But I don't Need Libraries

[ethicalcannibal]

Rob Daugherty wrote in the Seattle PI about how Libraries are a waste of money because we all have computers, right? He can't seem to fathom that there might be actual people out there that can't afford access to a home computer, or be able to buy books. Because, you know, the internet is the same as reading a book, amirite?

I tried reading this to see if this was in the vein of A Modest Proposal, but this set of lines (typos his, not mine) seems to say otherwise:

As for myself, I wold not ever vote to increase property taxes for public libraries.

I pay enough now for a service I never use.

In fact, I’m tapped out and will not support any tax increases for government or public services of any type.

In a shocking turn of events, the comments are level headed.

Comments

[juliet316]

Oh that's nice. Maybe this guy would be willing to open his home to people who don't have Internet access in the event that all the libraries shut down. /sarcasm/

UGH! People.

[ethicalcannibal]

I was thinking it must be nice he's never been poor enough to not be able to buy his books, or have internet at home. Jeez.

[thejeopardymaze]

Damn, that's worse than the Publicola editorial just a little while back saying that the city should of scaled back on snow response.

[ethicalcannibal]

I never get these folks' point of view on these things.

[thejeopardymaze]

I suspect a lot of these types just enjoy being contrarians for the sake of it.

[speedofmutation]

as an archivist, I rage whenever I hear shit like this. Libraries are awesome.

Also, um, not every book is available on the internet. And not everyone wants to buy a book in order to read it.

[ethicalcannibal]

So much this!

I have an iPad that I do 50% of my reading on. I simply cannot get all the books I want in electronic format. I sure as heck can't even get a fraction of them free, like I would from a library. That means I visit my public library every other week to trade out books.

The only reason ebooks are good to me, is I favor very old stuff like Jules Verne that are in the public domain.

[darkauthor26]

Wow. That's...ridiculous beyond words.