Blatant Berry: Let That Stinkweed Bloom!
The hijacking of ALA’s IFFORUM
John N. Berry III, Editor-in-Chief -- Library Journal, 2/1/2006
Free expression is a pain in the you know what! No phenomenon illustrates this better than IFFORUM, an electronic list (we used to call them listservs until some outfit claimed the term as a trademark). Oy, America!
IFFORUM is operated by the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association (ALA). A few years ago, IFFORUM had a nicely diverse mix of messages from across the political spectrum, from far left to extreme right. I know, I know, that description reveals my own biases. Relax, it’s intentional.
Anyone can post anything on IFFORUM. For a few years the argument and debate among its various factions covered many points of view and dealt with everything from the Iraq war; the election of “Dubya”; the loved and hated Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq; the Terminator governor; and all things political. Slowly, the arguments became more heated, sometimes personal, and frequently sank into name calling. Many of the more moderate, middle-of-the-road posters got tired of IFFORUM and unsubscribed.
Ultimately, the number who posted to IFFORUM dwindled to maybe three dozen. About half were hangers-on over on the left side of the spectrum like me. The rest were purveyors of some of the most truly rancid, extreme right-wing propaganda it has been my misfortune to encounter. This drove out a few more of the lefties, and it was discovered that some half-dozen or so of the right-wing extremists were actually one person posting his poisonous screed under a bunch of pseudonyms.
The transition to this ugly stuff infuriated me, and I began to post short, argumentative responses to the worst of it. Occasionally, one of the posters of the far right would respond, either to me or to the list, but usually they pretended not to notice. I told several I would just delete their stuff from now on, but I lied, and I still read some of it. I also complained that most postings to IFFORUM had little to do with ALA or libraries and were even tangential to intellectual freedom. Of course, I have always believed that all political issues are relevant to librarianship, so I felt guilty about this argument.
As I continued to post angry messages, some of my friends emailed me saying I was just encouraging the bad guys, and if I would just shut up, they would get less attention. At the point when I was most angry about the hijacking of IFFORUM, I proposed that it be limited to those willing to sign their names and whether they were ALA members to their messages. This was rejected by all sides and, ultimately, earned me an email spanking from the IF queen herself, Judith Krug.
I’ve calmed down now. I don’t post as much to IFFORUM, but I still subscribe to and read what’s there. The far right has captured IFFORUM. The ratio of far-right extremism to left and liberal views is probably two to one today, with most of the postings copies of stuff from various scummy propaganda blogs and web sites from all over the huge right-wing side of the blogosphere. While it still frustrates me that the right is using the web so much more than the liberal and left end of the spectrum, I’m no longer worried that the effect will be a movement to the right in America.
The good news is that all that volume, in all of its prejudiced, marginally racist, frequently McCarthyite ranting, will have an impact that is the opposite of what those who post it want. Anyone with a brain will spot the fatuity, the barely hidden racism, the religious bigotry, and the questionable logic of these tirades.
Let a thousand flowers bloom, a leader once said, and I agree, even including the deadly nightshade, nasty cacti, and stinkweed of the right. Free expression is a pain in the rear, and sometimes I think it is both the disease and the cure. But I’m confident that free Americans will use it to make intelligent decisions.
