4 ms·
The US subsidizing the book market would be an incredible waste of my taxes, given that the majority of published works are fiction, political drivel, and non-f
by throw10920 2y ago
The US subsidizing the book market would be an incredible waste of my taxes, given that the majority of published works are fiction, political drivel, and non-fiction memoirs that provide near-zero value to "humanity" that the root poster is clutching pearls about.
The IA's collection of books they had to remove almost certainly has the same composition, and therefore the same loss in value (roughly zero) after being made inaccessible.
- geysersam 2y agoThis view is staggering and would (imo) fit well in a comical/dystopic novel by a sufficiently misanthropic author
- throw10920 2y agoAccusations of sexism, especially false ones, are categorically inappropriate for HN. Please never do this again.
- geysersam 2y agoSexist? That was not my intention. I meant misantripic in the sense of: > 2: marked by a hatred or contempt for humankind The moral corruption he saw around him made him misanthropic. Also I didn't mean the commenter was misanthropic, but that the view they held would fit a misanthropic authors novel as part of their satire. Maybe you thought I wrote "misogynistic"?
- throw10920 2y agoYou're right, I confused "misanthropic" and "misogynistic". That turns out to not make your comment any less incorrect or manipulative, though. Requiring people to pay for the stuff they consume isn't even remotely misanthropic.
- geysersam 2y agoDidn't mean that either. I meant that saying the entire book industry is a waste not worth tax money, implying other uses of taxes like military spending is more valuable, is something that could have been said by a fictional character conjured by a person who thinks lowly of humankind.
- theendisney4 2y agoGive people a book coupon? Then they can chose what they think important?
- throw10920 2y agoThere's no need. Memoirs, political books, fiction - no need for the taxpayer to subsidize, people can buy themselves. Actually useful technical material: already available for free on the internet. Poor people are not dying on the streets because they can't read the autobiography of the latest president. Tax dollars going to that instead of climate change or cancer research or something similar is incredibly immoral.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago1. Not a fan of privation fallacy 2. Your view on books and by extension, long term education is well, short term. A classic issue used to defund libraries. You don't give proper resources and knowledge to get the homeless today off thr street. It's to ensure much less of the next generation isn't also on the street.
- throwthrowuknow 2y agoThere were a vast number of technical books on the internet archive, that was mostly what I used it for. They’re not easily accessible elsewhere, maybe pirated from random torrent sites but they’re not discoverable or easily searched.
- cratermoon 2y agoOh, yes. Great idea. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/citizen-coupon/ https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/citizen-coup...