American Librarians Chose a Marxist to Represent Them and Now They Are Seeing the Consequences
“at least 54% of the 10,000-plus librarians who voted were at least socialist-curious enough to elect me”
It’s fascinating how the left basically targeted a profession to take over. Things did not end up going as planned.
Mark Hemingway writes at the Federalist:
America’s Librarians Became Militantly Political, And Now They Suffer The Consequences
Churchill once said of John Foster Dulles that he was “the only case I know of a bull who carries his own China shop around with him.” Had Churchill miraculously lived another 60 odd years, I think he would agree that when it comes to this particular metaphor, Dulles has been outclassed. At the dawn of Trump’s second term, we even see that the bull has become self-aware and is deliberately trying to break as much of the federal crockery as he can get away with.
Last week, Trump issued an executive order proposing the shuttering of seven obscure federal agencies, notably including the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Churlish former Labor Secretary Robert Reich went into high dudgeon, or in Reich’s case maybe just dudgeon, to let us know “Tyrants view educated citizens as their greatest enemy. Slaveholders stopped the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Dictators censor media. That’s why Trump is attacking education, science, museums, and the arts. Ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny.”…
In 2023 the American Library Association elected as its president a Marxist lesbian. And how do you know someone’s a Marxist lesbian? Well, they’ll tell you. “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary,” Emily Drabinski tweeted following her victory. “I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD. I love you mom.”
Drabinski later deleted her tweet and feigned surprise many people were disturbed to learn a previously apolitical association had been radicalized. However, Drabinski never hid her desire to exploit the ALA’s influence to further her left-wing politics. In an article for a socialist publication last year on how “defending libraries is fighting capitalism,” Drabinski proudly notes that “at least 54% of the 10,000-plus librarians who voted were at least socialist-curious enough to elect me.”
Alabama, Wyoming, Missouri, Texas, and Florida eventually cut ties with the ALA in response to the organization’s extremism.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
lie braires are the newest ( or one of them) welfare centers
need to promote a lefty agenda …the lie brary..I mean what kind of neanderthal would argue against having a lie brary
moms day out>>lie brary
etc
its like the government having a housing agenda where they open up sec8>>affordable housing senior housing ( whatever they call it now to fool the public) but really all the time knowing that it will become the hub for their people getting out of prison and “enjoying” the ‘burbs
Diversity!!!
A couple winters ago our lie brary was a day care center for illegals. Also sheltering a few assorted lunatics and homeless drug addicts. Lovely. Don’t know if it’s still going on. Haven’t been back.
btw this article should be front and center
its these “little” articles that in fact are exposing the inner workings of the lefty especially on the local scene
The ALA has been a leftist mouthpiece for years–they don’t believe that all points of view should be represented, and they’ll tell you what a bad person or what a bad position you have on an issue if it’s conservative
If you want to see who is REALLY engaging in censorship, ask your librarian to reserve you Lawn Boy, To Kill A Mockingbird, Woke Baby, and Unintended Consequences.
In my experiences you make your own reservations on the library web site, and it’s all handled automatically so no sticky-beak librarian is a position to object to your choice of reading material.
My suggestion wasn’t so much about issues with anyone objecting to the requests, it was with being told which books turned out to be available in their system and which books were not. And not in the sense of being checked in checked out, but having been shelved at all.
When Trump’s done buying Greenland, perhaps he can buy Somalia, rename it Academicia, and recapitulate Liberia with it.
This is no surprise. Librarianship has been infected with leftism for a long time. And because the ALA effectively enforces a closed shop requiring librarians to have an “ALA-accredited MLS degree”, it is an echo chamber. Throw in archivists (NARA anyone?) and the “special libraries” crowd, and there is little dissent and very little means for dissenting voices to be heard. I’ve seen this for over 40 years. Like much of what the left has overrun, they just aren’t quiet about it anymore.
This is no surprise. Librarianship has been infected with leftism for a long time.
It’s Always 1984 in Cuba (2003)
Circa 2000, a library school affiliated chapter of the ALA sent members to Cuba. A library school student who had been born in Cuba was denied a visa.
+Live on the government. Die on the government. You got what you wanted now suffer the consequences of a government that doesn’t want to pay for you.
The public libraries have become another way to steal tax dollars and give it to preferred politicos.
When Michelle Obama’s unreadable autobiography came out, public libraries bought many copies as a way of showing solidarity with the Obamas. who cares if no one wants to read them; our taxes must be used to honor (and give $$$ to) Michelle.
The same things happens with books written by top Dems or their followers.
In principle public libraries are an absolute public good. In practice far too many – not all but many, are dominated by Leftist interests, with this flowing into stock selection and program decisions for some.
In the case of professional bodies and academics who teach library science, it seems Leftism is treated as mainstream, Radical Left as militant but acceptable viewpoints, and Right as non-credible pseudoscience that can and should be ignored. It’s not censorship, it’s just gatekeeping. Censorship is bad and something the Right is ever truly guilty of apparently.
This is not new. The leadership of the ALA was captured by commies, serious Marxists, decades ago, but no one was paying attention. There has been serious infiltration and ideological capture of the leadership and staff of many, many institutions and organizations throughout the West, not just in America. Take a look at Canada, UK, and Mexico, for example. And the Marxists are not going to stop just because Trump got elected.