One article I read was "To a temporary place in time..."
While I can certainly appreciate the "transformational" effect of all the
acid people ate in the sixties, it has become obvious that this generation has
been transformed in creepy ways that they are seemingly blind too. "the
aesthetic economy, the dream society" ? Well thank God (apologies for any
offense that word may cause) we will no long have need for police officers,
construction workers or impertinent plumbers- it will just be a world of
happy, floating dreamers!
Most of us have been schooled to live in disconnected deconstructionist,
post-modern ivory towers. Its a pretty, glittering hall of mirrors reflecting
myriads of images of our oh-so-highly-evolved selves. Pretty! Shiny! There is no
"truth," reality is just what we say it is. We aren't religious, we're
"spiritual" so that we can pick and choose whatever justifies what we want to
do.
The "forward looking, intelligent elite" have become arrogant enough
to believe that they can engineer evil out of the human soul and build heaven on
earth. You would think that after the good work that other Utopians such as Lenin,
Pol Pot and Mao did to build more "caring" and "fair" societies the brilliant
elite in this country would realize that the result of such continually failed
thinking is not heaven, but hell on earth.
Good intentions may give one
a good "spiritual buzz" but they do not equal good results.
But who the hell cares. It's all about feeeeeling good, isn't it?
The other article I read was "Away from the Icebergs."
I agree with some of what he has to say. I agree that you don't need
a large "just in case" collection of non-fiction, for the most part.
Fiction, however is another story. Most people I have spoken to only like
to read on screen if it's a few pages, at most. After that, they prefer an
actual book.
One thing I don't think he addressed, is the emerging mind-set that says
the only good books are popular books. Yes, I know, it is not the
libraries duty to "elevate" the public by choosing what they should read.
I agree. But in only providing what is most popular at the expense of
other material, diversity is degraded and we have joined the over-whelmingly popular race to
the bottom. What of the serendipitous stumbling upon a book the patron may
have never otherwise thought to look for? What of breadth and depth?
Should we have such a narrow focus? Having enough copies of the current
hooker romance to go around is great, but not if less wildly popular titles are
eliminated to provide them.
While I can certainly appreciate the "transformational" effect of all the
acid people ate in the sixties, it has become obvious that this generation has
been transformed in creepy ways that they are seemingly blind too. "the
aesthetic economy, the dream society" ? Well thank God (apologies for any
offense that word may cause) we will no long have need for police officers,
construction workers or impertinent plumbers- it will just be a world of
happy, floating dreamers!
Most of us have been schooled to live in disconnected deconstructionist,
post-modern ivory towers. Its a pretty, glittering hall of mirrors reflecting
myriads of images of our oh-so-highly-evolved selves. Pretty! Shiny! There is no
"truth," reality is just what we say it is. We aren't religious, we're
"spiritual" so that we can pick and choose whatever justifies what we want to
do.
The "forward looking, intelligent elite" have become arrogant enough
to believe that they can engineer evil out of the human soul and build heaven on
earth. You would think that after the good work that other Utopians such as Lenin,
Pol Pot and Mao did to build more "caring" and "fair" societies the brilliant
elite in this country would realize that the result of such continually failed
thinking is not heaven, but hell on earth.
Good intentions may give one
a good "spiritual buzz" but they do not equal good results.
But who the hell cares. It's all about feeeeeling good, isn't it?
The other article I read was "Away from the Icebergs."
I agree with some of what he has to say. I agree that you don't need
a large "just in case" collection of non-fiction, for the most part.
Fiction, however is another story. Most people I have spoken to only like
to read on screen if it's a few pages, at most. After that, they prefer an
actual book.
One thing I don't think he addressed, is the emerging mind-set that says
the only good books are popular books. Yes, I know, it is not the
libraries duty to "elevate" the public by choosing what they should read.
I agree. But in only providing what is most popular at the expense of
other material, diversity is degraded and we have joined the over-whelmingly popular race to
the bottom. What of the serendipitous stumbling upon a book the patron may
have never otherwise thought to look for? What of breadth and depth?
Should we have such a narrow focus? Having enough copies of the current
hooker romance to go around is great, but not if less wildly popular titles are
eliminated to provide them.
(note: anyone that can school me as to why this posting has those wacky, mid-sentence breaks all the way through, I sure would appreciate it. Looks fine in the edit window....)
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