It should be incredibly disturbing to everyone that Sarah Palin inquired at her local library, after taking over as mayor, how she could go about banning books. It should be insanely disturbing to librarians, who are supposed to protect and cherish every person's right to information. I'm probably the extreme view here, because I believe nothing should be banned (for god's sake, even though I don't really appreciate pornography, I think that there is a place for Playboy, at the very least, in a public library), ever. I really hope that most librarians understand that the freedom to seek and acquire information is one of the things that makes a democracy possible.
And I understand that whether we're actually a democracy is debatable right now, as our rights go out the windows with things like the Patriot Act and the upholding of wiretapping, and the deplorable things happening at Guantanamo Bay, but we should aspire to get back to a place where democracy is upheld. And libraries are part of that. They democritize information. You don't have to pay for it, you don't have to be in a certain neighborhood to access it (most IL communities have libraries; I wonder if many people know that it's not necessarily a given in other parts of the country), and you don't have to even know how to find what you're looking for to find it.
I know I operate on the assumption that all librarians feel as strongly as I do, and I'm sure that's not necessarily true, but I hope that at the very least, those librarians close to my age, or who are attending library school now (regardless of age) feel as strongly as I do. I don't know if this is talked about enough, but the library is a place you can go that will provide you with the privacy to ask whatever you want. (As an example, many teenagers may come to the library for the sexual information that their parents or schools won't provide for them. Maybe they're looking for the basics, or maybe they're confused about their own sexual orientation. I believe it is ESSENTIAL that libraries are a place where teenagers can access information about these issues; I know that in the past, it hasn't always been the case that this would be so, but I hope that things are getting better.) It's just so incredibly important that people understand exactly what the library is for. Not just books! Information! Information = power.
(As an aside, at dinner with Sam's parents the other night, I mentioned that if they couldn't find the information they were looking for online, they might call the library and see if they could help. They looked at me like I had three heads, and finally ventured, "But why would we call the library?" So explained that libraries weren't just about books, but information. They're there to help you find what you need, and oftentimes, very good at it. I even told Mr. Sam's Dad that he could probably take computer/software classes at his local library, which blew. him. away. Which brings me to the conclusion: People in fact don't understand that libraries = information.)
The thing is, what Sarah Palin wants to do is take away your right to certain information. And that's not only unethical, it's disempowering. It's not surprising, because Republicans seem to be always fighting for less information in the hands of ordinary Americans, but it's outrightly stated in Sarah Palin's case. She wants to ban library books. She wants to take resources out of your hands. It's despicable, and it's one more reason I cannot stand her. There are a lot of them, but this is one I just can't let go without blogging about. McCain/Palin is dangerous for America. She wants to take away one of the greatest things about America: that information is given freely and without bias. Don't let her do it.
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