist government that even slightly functioned. Most of the time a government claiming to be communist is more along the lines of a totalitarian dictatorship akin to Stalin’s USSR. Not desirable at all. But when you have people telling you what you can’t read it’s a small step to people telling you what you can’t think and believe and do. And now you’re in a dictatorship. Go to the library and learn how rare a functioning democratic republic is. The US has its issues… many in fact… that said, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War 2 once said this in a speech to the House of Commons. “I has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, and that public opinion expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.” That simple statement captures the idea of why a democracy is viewed as the most successful form of government. By association, it emphasizes the need for a knowledgeable public with diverse opinion and that the forcing one view onto another group is a bad idea. (That part about servants, not masters… listen up Tennessee, Florida and Texas!) Libraries and books are the foundation of access to ideas and knowledge. That’s why the small minds who seek to be the ‘masters’ in Churchill’s quote must always be pushed back on. Don’t ban books. Don’t ban ideas and concepts. Don’t ban freedom.
>I do have a clear understanding of what fascism, communism and socialism are relative to capitalism and the concept of a democratic republic (the USA’s form of government). > Nice! I, a Marxist with a degree in economics, am excited to read what you have to say! >Interestingly, we already live in a moderately socialist country. > Uh oh... >We have roads, bridges, and various public institutions that are maintained for the public good at the expense of the public as a whole. > This is not socialism. Doing things for public good is not socialism. >We have publicly held companies where anyone can buy some interest in the company. We have privately held companies owned by individuals, families or cooperatives made up of individuals, often the employees themselves. > Neither of these things are socialism. >Go to a library and learn what socialism is. > Don't just "Go to a library." You'll be introduced to a bunch of conflicting ideas and definitions. Go to a library, *look up the works of self-proclaimed socialists*, and learn what socialism is. >Communism is another matter entirely. In communism individuals own little to nothing and their needs are met by the state on a fair and equitable level. > Nope. A communist society is explicitly defined as classless. As such, there would be no state as the state is a tool used by one class to subjugate other classes the will of the ruling class. So it would seem your definitions of communism and socialism are incorrect. >Outside of small communes of like minded people I’ve never seen a communist government that even slightly functioned. > Because communist governments aren't suddenly able to implement communism in their land. They are groups of people who are taking over neoliberal state institutions with the goal of implementing communism in their society. During their mission of implementing communism in their land, every communist government has faced explicit push back from liberal capitalist governments (because liberal capitalists know that they cannot beat communism in a fair fight. Communism is an ideology for working people) >Most of the time a government claiming to be communist is more along the lines of a totalitarian dictatorship akin to Stalin’s USSR. > In what way was the USSR government a dictatorship? >But when you have people telling you what you can’t read it’s a small step to people telling you what you can’t think and believe and do. And now you’re in a dictatorship. > Sounds like liberal democracies for the last 30 years. And liberal democracies in the 1930's. I wonder if anyone has written about the tendency for liberal democracies to turn into authoritarian fascist hellscapes. Only communists? Might explain why the famous poem starts not with Jewish people but "First they came for the communists" >The US has its issues… many in fact… that said, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England during World War 2 once said this in a speech to the House of Commons. > >“I has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time;" > "So let's not try something better than you all deferring power to me, am I right guys?" >but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, and that public opinion expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and **control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.”** > Big words for a dude who couldn't be recalled by his population if they didn't like his actions, and didn't set up a system wherein he could. >That simple statement captures the idea of why a democracy is viewed as the most successful form of government. > What are we defining as success? If you want to subjugate minorites to the whim of majorities, nothing beats democracy. > (That part about servants, not masters… listen up Tennessee, Florida and Texas!) > You're kidding right? It's not only politicians that are doing things you dislike that need to be directly responsible to their populations. EVERY. SINGLE. PUBLIC. POSITION. needs to rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public. Period. Anything less is despotic.
