Comments on: Dark Ages, Indeed

By: Spekkio

Spekkio — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:00:04 +0000

Respectfully, AL – if you’re going to demand a citation for that “dark ages” sign, then I’m going to demand a citation for the following assertion: “Most Americans have Internet access at home or work.”

Also, editing oopsy:
“They go their to get DVDs and CDs and genre fiction and to surf for porn and sports scores on the Internet.”

By: Mrs. L

Mrs. L — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:49:33 +0000

“The mass illiteracy didn’t help any, either.”

If that is the criteria for the dark ages, we are already there. Our public schools are dismal and the main function of any public library is to provide the public with their latest James Patterson.

By: I Like Books

I Like Books — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:38:10 +0000

Historians don’t like the term Dark Ages much any more, anyway. The Dark Ages were a time of philosophical and technological innovation. Aristotle wasn’t much of a loss.

By: Real Librarian

Real Librarian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:53:55 +0000

If Abraham Lincoln walked into a public library today as a teen, the librarians would steer him away from books and enter him into the DDR competition. A tall guy like that would really rock!

By: MissingPoint

MissingPoint — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:26:43 +0000

AL – you missed a bit point. “The next Abraham Lincoln could be sitting in their library, teaching himself all he needs to know to save the country.”

So says Marilyn Johnson, in the LA Times
latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-johnson-libraries-20100706,0,5371729.story

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:10:40 +0000

“Not being able to check out enough graphic novels does not a dark age make.”

Aw, why you gotta hate? You can’t pick on an entire medium.

To take the obvious example, WATCHMEN is at least as dense and serious as any of the literary classics. Good, intelligent comic books might be few and far between, but surely you don’t want to discount them out of misplaced snootiness. As an information need, I’d say it ranks pretty highly, as it investigates themes of political responsibility, authoritarianism, and those ruthless powerful types for whom the ends justify the means. What could be more important for the average domesticated American to read?

(Not that a single work could ever hope to undo the damage caused by your hideous and impoverished education system, of course.)

Agree with all your other points, though.

By: Real Librarian

Real Librarian — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:18:49 +0000

You don’t know you are in the dark ages at the time.

A couple of hundred years is what it takes to get some historical perspective on ideas like dark ages and the like.

Some historian may look back at us from then and shake his head in disbelief about how we approached things.