According a firestorm of tweets and reports that are starting to emerge, early this morning, NYPD swooped down on the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park, routed the protesters, and tossed everything in dumpsters--including 5,500 books that had been donated to a pop-up guerrilla library.
I know that many people dismiss the OWS protesters, or reject their tactics, or simply think they're silly. But the wanton trashing of thousands of books by police is a scene I never thought I'd see in America. In his book FAHRENHEIT 451, Ray Bradbury's vision of the future was right on the money.
The destruction of the little "People's Library" is bound to become a symbol of the squelching of dissent in our society, and a rallying cry for new Occupy protests.
I just wonder if a copy of FAHRENHEIT 451 is sitting in that trash dumpster in New York City.
We can't say ol' Ray didn't try to warn us.
Update (5:40 p.m. ET): A recent Tweet from the NY mayor's office indicates that the OWS library books are actually being detained in a Sanitation Dept. garage. They even posted a "proof of life" photo, so people would know that at least some of the books are alive and unharmed.
Good to know.
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