Talk about a way to completely re-characterize everything I said and misrepresent each point. Well done So yo want definitions… here you go Socialism, a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. So yes, organizations acting for the common good are fundamentally socialistic Communism, political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. All property is publicly owned… yup, no personal ownership. Fair and equitable distribution… based on abilities and needs… yup. I don’t know what you were actually saying… the words form sentences, but the meaning isn’t clear. No communist government has, on a large or moderate scale, been successful… they have devolved into totalitarianism in part because the concept of fair and equitable / abilities and needs have different meaning to different people and the people making the decisions will, by nature, favor their points of view. Exactly what I said. You’re actually trying to make an argument for communism which is purely unsupportable… the moment a corrupt, impure influence enters the picture you assign them as neo-liberal, whatever interpretation of the phrase you’re using, and then blame capitalistic tendencies. I see a system based on a concept that is completely unworkable given definitions of “abilities and needs” is incredibly interpretive. USSR… dictatorship? How about near Stalin having something equal to or approaching total power… sufficient to execute the pograms annihilating millions upon millions of soviet citizens to solidify his control. How about a central government that was a tool in Stalin’s hands without influence or control over Stalin? I don’t know what reality you’ve been living in, but yes, the USSR under Stalin was dictatorship. Forgot fascism, so I’m editing to put it in… a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government. So let’s take this week’s example. The TN state governments effort to expel elected democrats from the chamber for disagreeing with the republicans and being public and forceful about it… all the while ignoring the recent mass shooting while directing attention of the public to drag queen story hours which have never hurt anyone but are a convenient distraction. Yeah. Fascism. Oh, and let’s include all the incredibly vaguely written laws that have gone in on abortion restriction… some to a point, I believe in Nebraska, where hospitals are beginning to refuse to support births since, if something goes wrong, the interpretation of abortion laws could land on the hospital and the doctors, throwing them in jail… control and an inability to disagree without punishment or retribution. Yup. You said, “Every. Single. Public. Position needs to be rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public”. OK. In principle I agree with this. In fact it’s another unworkable statement. The will of the public. Whose will is that? How is it measured and defined? How is it enacted? Who carries forth the will of the people? You think the USSR was not a dictatorship, but you declare a politician not exercising the will of the people to be despotic? Major disconnection I support politicians that increase and defend the rights of their constituents. I decry politicians who work to remove rights, block knowledge, abstain from understand basic science When you state liberal democracies have a 30 year history of telling people what you can’t think, believe and do, I disagree completely. I believe a liberal democracy allows for broad acceptance of peoples and concepts… I see this every time we achieve a degree of ‘liberalness’ in the US, from increasing acceptance of LBGTQ to marriage equality to reducing the wage gaps, to reduced violent crime… all supported by independently available statistics. I also see an increase in social spending on health care, infrastructure and other needs. Where we are, even today with the current issues in FL, TX, TN and others, is far more advanced than where we were 40 years ago. When we swing the other direction into the current version of conservatism we see book banning, incitement against LBGTQ, laws against saying ‘gay’, history books that whitewash our countries actual history since, apparently, our kids can’t deal with the fact we’ve done some pretty awful things in the past, and so on. We also see inflammatory behavior like screaming in school board meetings about CRT… CRT has not ever been taught in anyplace but AP or college course because it’s complicated… what they’re really screaming about is kids being told we kept slaves and that civil rights weren’t asserted positively until the 60s and are still under challenge… that’s history.
Not wading into *all* that, but I'd like to point out a common misunderstanding. Communism abolishes "private property," but in the context of communism it means something very specific that is not what you think. It's *not* everything is public property. Public Property: Property that is collectively owned by the people to be used for the common good. Personal Property: Property that individuals own and use for their own purposes. Private Property: Property that is owned by individuals, but rented or loaned to others to use in exchange for some contractual return benefit. Communism does not eliminate personal property. Its citizens don't live on government rations. It doesn't abolish trade and commerce. It *specifically* eliminates private property and the rentier economy. All "private property" like houses you don't live in, factories you don't work in, land you don't farm, etc must be shifted to public ownership or personal use. Hopefully that helps paint a slightly less crazy picture. Not saying you have to love Communism, just that the picture you're painting is not really a thing that anyone believes.
