I was browsing in the library the other day and found a number of books that were morally problematic for one reason or another. Some were anti-Catholic, others were anti-religion, others glorified immorality. You get the idea.
While I could not afford to do so for every bad book I came across, I was wondering if I could check out a particularly bad book and "lose" it. I would pay for the loss, the library would be compensated, and the book would no longer be available. Is this stealing? Or, if it is, can I just keep re-checking the book out on a regular basis so it is not available to others?
97 comments
1. Yes, that is stealing. Your god seems to be against that.
2. You would be 'bearing false witness,' also a no-no in your god's eyes. (Does your god have eyes?)
3. Stop going to the library if you are afraid of ideas. Go to church. No ideas there to scare you--unless it's a different church from yours.
The library will probably buy a new copy with the money you pay, and you will have accomplished nothing, you've only shown how immoral you are.
If others want to check that book out too, and put themselves on a waiting list, you won't be able to re-check it out until the other people have had their turn, stupid.
You're not the supreme judge on what people are allowed to read, asshole, you live in a democracy and people are free to read whatever the hell they want. You can refrain from reading anything you don't like, but you don't have the right to stop other adults from reading anything. You can dissuade your children from reading what you don't like, but that might get them curious instead.
It all depends on how you tell them not to read it, of course. My husband told me not to read a particular book by Stephen King, and I won't read it. I'm not "obeying" him or anything, I'm taking his advice; if he says its too horrible for me, what with him liking scary stories, then it must be really, really horrible.
You could try minding your own fucking business but I know that this is a problem for holier-than-thou sanctimonious busybodies such as yourself.
You do know they make you pay for lost books so they can purchase a new copy, right? And that pulling that stunt a few times gets you banned from said library? So the only thing you would accomplish is losing money, achieving nothing and being the laughing stock of the local book repository.
When you do that, pick a book that is entertaining as well as "bad". They can track it when some book is so popular that it's checked out most of the time, and they'll buy extra copies! Sin for everyone!!!
Dinah, please stop trying to save the world and save yourself the energy that you could use, I dunno, save yourself?
Um...if a book is popular, the library will use the fine to pay for a replacement copy of the same book. Even if it's some random book that nobody else has checked out, the library would prefer a replacement with similar subject matter. This is not only immoral and illegal, it won't work .
I was wondering if I could check out a particularly bad book and "lose" it.
How about starting off with the Bible?
I wonder what you would think if I kept "losing" Bibles.
Yes, it is stealing. "Accidentally" losing something on purpose is not only stealing, but fraud too. If you're so spineless that you can't handle the existence and availability of a book that criticizes your religion, then you have no faith at all.
And by the way, those books that are anti-Catholicism specifically are written by other Christians, just as devout as you are. Are we gonna see a fundie fight in the near future?
So you are plotting to steal library books... and trying to justify it by claiming that you are somehow more "moral" than the book.
And all you are worried about is that it might cost you money...
I was browsing my home library the other day and found a number of books that were morally problematic for one reason or another. Some were anti-woman, others were anti-rationality, others glorified genocide (including the violent killing of young children). You get the idea.
I was browsing in the library the other day and found a number of books that were morally problematic for one reason or another.
Morally problematic to you, but you are not the arbiter of what people other than yourself may of may not read.
Some were anti-Catholic, others were anti-religion, others glorified immorality. You get the idea.
Yeah I get the idea, you have taken it upon yourself to dictate what everyone, including those who don't share your particular religion or have no religion at all, should be allowed to read.
While I could not afford to do so for every bad book I came across, I was wondering if I could check out a particularly bad book and "lose" it. I would pay for the loss, the library would be compensated, and the book would no longer be available. Is this stealing?
Not only is it stealing it's also lying, but hey, your oh-so ready to break one of your "holy" commandments, so why not break two? And the look on your face will be priceless once you realize the library will likely use your money to buy another copy of the aforementioned "evil" book.
"While I could not afford to do so for every bad book I came across, I was wondering if I could check out a particularly bad book and "lose" it. I would pay for the loss, the library would be compensated, and the book would no longer be available. Is this stealing? Or, if it is, can I just keep re-checking the book out on a regular basis so it is not available to others?"
I suggest you just burn down the library. That's what Christians have traditionally done when they find books they don't like which, not surprisingly, is all of them but the Wholly Babble.
