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Seanan lays it on the line
Sep. 17th, 2011 10:11 amHere, just in case anyone on my flist doesn't read her.
It is a measure of the depth of my unconscious privilege, as a deadbeat in a society that hasn't quite given up looking after its deadbeats yet, that my argument against the "print is dead" triumphalists has always been "so what happens when the power goes off and the batteries run out and that thing you just tossed on to the fire to keep warm had information in it you needed?" I truly hadn't registered that the need is still NOW, HERE. There needs to continue to be hard copy books, to be read and loved and then PASSED ON, or poor people will not be able to read. (Which of course will suit our lords and masters just fine and dandy.) Never mind the future--address the present need and keep addressing it, and the future will take care of itself.
On my last but one trip into Warminster I noticed a bookshop I hadn't seen before. On my last trip, when I walked up to it, there was scaffolding and whitewash on the windows and no sign of occupancy. The other bookshop in Warminster has gradually abandoned books for art materials and greeting cards, and don't even start me on W H Sith's. And it could be argued that it's our fault, just like Beeching was our parents' fault because they all bought cars when they had money and didn't use the railways enough. Of course that's a stupid argument, but like many stupid arguments it contains a grain of truth. We go to Amazon because they're cheap and easy, and forget that the corporate demon of today has no conscience and will gladly strip-mine all the land around down to the bedrock and then lumber off and leave us with nothing. If Amazon gets a monopoly on print bookselling, the first thing it will do is abandon it because there's no more new profit to be made.
I'm not saying don't use the internet to buy books, or even don't use Amazon. I'm saying; be aware, as I wasn't before Seanan opened my eyes. The need is now, and if print is dead, then so are we.
It is a measure of the depth of my unconscious privilege, as a deadbeat in a society that hasn't quite given up looking after its deadbeats yet, that my argument against the "print is dead" triumphalists has always been "so what happens when the power goes off and the batteries run out and that thing you just tossed on to the fire to keep warm had information in it you needed?" I truly hadn't registered that the need is still NOW, HERE. There needs to continue to be hard copy books, to be read and loved and then PASSED ON, or poor people will not be able to read. (Which of course will suit our lords and masters just fine and dandy.) Never mind the future--address the present need and keep addressing it, and the future will take care of itself.
On my last but one trip into Warminster I noticed a bookshop I hadn't seen before. On my last trip, when I walked up to it, there was scaffolding and whitewash on the windows and no sign of occupancy. The other bookshop in Warminster has gradually abandoned books for art materials and greeting cards, and don't even start me on W H Sith's. And it could be argued that it's our fault, just like Beeching was our parents' fault because they all bought cars when they had money and didn't use the railways enough. Of course that's a stupid argument, but like many stupid arguments it contains a grain of truth. We go to Amazon because they're cheap and easy, and forget that the corporate demon of today has no conscience and will gladly strip-mine all the land around down to the bedrock and then lumber off and leave us with nothing. If Amazon gets a monopoly on print bookselling, the first thing it will do is abandon it because there's no more new profit to be made.
I'm not saying don't use the internet to buy books, or even don't use Amazon. I'm saying; be aware, as I wasn't before Seanan opened my eyes. The need is now, and if print is dead, then so are we.