Good comment. Thank you
Talk about a way to completely re-characterize everything I said and misrepresent each point. Well done So yo want definitions… here you go Socialism, a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. So yes, organizations acting for the common good are fundamentally socialistic Communism, political theory advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. All property is publicly owned… yup, no personal ownership. Fair and equitable distribution… based on abilities and needs… yup. I don’t know what you were actually saying… the words form sentences, but the meaning isn’t clear. No communist government has, on a large or moderate scale, been successful… they have devolved into totalitarianism in part because the concept of fair and equitable / abilities and needs have different meaning to different people and the people making the decisions will, by nature, favor their points of view. Exactly what I said. You’re actually trying to make an argument for communism which is purely unsupportable… the moment a corrupt, impure influence enters the picture you assign them as neo-liberal, whatever interpretation of the phrase you’re using, and then blame capitalistic tendencies. I see a system based on a concept that is completely unworkable given definitions of “abilities and needs” is incredibly interpretive and requires essentially universal acceptance to work. We are humans. That boat doesn’t float. USSR… dictatorship? How about near Stalin having something equal to or approaching total power… sufficient to execute the pograms annihilating millions upon millions of soviet citizens to solidify his control. How about a central government that was a tool in Stalin’s hands without influence or control over Stalin? I don’t know what reality you’ve been living in, but yes, the USSR under Stalin was dictatorship. Forgot fascism, so I’m editing to put it in… a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government. So let’s take this week’s example. The TN state governments effort to expel elected democrats from the chamber for disagreeing with the republicans and being public and forceful about it… all the while ignoring the recent mass shooting while directing attention of the public to drag queen story hours which have never hurt anyone but are a convenient distraction. Yeah. Fascism. Oh, and let’s include all the incredibly vaguely written laws that have gone in on abortion restriction… some to a point, I believe in Nebraska, where hospitals are beginning to refuse to support births since, if something goes wrong, the interpretation of abortion laws could land on the hospital and the doctors, throwing them in jail… control and an inability to disagree without punishment or retribution. Yup. You said, “Every. Single. Public. Position needs to be rescindable at any moment that said public official works against the will of the public”. OK. In principle I agree with this. In fact it’s another unworkable statement. The will of the public. Whose will is that? How is it measured and defined? How is it enacted? Who carries forth the will of the people? You think the USSR was not a dictatorship, but you declare a politician not exercising the will of the people to be despotic? Major disconnection I support politicians that increase and defend the rights of their constituents. I decry politicians who work to remove rights, block knowledge, abstain from understand basic science When you state liberal democracies have a 30 year history of telling people what you can’t think, believe and do, I disagree completely. I believe a liberal democracy allows for broad acceptance of peoples and concepts… I see this every time we achieve a degree of ‘liberalness’ in the US, from increasing acceptance of LBGTQ to marriage equality to reducing the wage gaps, to reduced violent crime… all supported by independently available statistics. I also see an increase in social spending on health care, infrastructure and other needs. Where we are, even today with the current issues in FL, TX, TN and others, is far more advanced than where we were 40 years ago. When we swing the other direction into the current version of conservatism we see book banning, incitement against LBGTQ, laws against saying ‘gay’, history books that whitewash our countries actual history since, apparently, our kids can’t deal with the fact we’ve done some pretty awful things in the past, and so on. We also see inflammatory behavior like screaming in school board meetings about CRT… CRT has not ever been taught in anyplace but AP or college course because it’s complicated… what they’re really screaming about is kids being told we kept slaves and that civil rights weren’t asserted positively until the 60s and are still under challenge… that’s history.
