Books are cool, but there's this whole weird culture of Performative Book Loving that makes me grit my teeth. It's been around for centuries (see: rich folks decking out their stately homes in books they never read), but social media has made it particularly insufferable
I do think it's at least partly a reaction to the Rise And Grind attitude of late stage capitalism – who wouldn't just want to lay around and read all day rather than working themselves to death? – but it's also clout-chasing
I see this a lot in image compositions on Instagram... it's this somewhat artificial maximalism of bookshelves, an uncanny valley of cozy reading nooks
Some "influencers" use the aesthetic and cultural caches of books and reading to drum up engagement and manufacture emotional responses. Not all "book lover" social media accounts do this! But lots with huge follower numbers do
And these huge accounts tugging on bibliophilic heartstrings can, ironically, make the lives of bookworkers more difficult. I am genuinely concerned for the librarian who made the weeding decision that Twitter is yelling about today
Bookworkers don't just wander into a library with the innate ability to manage collections and serve users. It's a profession. And they aren't perfect. But the social media outrage over that one picture is OUTRAGEOUS when you consider how little is known about it!
For all we know, the library in question HAD a book sale, HAD a free pile that sat around for months, DID try to donate the books that wound up in the dumpster
Just as "books are potent reservoirs for *so many* feelings" (thanks @melissa_hubbard !), this dumpster picture is being used as a reservoir for a lot of social anxiety, as well as a clout-gathering, virtue-signalling mechanism
Anyway holy FUCK I need to work, yell at me if I make any more tweets before 5:30pm
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