diff --git a/content/md/002_fuck-books.md b/content/md/002_fuck-books.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3670fce --- /dev/null +++ b/content/md/002_fuck-books.md @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ +# Fuck Books, If and only If… + +> @published 2019/04/15, 12:00 {.published} + +I always try to be very clear about something: books nowadays, +by themselves, are just production leftovers. Yeah, we have built +an industry in order to made them. But, would you be able to +publish by your own? + +Probably not. It is almost sure you lack of something: you don't +seize the machines supposedly needed; you don't enjoy the skills; +you don't carry the acknowledge or you don't possess the networking. +You don't own anything. + +We have reach the production capacity to publish in a couple +hours what in the past took centuries. That is amazing… and scary. +What are we publishing now? _Why are we producing that much?_ +Our reading capacity haven't improve at the same rhythm ---maybe +we have been losing some of that ability. + +We are more people now, but it is a contemporary supposition +that each person needs a book. We have public libraries. They +used to be a great idea. Now they are one of the few places where +people can go and enjoy without paying a penny. The last standing +point of a world before its global monetization. And sometimes +not even that, because they are behind a paywall: paid subscriptions +or universities ids; or because most of us prefer coffee shops, +public libraries are for poor, creepy and old people, right? + +And we are praising books as a holly product of our culture. +Even though what we really do is supporting a consumer good. +You don't made them, you don't read them: you just buy and put +them in a bookshelf. You don't own them, you don't even look +what is inside: you just buy and leave them in your Amazon account. +You are a consumer and that makes you think yourself as a supporter +of our culture. + +As publishers we made everything about books: fairs, workshops, +meetups, study degrees and marketing. As publishers we want to +sell you the next best-seller, the newest book format: the future +of reading. Even though what we really want is your money. We +know you don't read. We know you don't want books that would +blow the bubble where you live. We know you just want be entertained. +We know you are craving about how much books you have “read.” +We just want you to keep buying and buying. Who cares about you. + +Before all that shit happened to publishing, books were a rare +and difficult product to make. From them we could see the complexity +of our world: its means of production, its structure and its +struggles. Publishers were kill because they wanted to offer +you something really important to read. Now publishers are awarded +with trips, grants or fancy dinners. Most publishers aren't a +treat anymore. Instead, they are the managers of public debate; +aka, what we can say, think or feel. + +Most books nowadays only show how the main bits of our world +have been displaced as another good in the marketplace. We see +paper, we see ink, we see fonts and we see code. After that first +look, we start to realize that our books are mainly a gear of +a machinery of global consumption. + +Only at this point, we can clearly see the chain of exploitation +needed to achieve that kind of productivity. _Who or what benefits +from it?_ Authors can't made a living anymore. People involved +in books production ---printers, proof readers, designers, publishers +and so on--- barely earn a living wage. A lot of trees and resources +have been use for profits. + +Again, we have reach the production capacity to publish in a +couple hours what in the past took centuries, _where did that +wealth go?_ Not to our pockets, we always have to pay in order +to produce or own books. + +So, what makes you love books that probably you won't read? If +and only if publishing is what it is now and we don't want to +change it, well: fuck books.