Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

In my day, never was longer.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Everybody saw this coming.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Celebrate the fucking wins.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

When we show up, we win.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / Books / Palate Cleanser Open Thread: Mychal Threets, Winning

Palate Cleanser Open Thread: Mychal Threets, Winning

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Here’s a nice update to my post about Mr. Threets last week. From the Washington Post, “Librarian faced spate of insults. Thousands of people came to his defense” [gift link]:

Mychal Threets is a self-proclaimed library super fan. He has a tattoo of Arthur Read’s library card on his arm…

Threets, 33, is the supervising librarian at Fairfield Civic Center Library in Solano County, Calif. It’s the library he grew up frequenting as a young boy. Over the past few years, Threets has been sharing snippets of his life as a librarian on social media, in the hope of spreading what he calls “library joy.”…

Recently, though, Threets became the subject of insults on social media.

On Dec. 29, someone shared one of Threets’s library-related videos on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote that “people are getting weirder.” The post continued with additional tweets, including one that used a slur implying people at libraries have developmental delays.

Then came dozens of comments from other people, criticizing Threets’s appearance, voice and mannerisms. Some people called him autistic, which Threets said is incorrect….

The tide turned for Threets when people came to his defense. There were friends and fans — as well as complete strangers.

“Incredible, you took a guy who is passionate about his job of being a librarian and trying to encourage adults and kids to read more/get a library card….and somehow made it negative,” one person commented.

“Have we decayed so much as a society where general wholesome enthusiasm is seen as an undesirable trait?” another person wrote…

Before long, the critical comments were far outnumbered by those that were supportive of Threets.

“So many people were burying those negative words,” he said…

Threets decided to address the situation in a TikTok video — which led to an even greater wave of support for him. He said sometimes the best way to respond to people who level insults is with empathy.

“I hope those people have a much better day tomorrow. I hope they experience kindness. I hope they experience joy. I hope they remember that they still belong at the library. I hope better days are ahead of them,” Threets said in the video….

Although Threets was initially upset about the comments on X, he said he will continue spreading library joy on social media. By doing so, he said, “we’re taking the word weird back.”

“I will keep reminding people that there’s far more kindness out there than there is negativity,” he said.

Random post from Mychal’s twitter feed, just because:

Reader Interactions

64Comments

  2. 2.

    bbleh

    Keeps me optimistic that Nice People Will Win.

    (But let’s work on getting them out to vote, just to be sure, ‘kay?)

  8. 8.

    zhena gogolia

    Oh, he is so cool! I love him.

    Thanks for the positive post, AL. The thread below was getting me down.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    Librarian faced spate of insults. Thousands of people came to his defense.

    I absolutely love this.

    And I love libraries and great librarians.

  14. 14.

    Alison Rose

    As I think I said on the other post about him, I cannot understand how anyone could be so nasty toward someone so genuinely kind and lovely and good. Like, you have to have something seriously out of joint inside you to view someone like Mychal negatively. He’s a gem, and I’m glad that the silver lining of this is that more and more people are learning about him and following him. My local library shared the articles on FB, as have numerous bookish/library-related pages. I hope he inspires even more kids (and adults!) to read and to visit their library, and also to just be a kinder soul.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    Mychal is such a kind soul and it infuriates me that anyone would be mean to such a stellar person.
    What is wrong with people that they can’t recognize how wonderful Mychal is?’!?!

    Sometimes I really despair at the cruelty and stupidity. Hurry up and evolve, idiots!

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    In the WaPost story:  the one person who could get away with a “read to the cat” program.  (Photo)

  18. 18.

    Alison Rose

    @robmassing: To some pieces of shit, yeah. They use that word because they want to use the r-word and have at least a shred of awareness to know they shouldn’t. Never mind the fact that “autistic” can mean a thousand things as far as who someone is.

  20. 20.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @MomSense: Sometimes I really despair at the cruelty and stupidity. Hurry up and evolve, idiots!

    When it came time to evolve, their trainer held the down and ‘B’ buttons and made them stay in their basest form.

  21. 21.

    Ladyraxterinok

    In the 40s my dad would take us 3 kids to the library so Mom could get some peace for a while. We’d each get some books then go home and read and eat popcorn.

    It was a great Carnegie Lubrary

    How many Carnegie libraries were built? They seem to have passed out of memory

  22. 22.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    I’m glad there was a wholesome ending to this story for Threets. It’s important to stand up to bullies and show them there’s a whole lot of decent people in the world

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    @Ladyraxterinok: well, Wikipedia, source of all wikiknowledge, sez: A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and 25 others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji.

    And certainly they are still around!  They’re built to last.  I’ve been to at least two in various smaller towns.

