Requesting Help from Librarian ALA Members (Vanity)

Vanity | 6-29-03 | radical librarian

[radical librarian]

As a graduate student in library science, I am constantly encouraged to join the America Library Association (ALA). Although the ALA is SUPPOSEDLY designed to help librarians network and to provide new sources of information, it is in actuality anything but.

At the ALA's conference in Toronto this past week, guest speakers included Ralph Nader, Gloria Steinem, and Naomi Klein. While I disagree with everything these speakers stand for, I support their right to free speech. However, I do not support their right to speak at a convention designed for librarians.

The current governing body of ALA consists of nothing more than socialists, communists, and diversity obsessed misfits. I am not familiar with how ALA conducts their elections (I have yet to join, considering I don't want my membership dues going to support people like those at the last convention), but there has to be some flaw in the system. One of the current governing board members is a registered member of the communist party, and denies that Cuba is a dictatorship (there have been several articles printed in mainstream papers and on FreeRepublic recently in response to the ALA's decision to invite representatives from Cuba's government owned library system, while the ALA continues to refuse to support independent librarians that have been jailed under Castro's regime).

Friday, in an email from a law librarian listserv I belong to, a message arrived denouncing the current radical regime in charge of the ALA. Since it appears others are finally getting tired of the ALA's nonsense, I am trying to locate other librarians that have information on the ALA election process, and to see if anyone has any information on organized efforts to install new leadership at the next election.

Just as I wouldn't expect liberal ALA members to sit and pay to listen to conference speakers such as Rush Limbaugh, Thomas Sowell, and Michael Savage, I don't expect to have to listen to anti-globalization nuts, eco-weenies, and femi-nazis. Hopefully, I will find some people on the law librarian listserv who wish to install better leadership at the next ALA election as well. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone who has information on this subject would contact me. Thank you.

[LanPB01]

Thanks. That's a group I hadn't heard of.

[radiohead]

first, i'm a female. second, i was responding to your statement about 'white devils,' not that you believed that whites were keeping minorities from technology. third, i'm perfectly calm and very happy. you're the one who sounds stressed.

[radiohead]

btw - my late husband was a vietnam vet and a white guy. my father was white. so i don't have anything against white people. i just don't like liberals, i don't care what color they are...

[ahmedtousay1]

I apologize for the mistake of your gender, nothing more. I made no statements or judgements about what a white devil did or did not do. And yes, you sound stressed.

Cordially,

Eldar

[ahmedtousay1]

I like people. Obviously, you dislike the majority of people in the world who love free inquiry, open access and and a liberal economy. We have a 2 party system and things like laws and taxes to acheive a consensus and balance amongst ourselves. Painting me as a liberal when not once since I have been here have I declared thyself as such yet you make broad statements like you just made. I am a moderate Democrat, sue me for having liberal tendencies about some things, and strong sense of fiscal responsibility about other things. Bush has thrown all that out.

Best,

Eldar

[LanPB01]

It's easy to get stressed when communicating with people that swallow the ALA approved, liberal backed, "socialism, multi-culturalism, and diversity are good for you" line. As I pointed out earlier, it's like regressing and having to explain to a five year old why it's wrong to just take things by force.

[ahmedtousay1]

Once again you divert from my earlier posts and resort to some nonsensical rant about socialism. What is multi-culturalism to you? I see no wrong to the diversity in the world. I celebrate culture and freedom. Who has taken what by force from you? Cripes, you are starting to melt down BIG TIME, eh? Something ugly has possessed your spirit, and it is the reality that people who do not look like you are succeeding in this country. Jealous?

Remaining cordial,

Eldar

[Skywalk]

LOL You tell other people to calm down in the face of your insults and name-calling.

From your second post you threw names and accused people of getting upset.

If you were banned, it would be due to your contemptible style of posting. Do you really think you're clever?

Frankly, I'd rather you admitted what you are and just BE a jerk outright rather than be coy about it and hide behind false claims about the conduct of others.

