The closure of bookstores due to the coronavirus is politically significant. Books have always been a source of enlightenment and free expression. Bookstores are good places where an individual can go sit in the cafe, have a drink, and browse the magazine racks for the latest political and world news for any viewpoint ranging from conservative to liberal.
One can also browse for the latest books in history, politics, and religion. Like libraries, bookstores are intellectual centers. One can find books on current events as well as the latest books on history ranging from the Crusades to biographies of Stalin.
Bookstores and libraries are real bastions of democratic thought. Most or all viewpoints and interests are represented in one way or another. Bookstores are the “marketplace of ideas”.
Bookstores will carry books favorable to Hillary Clinton. They also carry books favorable to Donald Trump. All sides are represented. Everything from the far right to the far left has appeared in the social sciences and current affairs sections.
I tend to be more enlightened by visits to the local bookstores than by watching the twenty four hour cable news channels, the networks, or television news in general. At the bookstore, one can browse the latest conservative and liberal journals and publications and find something particularly informative.
In addition to the above mentioned categories, one can find books on true crime, cinema, and fiction. There are also the DVD’s and CDS that are sold in the back room. In recent years, vinyl LP’s have made a huge comeback. I last remember seeing vinyl record albums being sold around 1989, before compact disks replaced them. In addition to vinyl albums, record players are sold at bookstores.
I generally prefer the latest news in print to watching news on television. This is why I particularly like to go to the bookstore cafe and browse the latest magazines looking for current news and events. Come to think of it, even a visit to the doctor’s office has its uses considering that there is a wide selection of magazines to browse through while one waits.
With this damn disease that shut civilization down, I have to get my news from the internet. To a certain extent, the internet hosts anything you can find in the print media but I generally hate having to rely on technology. The local news is not too bad, but the cable news channels (with the exception of Tucker Carlson on Fox News) are simply intolerable. Having briefly watched CNN on youtube regarding current news lately, I can safely dismiss that channel as pure shit.
The print media is preferable because there is a greater deal of detailed knowledge and understanding on the part of the journalist or writer. Stories that appear in magazines (both conservative and liberal) or newspapers have a context and a historical background to them. Writers have an expertise that “journalists” on television simply do not. Writers are intellectuals, news anchors (with some exceptions) are celebrities.
A perfect example between a journalist (intellectual) and a news anchor or host (celebrity) can be seen by the treatment given to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Ted Koppel and other news “correspondents” on television have treated this psychopath as an elder statesman of international diplomacy. The late Christopher Hitchens wrote an article about Kissinger in a print magazine called Harper’s which later became a book, “The Trial of Henry Kissinger”.
Hitchens called Kissinger a war criminal. Having researched unclassified documents and researched Kissinger’s policies on Cyprus, Chile, Kurdistan, and elsewhere Hitchens made a very compelling case against Kissinger. What does this have to do with bookstores one might ask?
Well, the books of Christopher Hitchens are available in bookstores as are numerous other political books on subjects that do not receive treatment on television. A criminal like Kissinger has never received critical treatment from television news coverage. Bookstores and libraries are the authentic carriers of politics, philosophy, religion and the social sciences.
Books and bookstores make a far greater contribution to an enlightened society and civilization than television news channels and outlets. Reading feeds the intellect.