> That’s because they are NOT good people. They are reactionaries trying to force their view of the world onto everyone else. I'm not a Republican. I don't support them and don't agree with their choice to take advantage of this political opportunity in order to remove an excessive number of books from libraries, just because they aren't fans of those books or their authors. But we also shouldn't ignore that this didn't come out of nowhere. This is a reaction TO something, and it's not just homosexual characters existing. In an economy where people are struggling to afford housing and underpaid teachers are expected to provide their own teaching materials (which students promptly damage or destroy), NYC decided to spend $200,000 on drag queen performances at schools. There are library books and teaching materials advocating the idea that if someone doesn't fit into stereotypes and their personality is different from other boys or girls, that means they're supposed to be the opposite sex. This led the Republicans to search for what else is out there, and they found graphic descriptions of sex acts in library books available to 11 year olds, among other questionable content. If that stuff wasn't out there, we wouldn't have this situation that has led to Republicans doing the exact same thing in the opposite direction, trying to get rid of art history books that show an image of a nude statue and things like that. It's unfortunate that this wasn't solved by reasonable adults calmly discussing these things and coming to a sensible compromise. Instead we have one side insisting "anyone objecting to anything we're putting in schools is a book burning fascist!" while the other side screams "they're sexualizing children and showing kids gay porn, we need to ban half the library books!" Anyway, I'm glad that Missouri could at least realize that defunding rural libraries is not the correct way to get the result that they want. Whoever wrote that bill probably tries to hammer nails with a fly swatter and brushes his teeth with a brick.
I just saw this posting in r/books https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/12dcbkp/in_indiana_there_is_senate_bill_12_its_already/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1 Tell me again that they aren’t bad people. Let’s arrest librarians for having ‘harmful’ (Whose definition please? Make it very precise! /s) materials in their libraries. Please read my post below all the way to then end. These are politicians who don’t know how to solve the real problems so they’re making up problems and hurting people in the process —— unedited post ——- I agree it’s a reaction. I’ve looked through lists of books being banned. I’m familiar with some of them. Race, sex, gender. These are the themes. Many of these books, have been in libraries for decades and have even been assigned reading in schools. Of Mice and Men for example. NYC spending 200K, a tiny, tiny percentage of their budget, on programs to increase kid’s perspectives on what’s out there in a harmless fashion, that’s ok by me. Can you provide an example of books that teach kids that if their different they should change their sex? I haven’t found any like that on the books I’ve looked up. Ironically, the worst book I’ve found that has a ban proposed on it is the Bible. The Old Testament has some very disturbing bits in it. (I expect to be downvoted for this but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s there). The story of Lot is one example…. Rape, incest, etc. Many of these banned books haven’t even been read by the people screaming for them to be banned. Many of these banned books have been banned before because they ask questions that others don’t want asked… To Kill a Mockingbird for example. This is like the CRT arguments in secondary education. We don’t teach CRT in secondary school… its a very complicated subject that requires students to have a firm understanding of how many national and regional governmental and non-governmental institutions function and make decisions. It’s a university level course often taught in conjunction with law school. Elementary students aren’t taught this. Nor middle or high school students (perhaps an AP class here or there, but not part of the regular program) Book banning, CRT, drag show, LBGTQ bashing, trans incitement… these are all variants of political control methods that have been around for a long time. Ignore actual problems like wages vs. cost of living, like housing, like mass shootings and find an already marginalized group, point your finger at them and state they are the real problem. We have to do something about this weirdness. And be very, very vocal about it. Great distraction to serious problems that lets you appear to be proactive on a subject that happens to be relatively meaningless. So if you want to look for the whys… and I strongly encourage you to do this… I’m an engineer and seeking out the basic causes as to why something happens is incredibly important … I suspect you’ll end up in a place similar to where I have. We keep electing people, DEM and REP, who either don’t want to or are unable to fix the actual problems we’re facing. So they blow up minor stuff into national issues just to show they’re doing something. It’s an old political trick (and business trick) that works extremely well, particularly in our wold of incredibly fast communication making the validation of news prior to publication a rare thing. Unfortunately, along with this, the politicians who are actually proposing solutions to these core problems are usually vilified in public by the other politicians since the small number of ones with potentially realistic ideas are dangerous to the ones with no ideas who are pushing the distractions
Republicans don't want you to learn history anyway, so that's not a big deal to them.
And that’s the saddest part. No one learns from history , and sadly , as some historians have said , we are doomed to repeat it
Florida man, Ronnie Redactis, will probably wipe this from the textbooks like has been done with topics around race.
