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