It’s official: Library accedes to Brooks’ Blackmail
It’s official. The Monroe County library has voted to start censoring itself.
The city’s library board was torn over whether to agree to the task force recommendations, but relented in order to preserve $6.6 million in county aid. Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks threatened to pull the money if the Central Library didn’t ban pornographic Web sites there.
Let’s see what ordinary citizens at one official meeting (where they overwhelmingly opposed this change) had to say:
Some common themes from people who support the current policy - not in any particular order.
• Censorship - Slippery slip and where do we stop. Who decides what should be banned.
• This is a “non-issue†in the face of budget deficients and is nothing but political distraction by County Republicans.
• We should be increasing library funding not threaten to close libraries. Closing the Central Library means the town libraries will follow.
• This is an overreaction by Ms Brooks. This quote about Ms Brooks’ approach sums it up nicely - it is like “treating a hang nail with a macheteâ€.
• The current policy works and the library is following the rules as set by our federal government. No complaints at the library, kids can’t see through the privacy screens. I’ll see if I can get the current policy and post it. In speaking with some last night it is pretty comprehensive.
To see RT’s point on the issue, read this:
1. I believe in challenging right-wing hypocrisy wherever it rears its ugly head.
2. I also believe in advocating for the poor and disadvantaged…
3. I believe in working as smart as we can to promote and cultivate a progressive Rochester. Part of that “working smarter†means going after root causes…
4. Removing/reforming the centers of power locally, to have a more progressive focus, is essential to our local progressive movement…
5. We have to challenge right-wing hypocrisy wherever it rears it’s ugly head…
So what now? It looks like Maggie Brooks wins herself an “anti-porn” platform for the next election. Never mind that her actions to “prove it” were unconstitutional. Never mind that it’s a sad state of affairs when a County Executive has to threaten and blackmail libraries in order to look good on a campaign issue. Where are we as a people when threating libraries is considered an election strategy?
If anything, we should be fully funding our libraries, not withholding more and more money from them. For one thing, the library system has been patiently archiving the D&C since at least 1999, and put it all out for free online. All you need is a library card. So now we can research using the D&C, no thanks to Gannett. Thanks to jrviper1234 for the tip about the archive
This dovetails nicely into the do nothing “Delete on-line predators” bill Tom Reynolds is cosponsoring. As I wrote here. It really isn’t doing any that isn’t already being done - Here is the link
Yeah, I’d like to reiterate something.
Up until a few months ago, I was a student in a school that censored social networking sites and so on.
Personally, I don’t think it really made a difference. Kids will use facebook, either at home or school. In fact, the real reason the school blocked myspace, facebook, was probably to stop people from fooling around computers, rather than “protecting them”.
Speaking as both a teenager and a techie, all this fearmongering over pornography or predators or whatever is pretty ridiculous. The internet is just a tool. That stuff will be with us in one form or another. In fact, it could be argued that online predators are a good thing. You can track what your children are doing over the internet. But if you block that avenue, the predators will come at them using a method that’s much harder to protect yourself against.
Don’t like the way Brooks did it - but I approve of the goal.
My position:
Brooks did “it” illegally and immorally. I could care less about the goal.
What was the goal? Just dump the computers in fact shut the library down - it does the same thing.
Frankly I’m not into the end justifies the means. I want our electeds to cooperate and gain consensus. Sure not everyone will be happy - nevertheless - this entire activity was much ado about nothing.
“She’s not my” Maggie Brooks held the library hostage…made demands and got what she wanted. As with most crimes, it wasn’t really rational at all.
Brooks shouldn’t be making library policy. She should have the guts to give up that power to the library itself. We didn’t get to see this play out because the library gave in to Maggie’s financial terrorism.
But what would we all have done if the library system shut down?
I think the real question is: was porn viewing in the library truly a problem? Or did someone else’s Maggie create this issue for her own benefit?
Nicely said