@Fawful
I was thinking this.
image
Farenheit 451 FTW!! Fuck censors that ban that book, you crazy assmaggots!
But the Nazis did really have some, uh, lovely book burnings. This book was among them.
image
What do you want to bet this is one of the books she intends to "lose"?
So you plan on stealing and lying, two things that go against your religion's laws? What a hypocrite.
You know what? Go ahead and do it. You'll lose money and the library will use your money to buy new copies of the book, so you'll be giving cash to whoever made the book.
...Does she not realize that her plan requires
a) that she take "bad" books into her home, and
Isn't there a commandment about lying? And if the book is lost, they'll buy a replacement, and if it stays checked out, they'll assume it's a book people will want to read, and get extra copies.
But, main point: Hypocrisy to Christian beliefs FTW.
A. Yes, it is stealing. B. It's bearing false witness as telling the librarian you lost the book would be a lie. C. According to Jesus, your contemplating such actions are the same as your committing those sins physically. D. The library would probably simply replace the "lost" book with a crisp, new copy of the same book, so your action would be ineffective. E. Checking out a book you don't like just so others can't read it is just being an a**hole. Plus, the librarians might notice the seeming popularity of that book and order more copies.
Any way you look at it, you would be being ineffective and a**oholic.
I would pay for the loss, the library would be compensated, and the book would no longer be available.
And just why do you think they would make you pay for the book? It's so they can buy another copy to replace the one you "lost," dumb ass! No longer available, indeed.
They would simply replace the book you twit or did you think only one copy existed?
Besides, who are you to decide what should be available for someone else to read? If you don't want to read a certain book, then don't read it. After all, you wouldn't want to actually learn something would you?
"I was browsing in the library the other day and found a number of books that were morally problematic for one reason or another. Some were anti-Catholic, others were anti-religion, others glorified immorality. You get the idea."
My physician is an extremely intellectual, and well-read sort of fellow. Half-moon glasses, greyish hair, wrinkles in his forehead; the stereotypical image, which speaks of experience & great wisdom. In his surgery he has bookshelves with many tomes (to fit in with his well-read image, natch), which - along with medical books (including Gray's Anatomy; still a definitive textbook on the human body in medical schools to this day, no less), are fiction (he believes in an active imagination, along with books that encourage learning, to keep the mind exercised & healthy). One such work of fiction he has is "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie. Which he says reads like an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone", thus he enjoys reading it very much (because, like me, he loves Sci-Fi).
He's a Sufi Muslim .
You get the idea.
Hmm... maybe I should do this with all the wholly babbles in the local library? Of course, I wouldn't borrow them in my name... oh, wait, that would be censorship and bad.
I guess I'm like more people, too moral to be a fundy.
Remember kids, it's turning us into a theocracy when the ebil Christians do it, but it's fine when it's something like the Bible or Twilight. Then it's just protecting the children from bad messages. Which is also only wrong when the Christians do it.
For one thing, if you did that it would be stealing. And for another, the library would replace lost copy with a new one. Last but not least, you are a douchebag.
A) The whole point of paying for the "lost" book is so they can buy a brand new one. So unless the book is out of print and difficult to obtain, I fail to see what this would achieve.
B) If you keep checking the book out on a regular basis and someone really wants that book, all they have to do is ask the librarian if he/she can have one sent over from another branch.
Bottom line, get a life and stuff fussing over what other people choose to expose themselves to.
Has it ever occured to you that people of other religions (or lack of thereof) would like to check out books on their beliefs too?
I doubt your library contains books like "How to be a Nazi" or "Jihad 101." You are not the ultimate dictator of what everyone gets to read. If you don't like a book, don't check it out. I don't like the Twilight series, but you don't see me checking them out and "losing" them.
Considering that they would fine you and then use the fine to order a new copy of the book, no.
This idea is both dangerously totalitarian and phenomenally stupid.
Luckilly the public library has multiple copies of many books, and lost/damaged books can be replaced with the funds from the fines for losing/damaging them, and late fees. Also, they have a system where if you want a book and all copies are checked out currently, you can reserve it, and the next time it is brought in for renewal the person renewing has to return it and check it out again at a later date. or, in some libraries there is a limit on consecutive renewals.