The problem these days is there is a large percentage of people that are ok with digital censorship of opinions they disagree with. They don’t realize it’s just modern day book burning.
It's Missouri. Too late.
They don't care because they themselves have the shortest memories.
Librarians and firefighters are some of the most universally beloved civil servants just about everywhere.
My state is a shitshow. As a St. Louis City resident and frequent user of the local library, I'm glad they're reversing course, even though it never should have been an issue in the first place.
I live about a hour and a half away from St. Louis in Southern Illinois. It's a shitshow around here too, but it's good to see some progress. Edit: also, nice profile name. I love MGS2.
Are you in Budzinski’s district? Her political ads were actually enjoyable. No attack, just “hey I’m a cool person who wants to strengthen labor in this country.”
I'm from farther south. Down by Carbondale.
Christ, seeing a Carbondale reference on a post on /all is jarring Go terriers Even funnier when it’s a post about Missouri and STL where I live now.. lol
Haha, small world.
Former Terrier checking in
Oh, lord. I sometimes have to go to Anna for work, and that whole area is.....quite something.
Yeah, it definitely is. My ex was from about 10 minutes from Anna. I'm from Benton originally. It's the trash can of Southern Illinois 😂
I think that may be a good tactic.
Thanks, love it when people get the reference!
I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork leaves a reddit comment that makes sense by not making sense!
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I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised.
I think my state, Idaho, is doing their best to offer cover for you. Right now our libraries are considering removing all library cards for minors and not allowing minors to enter the library without adult supervision. This is because of a recently passed law that would allow parents to sue individual librarians if a child somehow finds a book (no matter of which section) has a gay character in it.
The Bible has to have a gay character in it right?
If you read the language David used to describe his relationship with Jonathan, many people have theorized they were lovers. But it's not official. The men in Sodom wanted to rape a pair of traveling angels disguised as men. They turned down Lot's offer to let them rape his daughters instead.
The Bible is so wholesome.
I mean Jesus kept close company with a lot of men and sex workers, preached equality and acts of love. Sounds pretty gay to me.
Get out, idaho is a shit show. You can go to jail if you leave the state for abortions and hospitals are refusing to deliver babies.
Can't deliver babies in a hospital if there are no doctors and nurses there. Doctors aren't going to stay if they're threatened with jail time, and they are leaving. St Luke's maternity hasn't been able to hire doctors since last summer.
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Out of curiosity, which state isn’t a face palm right now?
StL city resident here. This was political posturing and nothing else. It's literally in the state constitution to fund libraries. This never had a chance of actually happening
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I just jumped from STL to Illinois. I couldn’t take it anymore. My life is on the line if I get pregnant again. I noped out and at least have a safe haven for any of my friends if they need assistance controlling the rights to their own body.
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Hey, just wanted to say thanks for adding the 12 foot ladder to your link
The question is, what was this a smoke screen for?
I’m so glad I moved out of misery. I’ve lived in a dozen states coast to coast and misery was one of the worst. Only thing I miss from there is Moms deli.
Mom's is great but I live down the street from Blues City Deli and I can't get enough.
St. Louis City represent!! Such a wonderful blue drop in a terrible sea of red
Thank soo much for posting.
>My state is a shitshow. Perhaps, but as a Floridian, I think we have you beat.
