by Barry D. Liss on October 12th, 2009
My relationship with the Daily Herald’s blog has come to end. Recently the site administrators took two of my posts down for violating the terms of service and banned the user with whom I was arguing. The site administrator said he could have banned me. I think I’ll remove the opportunity from him. I don’t want to make it seem like I have sour grapes; I have enjoyed my time on the blog.
There are a couple qualms I have. If I write them down, perhaps I will be able to relax a bit. First, the user with whom I was arguing is anonymous and he will simply log-in under a different name. In fact, I have reason to believe he did only hours after he was banned! He will continue his vulgar and hate-filled assaults, now without my impediment.
Second, it’s dubious whether or not my comments rose to the level of serious ad-hominem. In other words, my criticisms were hard yet warranted. I challenged him to a public debate. Further, I called him a cowardly, rude, anti-intellectual, reactionary, iconoclast chump. Now, I realize these are not the friendly names one would associate with polite discussion – yet this was a Smashmouth debate. The criticisms hold true – and I stand by those words. He embodied each of these labels. His words were vile and the assaults he employed are well described by my reproof.
This brings me to my third point. I called the site administrator, and he said the WDH didn’t like the escalation of conflict. He was reasonable, as usual. But this is what bugs me – the situation was monitored and people were aware that I was rhetorically lambasted, and they did nothing about it. Had I not defended myself, I imagine the hostile attacks would still be up there. In fact, similar attacks went unnoticed. I don’t mind mixing it up with people who insult others anonymously – it’s part of the blogosphere, and it provides an interesting challenge. But in this case, I felt like a boxer with one hand tied behind his back. Thus, it was a no-win situation.
So here we are. I have logged out of my account on the Herald’s website and do not intend to contribute further. I shall passively peruse, but no longer actively contribute. I need elbow-room to perform at my best. If I can’t authentically defend myself on the WDH site, best I just call it good and bow out. It’s been fun. I’m sure they’ll get along just fine without me – though I imagine the quality of the arguments will be slightly diminished. It gives me the opportunity to start my own blog, which I have wanted to do for a long time. So, perhaps a blessing in disguise.
by Barry D. Liss on February 27th, 2008
What are we to make of the demotion of the 3 librarians at the Marathon County Public Library? Good business? Solid fiscal prudence? Oh, I don’t think so. It’s shoddy and negligent – embarrassing to the whole community. What happened here? Nothing less than an outrageous incursion of a corporate value structure poorly overlayed on top of a public good. It’s unfair and I call rot nihilism. Had people in positions of power acted with greater prudence, this lament would be unnecessary.
The quotes by those sitting atop the hierarchy strike me as doubly wretched in that they render forth two conclusions: a moral lack of accountability in a way that undercuts civic values; as well as a basic misunderstanding regarding the distinction between public good and private entity.
Here we have an ugly form of administrative fiat – the triumph of bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. No one is willing to stand up and say “I am accountable. This decision rests with me.” This was a plan launched to cut costs back in 2003, initiated by a former library director and who knows how many former board members? Only now – some 5 years later – are the cuts actually occurring. The current director notes “I would rather keep people on staff at a lower pay than fire somebody.” Fair enough, but I would rather see the director’s salary reduced than her subordinates. And what we really need is some justification for altering the status quo. She further states “We’re really becoming a community center…Our public has different requirements of us.” No. here we have slushy language masquerading as business savvy. This is not communal and these are not values one would want one’s community to embrace.
That the demotions rest on the claim that librarians’ jobs are somehow less complex than they were in the past is dubious. I think this a fabrication designed to justify poor decision-making. Community – the word shares its Latin root ‘comm’ with communication, common, commitment and sundry other terms that delineate the ‘we’ in contrast to the ‘me’ or ‘I’ – community is a lie if it doesn’t take into account association with others.
Customer service specialist librarian…corporatized gibberish. The public library as a social site is not a corporate franchise designed to make profit – it is a public good. As such, the public library is a measure of one’s society, a touchstone of civilized conduct. The library renders defense of a unique value system. Mark this – public libraries are intrinsic only to democracies – free dissemination of ideas is not tolerated in other political systems. The library is for public citizens, not customers. That is a perversion of the language we should not abide. The corporate franchise may freely use the term customer – the library no. Customer implies a quid pro quo – money for service. That is not what libraries do – libraries are sites of intellectual freedom with no charge for services. Public libraries do not refuse to provide you with books if you cannot pay, indeed their very purpose is to offer services to those who may not be able to afford them privately.
What should be done instead of the arbitrary demotions? Cut everything – and I mean everything – stop purchasing new books, end computer-services and upgrades, slash hours, even shutter the doors indefinitely with a big sign that says ‘NO MORE RESOURCES’. The public deserves what it pays for…no more nor less. It is better the public suffers as a whole. That is the true meaning of community – shared burden, not merely shared benefit. One thing is certain, people in power have no right to cheat those who have served notably and pass it off as good fiscal management.
I’ve always taken pride as a contributing friend to the Marathon County Public Library. My personal book collection has benefited greatly by the annual book sales and my children have spent many hours frolicking in or around the building. As one friend to another, don’t act with such shameful negligence.
by Barry D. Liss on January 19th, 2008
Had I not lived it – I would never have believed it. This my friends is a break-out year for Granite Peak. They made it happen up there on the hill. I have been skiing a lot this year, especially with my eldest son, and the snow on the hill is fantastic. I’m not a Midwest punk when it comes to skiing. Before I took a job here I was a grad student at the University of Colorado at Boulder for seven years. My wife and I had season passes to mountains big and huge – and the ski hill here, while not comparable in size, has the right stuff to compete in terms of value and enjoyability.
The lift lines are short, the terrain is challenging, and the proximity is unbeatable. I talked to a lift operator and he said that over Christmas weekend over five thousand people skied the hill. What kind of bread is that bringing into our city? Serious bread – that’s what kind.
I talk to the folks riding the lift all the time – they come from Chicago and Milwaukee and Minneapolis just to ski at our local resort. I see UWMC students up there everyday defying gravity at the snowboarding terrain parks. One can’t really help but notice the lifers too – those elderly folks who retain their youth by steadfastly negotiating the slopes, as they have done for the past six or so decades. People who love to ski are invariably strong environmentalists – they are the first to realize that the pollution from the driving they did to get up to the hill has to be offset in other ways.
I hear this past year the hill purchased a new Snowcat plow to groom and shape the hills. We need more – larger terrain and another high-speed sixer, for starters. Who would have thought that granite could form an iridescent jewel? Well done.