So, no, your plan won't work.
@foolish moon
"2. You would be 'bearing false witness,' also a no-no in your god's eyes. (Does your god have eyes?)...."
Dunno. A weirdo called Navaros insists the Supreme Being has a big fat cosmic wangdoodle.
Someone once said that there's no such thing as an evil book, just well-written books and badly-written books. I agree with that.
Burning books is wrong, period.
Yes, it is stealing if you remove something without the owner's permission. It is still theft even if you offer to pay for it.
I think you have a clear commandment against stealing. So, obey it and stop trying to force your idiotic beliefs on everyone else.
@ 1330896:
B) If you keep checking the book out on a regular basis and someone really wants that book, all they have to do is ask the librarian if he/she can have one sent over from another branch.
Or the library could do what my library does. They have an electronic reservation system. Once the book has been reserved the system will not let the person who checked it out renew it.
As others have pointed out, the library would simply buy a new copy of the book -- with the very money you paid for the loss, Dinah Rose. You would lose money, the library would get a spiffy new copy of the book, and you would do nothing to prevent anyone from reading it.
Well, I suppose there might be some people who want to check out the book from the library after you've stolen it but before the library's new copy has arrived. But guess what! Those people will either wait for the library to get a new copy, get a copy from a different library, or just buy the book themselves.
Ultimately, you don't actually stop anyone from reading the book and you actually just put more money in the copy of the publishers and the author.
If you do the first thing, the library will just buy another copy, and the author, who is undoubtedly a satanist, will get more money.
The library won't let you do the second thing.
Okay, pretending for a moment that this isn't theft, do you have any concept of just how many books there are in existence? I also strongly suspect that there are more of them that are "anti-Catholic, anti-religion, and glorifying immorality" then there are the opposite. The course of action that you suggest would pretty much be impossible.
@LadyJafaria
"your doctor sounds like a pretty cool guy."
Eh cures people, and doesn't afraid of anything. [/meme] X3
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pretty-cool-guy
"And hey, you made two comments and only used one anime image, you're getting better."
Oh U. ~_^ So you're the witch who turned me into a newt?! X3
I would discourage this Dinah Rose for a simple reason: it is theft. The book is not yours, you are borrowing it. If you steal from a library repeatedly they will catch on and, at best, revoke your borrowing privileges.
Of course, seeing as how your lot is supposedly forgiven for all your sins, I realize there is nothing in your mind stopping you. So, since you only have a limited number of books you can censor, I would advise you to start with the collected works of Plato. A Christian who reads the works of Plato will come to realize that almost all of their most treasured beliefs did not, in fact, come from divine revelation. Rather they were stolen from pagan sources.
But then, stealing doesn't seem to be much of a concern for you, does it?
If you don't like the book, don't read it. If others want to read it, then that is none of your business. Grow up, there are actually people in the world that have opinions that differ from yours. They also tend to have an education and morals.
Oh definitely take it, chuck it, and pay the library back.
They'll then use that money to buy another copy.
Helping support the book's publisher.
And its author.
And increasing the book's sales figures.
So everyone wins, except you, who will be out of pocket by the cost of the book.
There's no downside!
Those are both assholeish behaviors, based on an alarming understanding of freedom of thought, and I soundly condemn them.
That said, they are within the rules, up to the point where the rules noice what you're doing and cut off your access to the library. Do that if you really must; you are free to be a fucking asshole. Just as everybody else is free to read the books given the opportunity and the library is free to purchase them. If you weren't free to be an fucking asshole then freedom would be fundamentally compromised.
I say go for it. You'll either keep circ stats on the book really high (if you keep borrowing, and renewing it), and then the library will buy more copies, or as others have said, if you 'lose' it, you will be charged for the book, and usually the labour that goes into recataloguing and processing it. So you're helping justify keeping a lib tech on the payroll. Plus, once it gets out (after you've 'lost' a few), there's going to be a lot of free press about the book, and a lot more people will get to read it.
Losing it on purpose would be stealing. Checking it out perpetually would make that book appear popular in the library statistics, which mean more copies of it would be purchased by the library the next time they consider which books to buy, taking scarce library budget from purchasing books you actually approve of.
"Who uses a library anymore? The elderly and the poor at this point I think."
40% of British adults, FYI.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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