-Caveat Lector-
> CENTER-RIGHT, a free weeklyish e-newsletter
> of centrist, conservative, and libertarian ideas
> Issue 66, June 21, 1999
> Over 2200 subscribers
> Check out (and link to) our Web site
> http://www.center-right.org/
>
> "Stop the Madness"
>
> by Joab Jackson, from the Baltimore City Paper
>
>
> "It's not clear yet that either of the two
> Littleton, Colo., students who unleashed
> their anger by firing on classmates and
> teachers . . . were encouraged by any racist
> hate sites on the Web. But there were
> indications that racism, hate, and the
> Internet played a role in their crimes."
> Internet Gives Youths Path To Hate Groups,
> The Baltimore Sun, April 22.
>
>
> A foul influence has cropped up in our society,
> ladies and gentlemen. It's a place that offers easy
> accessibility to violence and racist-fueled speech,
> where grotesque ideologies and over-the-top hate
> language flow freely.
>
> Don't believe me? I did a sample expedition.
> Within 30 minutes of searching, I came across these
> items: a piece of writing describing a 12-year-old girl
> tied to a bed and injected with drugs to keep her
> sedated for multiple rapes; graphic photos of Nanking
> citizens killed or horribly tortured during the
> Japanese aggression against China in World War II; a
> vivid depiction of two blood-drenched women in a fight
> (one is wielding a cleaver); and perhaps most
> disturbingly, Hitler's anti-Semitic Mein Kampf-in its
> entirety!
>
> I suspect most of you know where I found this
> material. But in case you've lived underneath a rock
> for the past few years, I'll clue you in: a library. A
> public library not three miles from my home.
>
> It's not clear yet that either of the two
> Littleton, Colo., students who unleashed their anger by
> firing on classmates and teachers were encouraged by
> any racist hate material they found in their local
> library. But there were indications that racism, hate,
> and libraries played a role in their crimes.
>
> The frightening fact is that any teenager can just
> walk into the nearest branch of your government-funded
> public library and have access to a wide range of
> material, some of it clearly unsuitable for little
> minds. The barrier of entry is very low. Even those
> who can't afford a computer to access the Internet can
> freely check out a book filled with violence or hate
> speech! With no supervision!
>
> According to a pro-book lobbying group called the
> American Library Association, there are more than
> 120,000 libraries in the U.S. This should strike fear
> into the hearts of every concerned adult. Just think:
> Computer-catalogue-savvy kids in search of outlets for
> anger and adolescent rebellion can find them on the
> book shelves-and reference-desk personnel are eager to
> help them.
>
> Once upon a time, scholars sought out libraries to
> find volumes otherwise unattainable. In this way, such
> services performed a legitimate function. Nowadays,
> book superstores are on almost every corner, rendering
> the act of burrowing into the stacks a quaint, outdated
> custom.
>
> Not that libraries today attract crowds so
> scholarly. The sad truth is most of their patrons have
> spent more time watching television than rigorously
> pursuing academic disciplines. How can they be trusted
> to handle responsibly the material they find? Can we
> be sure that every reader will achieve the contextual
> distance needed to understand the violence in a Dean
> Koontz novel or, for that matter, the perverted sexual
> mores espoused in Nicholson Baker's latest? Of course,
> most who read something like Mein Kampf don't buy into
> its absurd arguments. But a few do.
>
> What's the answer? Unfortunately, doing away with
> libraries altogether may be politically infeasible
> (though outright elimination certainly would solve
> another huge problem associated with these "book
> lenders": piracy. Not only do libraries allow patrons
> to easily duplicate whatever pleases them on
> conveniently located "copying machines," but every time
> a book is checked out, the publishing industry loses a
> sale. In this way, untold millions in royalties slip
> away each year. Cash-poor authors are forced to teach,
> write advertising copy, or hang out in seedy bars
> drinking cheap beer with wanton floozies.)
>
> If we can't shut down libraries, we can work
> toward good stop-gap solutions. How about holding
> librarians legally responsible for the actions their
> books cause when they are loaned out? Is this too much
> to ask? How about requiring libraries to remove books
> we find indecent? Or at least restricting such
> materials to an "adults-only" section of the library?
> Here is where we can all do our part. Each and every
> one of us can pressure our elected officials to pass
> legislation that will make our libraries safe for
> children.
>
> Let me tell you a scary story: When I was 15
> years old, I went to the local library and, with no
> parental supervision, came across a copy of The Satanic
> Bible, written by Anton LaVey. Curious, I checked it
> out and took it home. Just like that! Although
> reading the book didn't send me on a shooting spree, it
> might have if I'd also had access to a trench coat,
> firearms, blood-spurting video games, and hate-filled
> German industrial music.
>
> Let's stop this chain of madness before it's too
> late. Ask not what libraries can do to you, but ask
> what you can do to the libraries.
>
> CENTER-RIGHT is edited by Eugene Volokh, who
> teaches constitutional law and copyright law at UCLA
> Law School (http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/volokh),
> and organized with the help of Terry Wynn and the
> Federalist Society (http://www.fed-soc.org/).
>
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> CENTER-RIGHT, a low-traffic, high-quality electronic newsletter of
> centrist, conservative, and libertarian ideas.
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