[Skywalk]

You're anything but cordial and each of your posts is slathered in condescension and smug insults.

You seem to be projecting a bit by accusing everyone else under the sun of being stressed and being against "free inquiry" when almost no one here has even addressed such matters.

No one is melting down but you. How long have you waited just to emerge now and insult people?

[LanPB01]

Mr. Kent took the time to respond to the posting of that idiot from Ole Miss, and included that guy's text:
___________________________
>
> I apologize to my colleagues who don't like a lot of
> political foolishness on the list. I do think that our duty
> as citizens sometimes compels us to discuss things like
> this.

The poster is sadly misinformed on many issues. Defending
intellectual
freedom can never be foolishness. And let's count our blessings that
we can
freely discuss any issue we like without fear of government reprisals,
unlike
the citizens of Cuba.
>
> You're leaving facts out of your argument. a) The
> independent librarians were initially authorized by Castro
> (that was in the part of the Heyer [sic] column that you deleted
> before you posted it to the list.)

This statement is incorrect. Cuba is a country where owning books
critical of the government has been a criminal offense for more than
forty years
(except for a few "locked shelves" in major libraries, from which
average Cubans
are excluded). The independent librarians' emphasis on the quote from
President Castro ("There are no prohibited books in Cuba...") as the
inspiration for
the founding of their movement is decidedly tongue-in-cheek, to put it
mildly.

As for excluding part of the Georgie Anne Geyer column, it was done
for
the sake of brevity. The link to the full text of the column was
included in
the excerpt, and several articles on our website
(www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org) discuss President Castro's now-famous
quote as the inspiration for the
creation of Cuba's innovative independent library movement, which
offers a model
for other nations where governments, regardless of their ideology, try
to
control all sources of information.

> b) The latest round of repression started when US administration
officials started
> encouraging Cubans to sign petitions, & etc., knowing full
> well that Castro's reaction would be a crackdown. Inciting
> people to pursue their liberty is not a bad thing, unless
> the incitor [sic] knows that the incitees will end up in prison,
> and that the incitor [sic] because of diplomatic immunity faces no
> risk whatsoever. Then the incitement is just a cynical
> manipulation of human beings to advance the political agenda
> of the incitor [sic].

The Cuban government tries to portray Cuba as an ideal society, in
which
all dissenters are ingrates, mentally ill, traitors or criminals who
are
somehow being incited from abroad. The petitition campaign to which
you refer -
the Varela Project - is a Cuban initiative to demand democratic
reforms. At
last count, approximately 30,000 brave Cuban citizens have dared to
publicly sign
their names to this petition. They are being supported by human rights
activists and diplomats from many nations, including the U.S. We
should be pleased
when the U.S. government opposes human rights violations, wherever they
occur.

>
> We were recently led into war via the tactics of inventing
> and exaggerating facts which supported the decision,
> covering up and distorting facts which didn't support the
> decision, and personally attacking anyone who disagreed.
> I'm sorry, but your tactics on this issue seem very similar.

Again, let's be thankful we live in a society where we are free to
discuss, criticize and protest anything we like, unlike Cuba, where the
people live
in constant fear of having their conversations overheard by informers,
the
mass media are censored, and where the Internet is banned (except for a
few
people considered "trustworthy" by the regime). In fact, Cuba has been
named by
Reporters Sans Frontieres as among the world's twenty worst "Enemies of
the
Internet."
>
> I have no problem helping Cuban colleagues whether
> "professional" or not) - advancing someone's personal
> political agenda is another matter.
>
The defense of universal human rights should be above mere
politics. And
who is more "professional," librarians without a degree who endure
persecution for defending intellectual freedom, or librarians with a
degree who do
nothing to defend intellectual freedom? The answer is clear to anyone
who respects
the exercise of intellectual freedom as a universal human right.

Sincerely,

The Friends of Cuban Libraries
(WWW.FRIENDSOFCUBANLIBRARIES.ORG)

[Salem]

"Most people will agree with me and not you about who the Nazis were and what they are all about."