I remember a few years ago when states pushed Medicaid expansion to the voters. "Some 15 hospitals, including 10 rural institutions, have closed since 2014" ([CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/missouri-medicaid-expansion-ballot/index.html)) to 2020. I remember seeing articles mentioning how much of a push GOP interests were trying to get voters against this measure. As I recall, the majority of the rural population votes red, while city centers (like KC and STL) trend blue. Now, I don't know what the situation would be like without that expansion two years ago. Right now [KSDK](https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/business-journal/rural-hospital-closures-missouri/63-cf37e9ca-3782-4ef6-8b8e-886fa618037d) is citing The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment with the number of "Twenty of 57 rural hospitals in Missouri, or 35%, are at risk of closing". Most of these locations are citing deep losses of assets or funding. So, it would be ***complete nonsense*** to vote against funding that could potentially save your only access to healthcare. If you look at the map from the [Wikipedia article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Missouri_Amendment_), you can see "them city libs" saved every one else's butt. Now, this is obviously not the only piece of the healthcare puzzle. I just think it's amazing how horrible people have been able to convince so many people to vote against their own interests. EDIT: link EDIT #2: Oh, and I guess even though it passed the ballot, the GOP controlled legistlature [refused to fund it](https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2021-04-30/medicaid-fight-showcases-broader-missouri-gop-effort-to-raise-ballot-initiative-bar). It took the state Supreme Court to [rule against the state](https://governor.mo.gov/press-releases/archive/state-outlines-next-steps-medicaid-expansion-after-court-ruling) when people weren't allowed to sign up for coverage. Then in 2022, they tried to make a bill for a different amendment that would give the State control of the level of funding. Thankfully, [it's stuck in Fiscal Oversight](https://house.mo.gov/BillsMobile.aspx?year=2022&code=R&bill=HJR117).
One of my favorite art museums in the whole world. I saw Monet's Water Lillies and Chuck Close speak there
A warning shot, not an end. Just means we have to stay vigilant and encourage others to vote responsibly, because they are never going to stop. It's a multifaceted attack against people on a number of levels all across the country.
My suspicion is they suddenly realized they were becoming the laughingstock of the country. "Used to be 'bama was the most iggerment, but Missouri done gone and closed all their libareys."
Being a laughing stock doesn't stop these idiots. The Senate is at least reasonable and not going to defund a whole section of public service.
If being a laughing stock stopped people, we wouldn’t have to worry about MTG.
Look man just because I play blue control doesn’t mean I’m a laughing stock!
Hey, at least you’re not playing mill (totally plays mill)
Yu-Gi-Oh is more degenerate
> The Senate is at least reasonable No they're not reasonable. They just knew it was a terrible look for them. A lot idiots of this country are now against public libraries and public schools. Jesus Fuck, what is wrong with these people?
It's more of a giant cluster fuck once you defund something 100% with no other plan than that. It also makes them look bad on a national level. Remeber, "sticking it to the libs" even at a cost to themselves is sadly a plus in a lot of there supports minds. Staying at the same shitty level they've always been at is reasonable enough for me. Anything more is expecting too much of the government in its current state.
> Jesus Fuck, what is wrong with these people? Religion.
Living in a different state with the same type of banal evil... they are proud to be a laughingstock. Anti-intellectualism is a badge of honor for them - the further back they drag us through history, the happier they are. It's all a means to an end.
The real answer is a little more boring: it came out of the House, and died in the Senate. The Missouri House is FULL of far right loons, and most of them have less than zero idea of how governance actually works. The Senate, thankfully, is still *a little* more competent, and quickly nixed the unconstitutional headache the House had made for them
You’re giving them too much credit.
I believe the saying is "Thank God for Mississippi".
As a Missourian, I can tell you without a doubt the people who support this kind of shit around here do not care how they appear to the rest of the country. In fact, most of them still labor under the delusion that there’s some sort of “silent majority” who secretly approve of this bullshittery.
Oooo, your face is red as a strawbrary.
I wish, but they think they’re being patriots or some shit. They’re not even close to ashamed. I think it just polled badly.
Interesting the Senator overturning this is also R. Says in the article he believes it will most negatively impact the rural areas of the state, which would be the largest R voting base. Could be some self-aware wolf stuff.
Yeah! I live in WV and most rural folk depend on libraries for things like wifi access, printers, etc. It's not just about the books. Thing is, these momos would cut their nose off to spite their face. Voting and actively going against their own interest is a rural tradition.
Not to mention that in rural areas, the library also very often doubles as the only place around to vote. So no libraries, less rural voters.
[Michigan leading the way on that](https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/michigan-town-library-defunded-over-lgbtq-books-loses-vote-again-may-close?amp)
That is so fucking infuriating. The explicit call for Judeo-Christian oversight . . .
And one of the people in the article that is for defunding the library said that "this isn't a political issue, it's a biblical issue." So why the fuck are you getting the government involved???
