I stand with Palestine, and the rare spaces our public can spend time and educate themselves. Genocide is depressing. Hurting books makes me sad.

Source: Portland State in midst of expensive, ‘marathon’ race to repair damaged library before fall classes begin

PS: we appreciate the smartass answers as well for much-needed comic relief

  • RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    What’s the best possible justification for vandalizing a library?

    Dead children who will never grow up to learn to read. When what you’re doing isn’t working, you have to expand the discontent. The protestors of BLM and Antifa burned buildings down, yet who asks for the justification? Is vandalism not the answer to bring awareness to the slaughter of marginalized and silenced groups, or is it only acceptable when it’s closer to home?

    I don’t give a shit if a hundred libraries burn to save the lives of even ten children. The dead cannot learn from their pages.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I don’t give a shit if a hundred libraries burn to save the lives of even ten children.

      There is no mechanism by which burning a library saves children’s lives

    • NaoPb@eviltoast.org
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      5 months ago

      And whose attention are you trying to get? That of people reading library books? People working at libraries? Because they’re not the ones in charge. They are unable to change anything about the Gaza situation.

      • RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Ask Just Stop Oil whose attention they get for throwing shit on the Mona Lisa. Are you more aware? Stonehenge. Are you more aware? Private planes. Are you more aware? The audience is everyone who doesn’t give a shit about the protests but instead pearl clutches over the covers of books getting some paint on them. You. You’re the audience because now you’re talking about it and whoever you tell. They’re not targeting book readers, they’re spreading a message.

        Stop fucking killing children.

        • NaoPb@eviltoast.org
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          5 months ago

          Destroying books because it’s easy just makes people say “fuck gaza” People don’t care if children die when they are powerless to prevent it. All you’re doing is make people hate you and actively work against your goals.

          But if that’s what you want, have fun with that.

          • RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Because it’s easy? Who did it because it’s easy? Fucking writing on the street is easy but there’s no point, how does that make news? When the goal is awareness, how do you get it except by pissing off sensitive shits like yourself? Being aware of the problem is the first step. Having a wrong opinion about it is on them, they should look more into it but the first step is awareness.

            But hey, you wouldn’t say that about BLM would you? That burning the cities and breaking into shops would “make people hate you and actively work against your goals.” would you? Of course not.

            • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Yes I would say that about BLM. Justifying this stupid shit with that stupid shit doesn’t sway me. And no, now that I’m pissed off about this library vandalism, that does not in any way make me likely to support Gaza.

              How do you not get that there is no mechanism of incentive here?

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          throwing shit on the Mona Lisa. Are you more aware?

          No. I already knew about climate change.

          Stonehenge. Are you more aware?

          No. I already knew about climate change.

          The audience is everyone who doesn’t give a shit about the protests but instead pearl clutches over the covers of books getting some paint on them

          I am opposed to spray painting library books. But that does not mean that spray painting library books is a way to recruit my help.

          In fact, there is no reason to think it would recruit my help.

  • DaBabyAteMaDingo@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    This thread has enlightened me on how biased and irrational lemmy is (more than usual). So far you guys have claimed it’s:

    1. false flag operators
    2. valid because the college “supports” Israel
    3. just dumb teenagers that don’t really care about the cause and just wanna destroy property
    4. okay to deface “private” stuff like bank walls but not books for a “private” library?
    5. really dumb people that can’t possibly be on your side
    6. people that just want to destroy
    7. somewhat justified because it brought attention to the most talked about issue? 🤣
    8. “a joy of punching down on people/institutions I guess?” that’s a direct quote, holy shit 😂
    9. “I appreciate the spirit, but people who read books are probably the wrong demographic to aim this kind of messaging at.” holy moly the cope is unreal

    There’s some that are actually being honest and saying there’s no good reason because there isn’t. I appreciate those commenters.

    I look forward to being banned for trolling AKA disagreeing with you guys!

