I have some books that I don't want, but I'm not sure how to dispose of them properly.
Let's start with the worst case:
poorly-written book
expressing potentially harmful ideas
by an objectionable author
One example might be Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I think I have to hold on to it because even though I hate it now, it was important to my political evolution. But let's say I decide I need the shelf space, and it's time to say goodbye.
by a living person currently promoting harmful ideology
Actual authors on my bookshelf include:
Orson Scott Card (homophobe)
Richard K. Morgan (transphobe)
Also not sure about Frank Miller, Tony Robbins, or Chuck Palahniuk.
Suppose the book itself is fine, or even mostly positive. But the author is harmful, and someone may pay for their other work, or be drawn into their ideology.
@skyfaller actually I just thought of this: write a note at the start of the book explaining the issue. Give it away or sell the annotated edition -- whichever
I lean towards giving away what I don't need for spiritual reasons and reasons of treating the poor with dignity.
@skyfaller I should say my stance on this is informed by Katherine mckittrick's book dear science where she challenges Sara ahmed's approach to problematic work through cutting citation off.
@skyfaller Might not be the most ethical thing, but what I landed on is leaving the books in one of those tiny lending library boxes near the park a few blocks from my home.
@oreoteeth That's certainly the easiest way to give books away, at least in my neighborhood.
But if someone started financially supporting a bigot because of a book I gave them, or even became a bigot themselves, that seems difficult to ethically accept. I'm not sure I can risk it even with books I think have a largely positive message.
Perhaps it's OK with a written warning in the book, perhaps with commentary on any awful passages. At least the author doesn't get money this time. But I dunno
@pixouls Ha, the parallels are a bit rough, but let's imagine a poorly made Confederate uniform costume produced by some right-wing jerk.
I would not hesitate to break it down for parts; given that it's poor quality, maybe it could become stuffing in a quilt.
What's different between clothes and books? I guess I have stronger impulses towards reuse with clothing, maybe I should get serious about the creative book reuses commenters are suggesting.
@skyfaller give it to somebody you know wants to read it to be able to better refute it (so that they can avoid buying a new copy) instead of being influenced towards hateful ideas.
@valhalla I don't know how to find someone like that. I don't have a lot of friends who want to critique e.g. Atlas Shrugged, most people don't want to pour toxic sludge into their brains for funsies.
Giving away a toxic book while making sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands seems pretty challenging. Most of my easiest options, like sticking it in a Little Free Library, seem actively unsafe.
@skyfaller
Is it the last copy of any of these books? If not, it's completely fine to destroy it. Depriving someone of access to bad information is a good thing.
@GrayGooGirl Yeah, it's just a rehashing of the moderation debate we're familiar with on Mastodon, isn't it? Some of my difficulty is that I love books as physical objects; it's emotionally more difficult than blocking a shitty server.
And real libraries have to trim their collections and destroy books all the time. But they usually try other things first.
Also reminds me of deletionism vs. inclusionism in Wikipedia. Physical books are different, but historically I've opposed deletionism.
@skyfaller
From a preservation standpoint, I can understand not wanting to remove a thing entirely from existence, but I think it makes sense to erect barriers in front of it if said thing is harmful. That argument doesn't translate well to fediblock stuff because the harm is not contained, it's persistent and dynamic. Sure adding a barrier can help, but the forces at play there can find ways around those barriers. There is a malevolence in people that doesn't carry over to print.
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