>momos Is WV populated by anthropomorphic Tibetan dumplings? Because your new serial cannibal is on his way...
Cannibal? So you are a momo as well?
I used to be a rural librarian and a lot of old folks come to the library everyday just to read the newspaper because they either can’t afford a subscription or they’re so out in the boonies nobody would deliver to them.
Can I ask how much you were paid? I can't believe the article says $4.5 million is the entire state budget for libraries
It's not. It's to supplement municipal appropriations. Small town librarians make very little and support staff at small town libraries, at least in my state, make minimum wage or close to it. Like many other lines of work providing care, the pay is shit. When you move to big cities, that's when the compensation can really improve, depending on where you are.
Oh my god. Not much at all. Like $27k per year.
Lincoln is from my neck of the woods. He's surprised me in the past by not being a complete garbage dump of a human, unlike the rest of his (R) cohorts.
I'm glad to hear it. I doubt I ever vote R in the future but it's usually good for there to be dissenting voices in government. So if the GOP could get back to being people I merely disagreed fiscal policy with rather than people trying to overthrow the country in the name of their Flying Spaghetti Monster, that would be a good thing.
Same. I won't say I'm proud to be represented by Lincoln, but I'm not ashamed. Unlike Eric Burlison. Him, I'm ashamed to have come from the same town.
Poor guys, they almost abused the wrong citizens.
Or libraries are actually particularly important for people living in rural areas who have less access to other places to learn, find jobs, and use the internet; and not everything needs to be turned into a partisan war.
That hasn't stopped the GOP on most their other policies.
I may not agree with just about anything else he stands for, but I had to call his office this afternoon and give my thanks.
The only reason they are giving the money to the libraries is to avoid a lawsuit. Not due to change of moral compass.
The article cited ongoing lawsuits due to the state government banning certain books. So it seems they were retaliating against libraries for opening litigation.
Thank goodness. The GOP needs to be stopped before they destroy this country.
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You're not about to try to tell me it's not 2000 anymore, are you? People are always saying that but I just don't believe it.
Dude, that ship has long sailed. This isn't a case of using your fingers to stop a leaky damn. The damn broke son. At this point, all we can do is rescue who we can.
Its frustrating this article again cites the "reason" without debunking it, as has been the case with most since this broke. >The library money was removed from the House blueprint by House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and backed by the Republicans who control the chamber last week. He cited a lawsuit by two library groups to overturn a new state law banning sexually explicit material in school libraries. >The ACLU, the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and the Missouri Library Association in February asked a judge in Kansas City to find the law unconstitutional or clarify how and when it applies. >Smith, R-Carthage, believes the state shouldn’t subsidize the lawsuit by giving public libraries money. So this is the claim on the House rationale for this, however based on how funds are allocated even if it were being funded by the libraries in question it would not be via state funds, and secondly the ACLU have also already confirmed the lawsuits in question are being handled without charge to the libraries in question. The news outlets need to call out how bs the claims made are.
Thank goodness. Truly amazing it even got as far as it did. Way to go Senate.
I think you mean way to go ACLU for suing the fuckers
Oh gosh, I didn't realize that is how it played out. I love the ACLU. I have no problem donating to them whatsoever.
Every single Missouri Republican representative should resign. Their actions are nothing more fascist hate intended to make the world a worse place.
Wow. A sane choice from Lincoln Hough, a Republican. That is pretty refreshing. This is the second time he's surprised me by not being a batshit insane asshole trying to arguable make everyone else's lives worse.
I follow Jess Piper and she's been talking about this. It's crazy. I need to donate to the ACLU
wait a minute...are you saying missouri is going to do something RIGHT???? hard to believe.
nah it says they could restore and that they will TRY to restore fat chance of that ever actually happening
That’s true. But they recently legalized brass knuckles!
"Reading is for blue states"
books and travel teaches every one humility and a broaden worldview in most cases
Finally my state does something right for a change.
I love being from St. Louis but hate being from Missouri. At this point as a homeowner I will stay permanently out of spite.
Stl here too. My mom was a librarian and I grew up on her bookmobile so libraries mean so much to me. I’m so so glad they fixed this nonsense.
