Thread: Will losing bookstores cause a little more closing of our minds?
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Old 03-11-2011, 12:32 PM   #4
Kali Yuga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin View Post
Isn't proof of Krause's proposition evident in the U.S. Congress' debate over climate change...?
Not really.

If you look at the contemporary newspaper market in the UK, or the era of "Yellow Journalism" in the US, the news outlets largely target themselves towards partisan niches. It was/is also present with political magazines in the US, e.g. The New Republic on the Democratic side, National Review for conservatives, Ms. for the feminist movement, American Spectator for the neo-cons, and so forth.

I'm also a bit curious as to when the idealized universal, objective, unbiased, general-interest news and information source actually existed -- or if it's what we really want. We live in a world with a huge diversity of viewpoints; often the "neutral" view is just a centrist or moderate one, rather than something that represents the entire spectrum.

The US was also horrendously divided at a time when moderate / centrist news and information resources were predominant -- e.g. the late 1960s. When was this golden era of equanimity and exposure to diverse ideas again...?

Nor does the serendipity of a bookstore necessarily guarantee one will go beyond one's preferences. Good luck finding the writings of Robert Bork, William Kristol, Glenn Beck, Milton Friedman or William F. Buckley at St. Marks' Bookstore. Nor are you likely to find a book of Robert Mapplethorpe's polaroids, or Burroughs' Naked Lunch, or Foucault's History of Sexuality in a Christian bookstore.

There is a human tendency to strongly credit and pay attention to that which we already agree with, and discredit or reject that which we do not agree with. While it is entirely possible to overcome this tendency, offhand I really don't see how physical bookstores have much of an impact.

And, of course, you also have the simple fact that a typical physical bookstore is usually limited to anywhere from 20k to 100k titles. Many online bookstores are already up to 500k titles or more. So, where are you more likely to get exposed to various viewpoints -- a bookstore with 20k titles, or one with 500k?
Last edited by Kali Yuga; 03-11-2011 at 12:35 PM.
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