Public Libraries....
Here's a topic you will never read much about. How public libraries should be banned. Not just certain books in public libraries, but public libraries themselves. My objection is not to libraries, but rather to the *public* aspect of it. Would anyone care to argue that citizens have a *right* to reading material of their choice at other people's expense? I'm sure a lot of you would....and I would point out once again (y'all getting weary of the same song?) that noone has a right to reading material at the expense of others.
So....why aren't there more private libraries? Well, if you're like me, I will purchase the books I want...I don't believe I have a *right* to go to a library and *demand* a book be made available to me, because after all I am a taxpayer (and remember, if I don't pay those taxes my husband's and my home will be taken away from us at gunpoint, if we refuse to leave, thereby rendering the last part of the 5th amendment worthless (nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.). It seems to me that when you tax people's private property for public use you are not giving them just compensation.
Have you ever noticed how when people disagree with you, they don't argue principle...they argue their own personal situation. "But, how am I going to read this one book that I really want to read but can't afford?" Well...now here's a couple thoughts...first of all, you don't have a right to read any book at someone else's expense...but if the government weren't taxing you at a total rate of somewhere between 40-50% perhaps with that extra money in your pocket you just might be able to afford that book. Or, it might happen, you just happen to be a loser who isn't interested in doing the right thing, in which case, you're probably not interested in reading anyway. LOL
On a different note, though, there are 2 other reasons I object to public libraries. One I came up with and the second my sister pointed out to me (not all my thoughts are original). I will address hers first. First, is when you have public libraries and an author has a successful book, thanks to public libraries, fewer copies are sold than otherwise would be, since 100 people line up to read the *free* library copy. Is that really fair to the author?
On the opposite side (my thought), is that public libraries provide a market for crappy books that would never be published if you depended on individuals to purchase them, or they are ideologically bad books that find their ways into individual's hands, that had they had to purchase them, they never would have. Despite my convictions I went to a local library about 8.5 years ago. One of my children (ages 4 or 5 at the time), picked up a book called, Mommy, Don't Hit Me. Lovely. Just the sort of book my children need to see. Not.
When I was in highschool, I used to spend some of my study halls in the school library where I would read the magazine Glamour. As I look back, I'm thinking, why on God's green earth would it ever be a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars to purchase a sex magazine (because in the end that is what it is...and that was 25 years ago!!!! I can't even imagine how it is now....sigh....)? The answer is, it isn't, unless whoever purchased it was interested in destroying the innocence and encouraging promiscuity among teen-age girls. I read stuff in there I had absolutely NO business reading whether I was 16 or 41. I read lots of Judy Blume books (for whatever reason those are considered *classics*. Gag me with a spoon (how's that for 80's speak?). I read them all, and I can assure you none of my daughters ever will and their lives will be much richer. My point, is that public libraries provide access to materials that children and adults should not be reading...and human nature being which it is (which is inherently sinful), will pick out books that they shouldn't read because if it's *free* and if they had to actually pay for it, that *cost of doing business* would prevent them from doing so.
We are all human, therefore we are all subject to sin. Because of that, it is important to set external disciplines in place to help keep our sinful nature in check. Why is that such an *over the top* thing to point out?
So....why aren't there more private libraries? Well, if you're like me, I will purchase the books I want...I don't believe I have a *right* to go to a library and *demand* a book be made available to me, because after all I am a taxpayer (and remember, if I don't pay those taxes my husband's and my home will be taken away from us at gunpoint, if we refuse to leave, thereby rendering the last part of the 5th amendment worthless (nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.). It seems to me that when you tax people's private property for public use you are not giving them just compensation.
Have you ever noticed how when people disagree with you, they don't argue principle...they argue their own personal situation. "But, how am I going to read this one book that I really want to read but can't afford?" Well...now here's a couple thoughts...first of all, you don't have a right to read any book at someone else's expense...but if the government weren't taxing you at a total rate of somewhere between 40-50% perhaps with that extra money in your pocket you just might be able to afford that book. Or, it might happen, you just happen to be a loser who isn't interested in doing the right thing, in which case, you're probably not interested in reading anyway. LOL
On a different note, though, there are 2 other reasons I object to public libraries. One I came up with and the second my sister pointed out to me (not all my thoughts are original). I will address hers first. First, is when you have public libraries and an author has a successful book, thanks to public libraries, fewer copies are sold than otherwise would be, since 100 people line up to read the *free* library copy. Is that really fair to the author?
On the opposite side (my thought), is that public libraries provide a market for crappy books that would never be published if you depended on individuals to purchase them, or they are ideologically bad books that find their ways into individual's hands, that had they had to purchase them, they never would have. Despite my convictions I went to a local library about 8.5 years ago. One of my children (ages 4 or 5 at the time), picked up a book called, Mommy, Don't Hit Me. Lovely. Just the sort of book my children need to see. Not.
When I was in highschool, I used to spend some of my study halls in the school library where I would read the magazine Glamour. As I look back, I'm thinking, why on God's green earth would it ever be a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars to purchase a sex magazine (because in the end that is what it is...and that was 25 years ago!!!! I can't even imagine how it is now....sigh....)? The answer is, it isn't, unless whoever purchased it was interested in destroying the innocence and encouraging promiscuity among teen-age girls. I read stuff in there I had absolutely NO business reading whether I was 16 or 41. I read lots of Judy Blume books (for whatever reason those are considered *classics*. Gag me with a spoon (how's that for 80's speak?). I read them all, and I can assure you none of my daughters ever will and their lives will be much richer. My point, is that public libraries provide access to materials that children and adults should not be reading...and human nature being which it is (which is inherently sinful), will pick out books that they shouldn't read because if it's *free* and if they had to actually pay for it, that *cost of doing business* would prevent them from doing so.
We are all human, therefore we are all subject to sin. Because of that, it is important to set external disciplines in place to help keep our sinful nature in check. Why is that such an *over the top* thing to point out?
posted by Lisa aka Mombley | 9:28 AM
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