No, they won't, and stating it dictum ex post facto won't change the reality of recorded German history. Wherever socialism and socialist philosophy has taken root as a public policy tack, the failure of the state and a lot of dead bodies soon follow. Whether the deluded utopian dreams of H. Zinn and Parenti, or the white supremist ideology of the Turner Diaries, this is true.

Socialist origins of Neo-Nazism

[Salem]

"...I think it was Democracy for the Few."

I have that one, too! I also had opportunity to read his Inventing Reality - The Politics of News Media. Again, loaned to me from another captive victim of the California University system.

And people wonder why this state is so absolutely screwed up. The "utopian dream" has finally hit critical mass.

[Salem]

"Mr. Kent took the time to respond to the posting of that idiot from Ole Miss..."

Hmm, interesting reading. Note well the core reason why this whole controversy, the totalitarians of Cuba and the ALA know the biggest threat to the regime is ideas. Castro's regime has not fallen through military force, boycott, or blockade. Yet, the free flow of ideas, of freedom, liberty, and the supremacy of the individual over the state, is the most deadly weapon that can be levelled on behalf of the Cuban citizenry.

Good for Mr. Kent!

[LanPB01]

To fully appreciate how pathetic the ALA truly is, you have to check out this link that was posted on the lawlib listserv today. It contains letters and statements from a couple of ALA members that oppose Mr. Kent and his organization. One of the letters is from Mr. Communism himself, Mark Rosenzweig.

Their comments will absolutely make your blood boil. In the letter from Ann C. Sparanese, she basically admits she opposes helping the Cuban librarians due to the fact that some members of their organization broadcast "right-wing" info into Cuba, with no time offered for liberal opposition. I kid you not, she actually said that. Once again, intellectual freedom takes a backseat to America bashing and the socialist agenda of the ALA.

http://www.libr.org/Juice/issues/vol4/LJ_4.9.sup.html

[KittyKares]

Dear Radical,

Regarding the last ALA elections, I, as a member, received a very thick brochure with the names of the nominees, information about them, and statements as to what they would do if elected. The brochure did not list party affiliations, so I had to read between the lines and hunt for clues like the names of the committees they served on to get an idea if they were leftist or liberal types. I voted for the least likely to be leftist candidate in each category that I could find.

I don't know if your library gets the "Library Hotline," but the June 23, 2003 issue states that "only 9,844 of ALA's more than 64,000 members cast votes in the election." That's a pretty small turnout. Maybe if we conservative librarians got out and voted, we could get some reasonable people elected.

But I don't think I will join next year. I was brainwashed into it, too, by library school. The dues are quite high, and I don't like having so much of my dues going towards issues such as fighting filters and the Patriot Act and supporting liberal causes and speakers.

Fortunately, at my library we're not big on discussing politics, so I don't have to listen to constant insane thinking. But on occasion the truth will out, and I do find that most of my colleagues are liberal. Living in California, I don't think I could escape that fact no matter what profession I would be in.

I will look into some of the Web sites for conservative librarians that others sent you. It would be refreshing to talk with other like-minded librarians.

[KittyKares]

Good grief! I didn't know a Marxist had been elected. You have enlightened me. I found this draft by him on the war in Iraq:

"My Draft Resolution for SRRT against War on Iraq


Mark Rosenzweig

Whereas forces are being assembled by the US and its few partners for a full scale 'preemptive' -- and therefore, definitionally, illegal -- total war against Iraq

And whereas uncounted billions of dollars are to be spent in acts solely of destruction, death and the assertion of complete dominance against a nation, Iraq, which poses no present military threat, odious as its government may be, to any of the parties to the planned assault

