I look at movies as just as a legitimate source of cultural heritage and entertainment as books, so I don't really see that big of a problem. Should we take the fiction sections out of libraries? As art, fiction novels and fictional movies are not that inherently different except the media by which it is transmitted. I do agree that the cost is a little more prohibitive, but some of those fiction books (especially new ones) cost more than some DVD's. And you are hearing all this from a former major in English literature.
You have to also understand why libraries are doing this. Libraries who have more traffic can justify getting more funding, and frankly a lot of libraries in past years/decades were suffering from a dearth of traffic, meaning some were having to cut hours or close entirely (such as in my hometown). Anything that gets people into the library is fine by me, as long as it isn't too cost prohibitive.
I don't see an issue of having computers and good internet connections in a library too.
Renting video game systems is definitely a little excessive though. Too much risk of loss, etc. Video games to a lesser degree, but probably a bit much.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
