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> 2. This idea that you're being deplatformed or marginalised because years of your archives are no longer available in a free and easily accessible format from

> 2. This idea that you're being deplatformed or marginalised because years of your archives are no longer available in a free and easily accessible format from someone else is not supported by call outs to MLK, Malcolm X, etc. Even if you accept the idea that they had free and unfettered access to public broadcasting (ha!), there was absolutely no easy way to get access to the archives of that on demand! The speakers themselves, and their organisations, had to manage that. There wasn't? I remember going through the catalogs in the public library as a kid, looking at the microfilm, even listening to some audio recordings. Even a public library had loads of information, and the thought of it being made inaccessible on an arbitrary whim was unthinkable. Sure, it's not comparable to the reach of today's instant broadcast via Internet, but it was the equivalent of the time. Maybe in the time of Jim Crow or something certain public libraries would censor this stuff. I honestly don't know. It just seems to not jibe with my experience as a kid getting information at the library.

dghlsakjg 5y ago
YouTube isn’t a library or archive. It’s a for profit business. Also, libraries are very constrained in what they will and won’t archive and bring in to the collection. Budget, politics, space, taste all figure in. Hustler Magazine is a famous anti censorship platform thanks to Larry Flint. You won’t find it at your local library.
fphhotchips 5y ago
So, maybe microfilms would have a record of the fact that the speech happened, but most aren't going to have the full text of the speech. Recordings of every broadcast would also be unlikely to be stored at most libraries that can be described as 'easily accessible' [1]. "I Have a Dream" is famously copyrighted; without MLK and his associates/estate managing the distribution, it would be very difficult to get access to it. I bet the libraries of the South didn't all have it available straight away, for sure. > Sure, it's not comparable to the reach of today's instant broadcast via Internet, but it was the equivalent of the time. But I guess that's partially my point, right? The instant broadcast/archive-by-default nature of YouTube is new and unique to our time; trying to refer back to historic figures as your precedent for having access to it seems a little hollow to me. [1] I grew up in more sparsely populated areas (and, also, in Australia), and perhaps that changes my perspective on what is reasonable to expect for access to libraries pre-internet.

dghlsakjg 5y ago

YouTube isn’t a library or archive. It’s a for profit business. Also, libraries are very constrained in what they will and won’t archive and bring in to the collection. Budget, politics, space, taste all figure in. Hustler Magazine is a famous anti censorship platform thanks to Larry Flint. You won’t find it at your local library.

fphhotchips 5y ago

So, maybe microfilms would have a record of the fact that the speech happened, but most aren't going to have the full text of the speech. Recordings of every broadcast would also be unlikely to be stored at most libraries that can be described as 'easily accessible' [1]. "I Have a Dream" is famously copyrighted; without MLK and his associates/estate managing the distribution, it would be very difficult to get access to it. I bet the libraries of the South didn't all have it available straight away, for sure. > Sure, it's not comparable to the reach of today's instant broadcast via Internet, but it was the equivalent of the time. But I guess that's partially my point, right? The instant broadcast/archive-by-default nature of YouTube is new and unique to our time; trying to refer back to historic figures as your precedent for having access to it seems a little hollow to me. [1] I grew up in more sparsely populated areas (and, also, in Australia), and perhaps that changes my perspective on what is reasonable to expect for access to libraries pre-internet.