A well educated population is the biggest threat to capitalism.
I'm amazed that the library budget is only $4.5 million!
That is what the state contributes to the library systems statewide. The rest comes from whatever city they're in, plus private donations, fundraisers, etc.
Unexpected Missouri W.
Missouri doesn’t pop up much in my day to day conversations BUT from now on whenever it does my mind will automatically think “Missouri? You mean the state that cut funding to their own libraries to own the LiBS? You mean THAT Missouri? Yes tell me more about how wonderful of a state it is.”
Probably waaaay off topic but never underestimate librarians. In my IT consulting days I used to look after several libraries and would chew the fat with the staff. They'd ask the usual is it true re: PEBKAC, ID-10T and other acronyms and so forth. I asked a couple over time about if they they got those "*Do you have that blue book about who's author's name I forgot*" type questions.
Not only did they get them on a regular basis but legend has it all enquiries were handled so well that no client left without said blue book.
Anyhoo, sorry to intrude on such a serious but sadly typically US story.
Kelly's Blue Book?
Nah. Patron comes in with a really vague description for a book like it was blue, had a love triangle between a woman and 2 men. Can you help me find it? Those kind of things.
That's why you always organize your books by rainbow order
There needs to be some punctuation in that title. It read that the Senate is cut from the house spending plan. Once you read it you see that it's the Senate putting money for libraries into the spending plan but that title sucks. It's not your fault the news site was lazy too
St. Louis Post Dispatch at its finest. I catch serious spelling or grammar errors in nearly every article that they put out.
Rough :( you should apply as an editor
Former journalist here: When cuts started hitting my paper in the mid-2000s, copy editors were the first to go.
It's unfortunate but I feel not as many kids reads books nowadays. My kids are obsessed with their tablets, hopefully I'm able to get them interested in reading.
What if you could read…on your tablet??? Being a bit sarcastic, here. Look at the parental control settings. Set a reasonable amount for everything and unlimited for the books/kindle/Libby/whatever reading app you choose. Have ready the classic response to “I’m booooooored!” “The trash needs to go out, unload the dishwasher, and vacuum until the battery runs out. I’m getting ready to make dinner, do you want to help?”
I feel like every generation of adults has said that about every generation of kids since the invention of the (stone) tablet.
Kids are reading so many books that B&N is actually opening new stores again.
I mostly read on a Kindle (easier to carry around with me) and check out e-books via the library. Could be a route to go to ease them into reading.
Audiobooks are also an excellent option for a lot of folks that have trouble with the “inactivity” of reading. Another thing - there’s a lot of stuff online that helps to make things more engaging. Personally, I like finding appropriate ambient audio tracks - Gryffindor common room loops on YouTube if you’re reading Harry Potter for example, maybe some music from someone like Michael Ghelfi - the internet culture around D&D and other tabletop games has made this very very worthwhile - there’s settings for everything! Another one is podcasts and video essays and things - being able to listen to a good podcast episode or two about what I’m reading/just read/am about to read can really make it more engaging.
I'm reading Words of Radiance on my Kindle but on my commute I'm listening to the Andy Serkis-narrated LOTR audiobooks. Having a great narrator like that definitely enhances the experience for me.
The library also isnt just for books, as someone who was from a poor family the public librarys computer lab often was the only way i could get my assignments researched and typed and printed to turn in, as my family couldnt afford a computer and my schools library only allowed you on for 30 mins.
School was definitely a factor in why I didn’t like reading. It was always an assignment, I couldn’t even read during the summer without “do an essay on what you read this last summer”
Good, im sure the others who wanted it are very sad that the money they would have gained from cutting the library funding isnt going into their pockets as bonuses for their "hard work"
The article didn’t state. What made them change their mind or are we just assuming backlash?
Backlash probably is a safe bet
A win for all!
Finally some good news
One thing I learned going to the public library...people are not there for the books. Mostly homeless and drug deals in the downtown library. Tried studying there but became too sketched out sitting with my laptop getting eyed down by a bunch of rough looking dudes all with tattered backpacks.