Be it resolved that SRRT , believing that democratic libraries are, by prior agreements and clearly stated principles, committed to peaceful resolution of conflicts, to tcontribution to the resources of global dialogue as the basis for arriving at a more just, equitable, responsible, sustainable, all-sided human development in the interests of helping realize human and planetary potentials rather than atavistically destroying them, opposes the planned war against Iraq as a dire threat to the peace of all nations, a condition which alone permits the optimization of democratic cultural initiatives to which libraries are, in their modest but significant way, committed in principle, and whose destructionn is a menace to the entire framework of international peace and law and of all prospects of regional peace in the complex arena of conflict into which the US clumsily plans to massively intervene, a framework which alone promises the maintenance and development of cultural diversity in which humanity can potentially freely employ and enjoy according to its desires and needs the fruits of the arts,sciences and intellectual labors which libraries, schools, institutions of research and learning cultivate for the sake of a better world now and in the future.

Be it further resolved that we believe there are social, cultural and economic priorities which take precedence over the execution of any proposed choreographed military spectacle of devastation, the initiation of which threatens to create an inextricable and expanding military quagmire, draining more and more of the world's resources and with them, increasingly the common peoples' hopes for a better deal, a more worthwhile and productive life. This chain-reaction of increasingly costly and increasingly irrational wars, only beginning with Afghanistan and now, escalating, to Iraq, will create a maelstrom of militarism into which, globally, vast resources of nations, rich and poor, will be spent with utter lack of concern for the priority of the many significant social problems left unaddressed --by democratic nations as well as despotisms -- all of which are far from able to afford such unnecessary and wanton exercises of crude or super-sophisticated military power in senseless deployment of both the most expensive technologies of mass destruction as well as the sheer primitive waste of uncounted human lives hurled at each other, each lost life of inestimable intrinsic value, piled higher and higher in heaps of dead civilians and soldiers, ,whether killed in barbaric, street to street, hand to hand warfare, in acts of horrid terrorism or in more modern and civilized techno-optomized 'air wars' with their vast explosions of 'smart' missiles brainy bombs. And above it all, the shadow of the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, hovering once again over the future of humanity and its habitat.

Be it then finally resolved that we call on people of good will, of all parties and nations, to decide that this seemingly 'inevitable' war is not inevitable, and is no solution to the problems facing humankind or the Iraqi people or the Middle East or NATO or the members of the UN, but that is only an awful, alternative use of resources much better spent on books rather than bombs, spent wisely and creatively in the sharing spirit of knowledge and ideas and feelings and questions , that is, the humble spirit of librarianship and its idealistic belief in the ineffable power of the continuity of human imagination, understanding, and communication.

Respectfully submitted (with no illusions that the style or approach will be to everybody's or anybody's liking) ....

Mark Rosenzweig
SRRT Action Council Member
PLG Cioordinating Committee Member
ALA Councilor at large"

[KittyKares]

Check out this excerpt from the following Web site:

http://www.ucmpage.org/sword/m_sword10232000.html

(If you read the entire article, you'll get ill.)

"[The man of the hour is Mark] Rosenzweig, the co-editor of Progressive Librarian and is the Chief Librarian at the Communist Party USA's Reference Center for Marxist Studies in New York City. Rosenzweig writes frequently for library web forums and anarchist discussion groups.

At the ALA's national conference in Chicago in July of this year, Rosenzweig presented a special ALA award to Daniel Tsang, a librarian at the University of California for his contributions to the Alternatives in Print Task Force of the ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table. Tsang has written for numerous left-leaning journals, including the Gay News, and he is on the editorial board of the Journal of Homosexuality. Tsang is also the editor of The Age Taboo: Gay Male Sexuality, Power and Consent. This book contains a series of essays advocating adult/child sex. It includes an essay by the North American Man/Boy Love Association called "The Case for Abolishing of Age of Consent Laws." [see this related article, or this related article.]

That he is a board member of the American Library Association should serve as a warning to parents about the challenges facing them as they deal with Internet pornography."

[LanPB01]

That guy is a major league a-hole. I wasn't aware of how the ALA handled voting (like Radlib, I've been waiting to join), but now that I hear so few actually vote, I think I will join since I can still get in at the student discount rate. Do you know when the next ALA election is held?