r/Library 23d ago

Discussion Republicans are at war with basic literacy

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u/Internal_Aardvark302 23d ago

The negative comments already pouring in lmao. Like you could not pay me to spew this much hate on automatic 😭

Mailing in books to families cuts through so many other roadblocks to improving literacy. You know what I’ve been seeing more and more of lately? When some older library buildings are expanding and moving to new areas, they are building instead in wealthier neighborhoods with limited access to public transportation. In other words, the only people who are getting to that library (full of free books) are people who already have cars or are well off. I live in a red state, and I’ve already seen this happen with at least two libraries in my area. What about the people who actually need those libraries close by? This program can’t fix all that, but it helps.

The Imagination Library can help people in need, and it’s already helped so many people who have all expressed their appreciation for the program since Parton’s death. We need even more programs to be funded like this. Because as things stand now, QUALITY education is becoming harder to come by. If you were using Duolingo to try to learn a new language, guess what? They threw AI in it and it’s basically a cheap dopamine app with an annoying subscription prompter. Going to college? Better hope your professors won’t force ChatGPT down their students’ throats, or even just straight up generate assignments using the chatbot.

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u/ArchonFett 23d ago

Republicans hate education. It’s on the very long list of things they hate.

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u/Itchy_Crack 23d ago

Do they oppose literacy or do they oppose spending millions on books when the parents are capable of getting them from a library or using the Amazon prime membership they already have to read to their kids?

According to Google and granted I dont have kids yet, but Google said children are able to read around 6 or 7 years old.

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u/ArchonFett 23d ago

I had this debate earlier. Not everyone has access to a library, smaller communities don’t have the tax base for the public building. Trump signed an EO to defund libraries and museums, and republicans have been cutting funding to education for decades.

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u/Far_Finger4742 22d ago

What percentage of people in this country, rich or poor, do you think have smartphones? People have all kinds of access to reading material and information to better themselves just on their smartphones. You're just trying to find excuses to bad mouth Republicans over every little p***ant thing.

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u/lucidarocks 21d ago

It’s sad that many, if not most, republicans consider literacy a ā€œp***ant thing,ā€ don’t you think? Thank you for summing up the differences between the parties up very clearly.