With Friends Like These...

Lileks points out a hideous example of exactly what I was complaining about just a couple of posts ago, when I was talking about the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library -- a group presumably formed to combat the work of their tireless foes, the Enemies of the Minneapolis Public Library -- has a new ad campaign out to hype next year's opening of the new downtown library. One side of the poster has a big picture of Mao; beneath him, it says, well, MAO. On the other side, a picture of the new library, with the letters MPL, for Minneapolis Public Library. From the Skyway News article on the campaign:

"What's the connection? China sports the world's third largest economy, while the library claims the nation's third largest collection of books (per capita.)

"It's a stretch, and a little weird, but it made us look, and that's the point."

Hmm. I'm curious: how many people do you have to kill, and how many books do you have to destroy, before you're no longer a benign historical image to be used in a "clever" ad campaign? The campaign also features J. Edgar Hoover and Batgirl, because they, like Mao, were librarians at some point in their lives. "Mao Tse-Tung became a convert to Marxism while working as a librarian at Beijing University prior to launching a communist revolution in China," the article explains.

Next up: Stalin shills for the church! Hey, he was a seminarian, once. See, it's funny and clever when they didn't kill anyone you know. Criminey.

Yep, old Chairman Mao is certainly well-remembered for his librarian roots... no mixed messages there, no sirree. As for becoming a Marxist by spending time in a library, well, that's certainly no stretch. Deroy Murdock's latest column, Check This Out, is a sobering glimpse into the way the 9/11 terrorists took full advantage of our public libraries while planning the mass murder... and how our own public libraries are encouraging more like them to do the same. Do not miss reading this one, folks.

And if I'm ever in Minneapolis, you can bet I won't be stopping by to visit the Minneapolis Public Library. Consider me firmly entrenched in the "Enemies" camp, if the "Friends" are embracing Mao.