The Last Place in America Where You Are a Person, Not a Customer
In August, a small group of vocal, angry Idahoans targeted the Boundary County Library, demanding that the library purge 300 books on a list of “inappropriate” materials that circulates widely among right-wing conspiracy groups.
Boundary County Library didn’t have the books that the conspiracy theorists were angry about. Nevertheless, the group harassed and threatened the library staff, demanded the removal of the library board, and continued to target library staff even after they quit their jobs.
These conspiracists are part of a small but vocal minority of people who’ve been hoaxed by deep-pocketed right-wing media barons, who have propagated a lie that libraries are full of “groomers” who expose children to “inappropriate” materials as part of a program of sexual abuse.
The “groomer” panic is all astroturf. It’s a cynical ploy to whip up scared and easily confused people and point them at libraries, and not just libraries that have Genderqueer on the shelf or host Drag Queen Story Hours. They’re targeting all the libraries.
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A new Marcus Yallow/Little Brother story!; DRM and CHI; Talking with Toronto Public Library's Shelve Under podcast; The law is free; "Absolutely faithful" Discworld TV adaptations; Read the prologue of "The Lost Cause"; Foreclosure vultures hold illegal auctions on courthouse steps; Hands-free door-handles; NYC will pedestrianize 40 miles of city streets; Citizen DJ; "Essential" workers will strike across America for May Day; Synonyms vs machine learning
Pluralistic: 28 Apr 2020 force-multiplier