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Did they seriously write “murder” in the dictionary? I could see a tenuous connection if it was a book about the history of Israel but the dictionary? Dumb.

    • lemmingnosis@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      It’s true what they say, libraries really never would be allowed to exist if the concept launched today…

      But think of the potential short-term profits and how there totally wouldn’t be massive long-term detriment to industry.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    Because library patrons are the ones setting military policy ofc… Glad the message is reaching the right people.

  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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    5 months ago

    As a Portland resident, I will just say our heart is always into it, but our brains not so much. I don’t know what the message was meant to convey by vandalizing a library. Usually the protests start of well intentioned, but always break down as bad actors and grifters work their way in to cause trouble because they find entertainment in doing so.

    • Fades@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      As another Portland resident, FUCK THE PEOPLE WHO DID THIS. This is NOT who we are, what the fuck.

    • reversebananimals@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      How about I spray “Free Palestine” into your fucking mouth? You wouldn’t mind right? I’m sure you’d be talking about that.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I love how much it tells us that your this mad about even the idea that you could be inconvenienced or annoyed by a protestor.

        It tells us so much about you than you’ll ever be able to say.

    • fin@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      We’re talking about those mindless people who riined the library. Happy it worked as intended.

    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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      5 months ago

      If I went and shot someone in the name of Gaza awareness, and painted these messages on the sidewalk using their blood, that would be getting talked about, too. Point being, there’s effective forms of protest that we still shouldn’t be using.

        • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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          5 months ago

          I’m responding to your implication that actions in protest that get people talking about the issue are inherently valuable and worth taking. To make the point that that is not the case, I am using an extreme example to demonstrate a scenario where your statement is (I hope) objectively false.

          I think I clearly stated my counter-point, which is that just because we’re talking about it doesn’t mean it is an effective or worthwhile form of protest to be engaged in.

          I’m not really sure where you’re confused here.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Theirs no confusion here other than that which you were trying to make with your statement.

            I’m just pointing it out so that its clear to others what you are doing: a rhetorical bait and switch.

      • reversebananimals@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        You’re right. Everyone knows that you can only be mad about one thing at a time. Right? Because the world is fully black and white?

        Jesus fucking christ you’re an idiot.

        • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          I just went through 7 months of your post history, you’ve commented more in this thread acting outraged about a library than the one time you posted in a Gaza thread and called them worse than North Korea.

          Please tell me how mad you are about two things, because I can’t see your anger towards what Israel is doing.

          • TheFriendlyDickhead@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Oh wow, you realy are an idiot.

            Madness obviously is measured in commands per month. It’s not like you have no clue who that person is, what they are doing and saying.

            Your only judging them by not commenting on a topic enough.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        They’re just idiots complicit in the system. They’d rather have genocide if it comes wearing the right party colors.

        They don’t truly believe in protest or freedom of speech, but they themselves are also functionally worthless in this regard.

        Their hand wringing can and should be ignored.

        Biden is overseeing the slaughter of children in Gaza right now and these people are mad about books. If you are focused on some minor damage to books and not the point the protestor was making, you are the problem.

        • reversebananimals@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Send me your address and I’ll come spraypaint your house. If you don’t, you’re complicit in the system and you like genocide.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Yeah sure he is.

            He doesn’t need a ceasefire. He can just stop withhold financial support to Israel and all of this madness ends.

            He doesn’t care. He only cares that you believe he gives a shit about a ceasefire.

        • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 months ago

          Ah yes, the classic “you can only be upset about one thing at a time”!

          If you’re upset I pissed on the floor instead of in the toilet while Biden is complicit with genocide you’re part of the problem!

          Sorry boss, I can’t care about my job because of Palestine!

          How dare you pull me over for going 80mph in a school zone, pig! Don’t you know what Israel is doing?

          How could you possibly expect me to care about something so insignifIcant as wiping? Don’t you know that children are dying?

      • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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        5 months ago

        Alternately, maybe it’s the case that doing something bad to bring attention to another bad thing isn’t okay just because the thing you’re trying to bring attention to is worse.

        I actually support the protests where they’re throwing soup on paintings or whatever. Those paintings don’t really matter, but some people sure think they do, and it’s effective to get a dialog going. Libraries are a public good, one of the few we really have left. It’s like ransacking a food bank to draw attention to starving people in Gaza; it’s not helping the cause they ostensibly care about, but it is hurting others.

    • MudMan@fedia.io
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      5 months ago

      I see next to zero discussion about Gaza here.

      People seem to be arguing about whether vandalizing libraries is good or bad. It’s bad, for the record.

      Of course that’s only failure if your goal is for people to talk about the thing you’re supposed to care about. If your goal happens to be to get people to talk about you, screw Gaza or anybody else… well, then yeah, mission accomplished. We can all go home now.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I just had this conversation about throwing soup on paintings to protest ahh . . (checks notes) oh - “Big Oil”.

    Apparently I’m a grade a moron for not knowing that’s an excellent way to spread an important message and not at all a shitheaded everything-i-do-must-be-filmed idiot act which only serves to weaken legitimate efforts.

    Who knew.

    • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Are you are referring to the recent vandalism? Because that was about as much vandalism as defacing a street with kiddy chalk. It wasn’t paint.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Nah, Stonehenge and pieces of art have no real value to the general population but a shit to of value to rich people who don’t care about living beings, books can educate people.

      • credit crazy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        With a lot of fine art I can see your point but Stonehenge as far as I understand is something we don’t understand the propose of and is so old I would hardly call it art anymore and moreso a historical site of study it might’ve been a art piece when new maybe it was a place of worship or maybe it was a home we don’t know so yea Id say vandalizing Stonehenge is absolutely on par with vandalizing a book but at least books in this time have plenty of carbon copies and easily replaced and duplicated but there’s only one Stonehenge and we don’t have the knowledge to replace or even repair it we don’t even know the full history of what it even was there’s unknown knowledge yet to be understood

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Stonehenge disappears tomorrow, what actual difference does it makes in the life of 99.9999% of Earth’s population?

          • credit crazy@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I will admit not much as most the value of Stonehenge is knowledge we don’t know yet but here we are getting up in arms over a vandalized public library which 99percent of the time carys 100 percent manufactured books you can go to your local library and destroy their copy of the giving tree and while your community will have to wait to be able to read the giving tree again your public library can always order a new copy of the giving tree and even if somehow every physical copy of the giving tree got destroyed you can go online and find a PDF scan of the giving tree and print it out to make a new copy of the giving tree meanwhile you can think of Stonehenge as a book in a forgotten language that no one can understand yet and before we can figure out what Stonehenge is trying to say someone burns it and while yeah nothing changes in our lives because we didn’t understand it yet but now that ass hole just prevented us all from ever getting the chance to understand and read the tail of Stonehenge I’m not even a millionaire but even I want to know the story but if Stonehenge got destroyed then I’d be depraved of the chance to read my version of the giving tree

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    When it comes to protesting like this I don’t really give a shit if someone paints over parts of a building. But the books themselves? That’s just fucked up. I understand they are trying to get people pissed over this but this is entirely the wrong way to do it. All this will do is make everyone pissed off at you instead. I’d say a good rule of thumb for protest graffiti is whether or not it can still be used after it’s been covered in paint. Graffiti on a wall doesn’t make the wall unusable. But if someone put graffiti on the windshield of my car I’d be so pissed off I wouldn’t give two shits about the message.

    • credit crazy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Looking at people talking about just stop oil I really do think the last thing you said is something a lot of protesters regardless of movement or message if you just annoy people your going to just make people pissed at you rather than with you I don’t care what you’re protesting get off the road

    • reversebananimals@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      You should give a shit, because it means now the library has to waste its money cleaning it, instead of funding programs or new books. Libraries losing funding makes the world worse. These people made the world worse.