Episode 179: From Budget Cuts to Book Bans — The Decades-Long Assault on Public Libraries
Citations Needed29 Maalis 2023

Episode 179: From Budget Cuts to Book Bans — The Decades-Long Assault on Public Libraries

"Parents fighting schools to protect their kids are heroes, not book-banners," Fox News tells us. Are Privatized Public Libraries So Bad?" asks CityLab. "Huntsville Public Library could be privatized in aftermath of pride display dispute," reports Houston Public Media.

For decades, public libraries have been under attack. Repeatedly, influential rightwing and centrist individuals, corporations, and governments––from Phyllis Schlafly to Ron DeSantis––have coordinated campaigns to weaken one of the most beloved and least means-tested public institutions in the country. They seek to, at best, restrict the materials, functions, and decision-making power of public libraries, and at worst, destroy public libraries completely, tossing aside the people who depend on them for education, employment, and often survival.

What is it about public libraries that inspires such contempt? What's responsible for the chasm between the US population's perceptions of public libraries––which are overwhelmingly positive––and policymaking that seeks to ruin those libraries? And who suffers when one of the few true public goods left in the US is targeted and seized by reactionary forces?

On this episode, we examine the decades-long right-wing assault on US public libraries, the history of book bans and defunding, attendant efforts to privatize public libraries, and how these intersect with the labor struggles of librarians nationwide.

Our guest is president-elect of the American Library Association, Emily Drabinski.

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Ep 242 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 2: US Empire as Mysterious, Teleological Force

Ep 242 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 2: US Empire as Mysterious, Teleological Force

In this episode, we discuss how circular "inevitability" arguments have been used for centuries to justify war, expansionism and perpetual hostility — most recently against China. Our guest is organiz...

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Ep 241 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 1: Data Centers and LLM as 'The Future'

Ep 241 - The Disempowering Politics of 'Inevitability' Part 1: Data Centers and LLM as 'The Future'

In this episode, we breakdown the popular "inevitability" argument AI companies are using to bulldoze over democracy and how the "inevitability" line has been used to sell everything from Manifest Des...

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News Brief: Very Serious New Yorker Article Launders Biden Officials' Responsibility for Gaza Genocide

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In this News Brief, we are joined by Kaleem Hawa to discuss David K Kirkpatrick's 10,000 word PR job that feigns criticism of Biden officials, but ultimately serves to distance them from the horrors o...

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News Brief: Why US Media Has Evoked Israel's "Right to Exist" 1,001 Times vs Only 6 For Palestine

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In this News Brief, we dissect the Orwellian phrase "right to exist," why it only applies to Israel, what purpose it serves, and why Palestinians are never said to have such a right.

15 Heinä 28min

Ep 240: How the Media's "Burden," the "Straining Resources" Framing Manufactures the Expendable Other

Ep 240: How the Media's "Burden," the "Straining Resources" Framing Manufactures the Expendable Other

In this episode, we discuss the ideological work done by our media's default frame of immigrants, poor seniors, homeless people, and those with disabilities as "burdens" and "strains" on our limited r...

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News Brief: Despite 9-Figure Infusion from Silicon Valley, Abundance Still Seeks Popular Support

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In this news brief, we catch up with Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, to discuss Abundance's PR problems, why this latest neoliberalism rebrand isn't catching on an...

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News Brief: The ADL's Bogus Origin Story and Its Rise as Ideological Enforcer for Empire and Israel

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In this News Brief, we talk with Emmaia Gelman, author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, about how––despite posing a civil rights org––the ADL functions as defender of colonialism an...

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Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of "Affordability" Politics

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In this episode, we detail the long history of generic "affordability" discourse and how, post-Mamdani, it's become the go-to establishment buzzword justifying tax breaks for developers, deregulation,...

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