Technoccult

First They Came For The Libraries

Posted by: klintron on 31 January 2013

Klint Finley

Damien Williams on library closures:

People who know about but don’t fully understand history may ask, “Why do conquerors and fanatics always go for the Libraries?” Our most famous example has always been the Library of Alexandria, but it is by no means the sole instance. And if you take a look at that list, you can see something of a distinction: sometimes invaders burn libraries and loot them, and sometimes they just burn them. Why is that?

It’s because a library, more than any other thing humans have ever made, is the physical promise of a wider, more inclusive world.

A library teaches us about the potential for human knowledge to bring us to a better place.
A library challenges our perceptions. A library shows us that there is more to religion than zealotry, more to belief than delusion, more to the search for meaning than fanatical heresies.

A library presents to us, gives to us, for free, the benefits of human inquiry and allows us the time, and space, and resources to connect all of these things in ways that no one before has managed to do.

Full Story: The Breaking Time: First they came for the libraries