My fantasy homeland, Sweden, is up to its old tricks again, this time promoting -- get this! -- tolerance. What is the deal w/ all the humanity around there, I ask you? Can't they just bog down in stale old ideas that bore everyone comatose and further ignorance and a whole host of -isms, not to mention petty resentments, like the rest of us?
"Loan a lesbian" idea to promote tolerance.
If you're one of those people who thinks all lesbians are sexually frustrated or all animal rights activists aggressive, then a Swedish library project that allows you to "borrow" a real live human being rather than a book may provide some useful insight.
The Living Library project will enable people to come face-to-face with their prejudices in the hopes of altering their preconceived notions, Ulla Brohed of the Malm Library in southern Sweden told AFP.
"You sometimes hear people's prejudices and you realize that they are just uninformed," she said.
This weekend, nine people, including a homosexual, an imam, a journalist, a Muslim woman and a gypsy, will be available at the Malm Library for members of the public to "borrow" for a 45 minute conversation in the library's outdoor cafe.
"Maybe not all journalists are know-it-all and sensationalist, just unafraid and curious. Maybe not all animal rights activists are angry and intolerant, but intelligent and committed," she said.
Hear! Hear! Not all journalists are know-it-alls! Most are know-nothings! Ahem. I guess I know who I need to check out of the library. But I'd probably incur a late fee, arguing a little concept I like to call "professional ethics," and I'm not making any promises about dog-earing. (No cracking the spine jokes, please.)
Sweden's library "loan" conceit says a lot about what's preoccupying us of late: a homosexual, an imam, a journalist, a Muslim woman and a gypsy. Replace gypsy with "Mexican," and this could be a Murkan experiment (if Murka were truly interested in addressing the problem of intolerance, that is). Who would you want to borrow?
[via justinsomnia]