    ETA: Your comment is awaiting moderation.  Oh ffs.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Over the years I have become acquainted with a number of librarians. Every one of them were intelligent people who broadened my horizons. One in particular came to me with a law book at a law firm*. Moore v. Moore, Springfield Misery:

    In respect to plaintiff’s evidence that Minnie once referred to relatives of the plaintiff as hillbillies: We suggest *789 that to refer to a person as a “hillbilly,” or any other name, for that matter, might or might not be an insult, depending upon the meaning intended to be conveyed, the manner of utterance, and the place where the words are spoken. Webster’s New International Dictionary says that a hillbilly is “a backwoodsman or mountaineer of the southern United States;often used contemptuously.” But without the added implication or inflection which indicates an intention to belittle, we would say that, here in Southern Missouri, the term is often given and accepted as a complimentary expression. An Ozark hillbilly is an individual who has learned the real luxury of doing without the entangling complications of things which the dependent and over-pressured city dweller is required to consider as necessities. The hillbilly foregoes the hard grandeur of high buildings and canyon streets in exchange for wooded hills and verdant valleys. In place of creeping traffic he accepts the rippling flow of the wandering stream. He does not hear the snarl of exhaust, the raucous braying of horns, and the sharp, strident babble of many tense voices. For him instead is the measured beat of the katydid, the lonesome, far-off complaining of the whippoorwill, perhaps even the sound of a falling acorn in the infinite peace of the quiet woods. The hillbilly is often not familiar with new models, soirees, and office politics. But he does have the time and surroundings conducive to sober reflection and honest thought, the opportunity to get closer to his God. No, in Southern Missouri the appellation “hillbilly” is not generally an insult or an indignity; it is an expression of envy.

    I own that label, loudly and proudly, and I wish I could remember that long ago librarians name. He was a great and very intelligent human being. One who recognized in me my true soul. I was blessed to have known him.

  29. 29.

    Ladyraxterinok

    His picture on the internet shows 2 reasons he’s been attacked—–

    He’s a BLACK MALE

    He has very long unbraided hair

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    kinda sorta somewhat along the lines of “palate cleanser” (emphasis on ‘cleanser’): the Post has up a piece on how to get the smell of marijuana out of your house.

    oh, our fast-changing times!  LOL

    How To Prepare Your Space:
    Proper preparation is the “most important” way to reduce the smell of marijuana in the home, says Grace Reynolds, president of the American House Cleaners Association. That means maximizing ventilation. “Opening windows is a great idea,” she says. “Ozone generating machines are also really good at collecting those organic particles and binding them with oxygen to eliminate the smell that’s in the air.”

    More typical air purifiers, especially those that have medical grade, high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, can now aid in diminishing smoke and smells as well, Schuiling says. Traditional ceiling and mobile fans can also work in a pinch.

    Cannabis journalist Miguel Antonio Ordoñez recommends smoking in the bathroom with the shower running, which can help push smoke through the bathroom fan.

    Note: he’s not necessarily saying you should smoke while showering…(which is good, because I usually shower in the morning, and whew, that would make each day quite the motivational challenge!)…just that you should do it in the bathroom with the shower running.  =)

  32. 32.

    narya

    @Ladyraxterinok: There was a Carnegie in Oberlin; the building is still there, but serves other purposes now. IIRC, it had these glass-block floors on the second floor, so there was sorta eerie light seeping up from the first floor. I may be imagining that, mind you; it’s been 40-45 years since I was there. It was the College’s main library until 1974, I think.

  34. 34.

    RSA

    @Alison Rose:  They use that word because they want to use the r-word and have at least a shred of awareness to know they shouldn’t.

    Someone without a shred of awareness:

    In an email to The Washington Post, podcaster Josh Lekach said he made the critical post on X — where he has 47,000 followers — as a reaction to Threets’s social media videos, which he called “bizarre and performative.”

    “Those millions who disagreed with my benign post are wrong,” Lekach wrote.

    I checked out Lekach’s Twitter feed to find this, just a day later:

    Modern libraries are retard factories

  35. 35.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: That’s insulting to the primordial ooze.

    Before the primordial ooze, maybe there was a preordinal ooze or, perhaps, a late chaotic ooze.

  36. 36.

    danielx

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    A small city a little west of where I live still has a Carnegie Library building, which was still a library when I was a kid – spent many Saturday mornings there. Converted to a restaurant long since, but the building has been maintained in good repair.

  37. 37.

    frosty

    @zhena gogolia: The last thread was getting me down too and now I’m in a funk for the rest of the evening. I should have quit reading comments earlier instead of going down to 300.

    It doesn’t help that the two things I wanted to buy for our road trip in two weeks were out of stock. Or that the TV I tried to install in our new trailer didn’t fit.

    Time to try to do something productive, like learn a couple new songs on the guitar.

  39. 39.

    frosty

    @Ladyraxterinok:via Wikipedia: In 1992, 1,554 of the 1,681 original Carnegie library buildings in the United States still existed, and 911 were still used as libraries.

    @bbleh: I see you got here first!

  43. 43.

    Dangerman

    @MomSense: They have no intention of evolving. Their cause is lost, same as the Confederates, same as the Nazis …

    … they just having an extended snitfit and hope Trump’s (tiny little) hands will save them. They are fucked and someplace in their subconscious, they know it.

    A bunch of them will end up in jail. A smaller number will end up dead. Oh well. FAFO.

  46. 46.

    wjca

    @MomSense: What is wrong with people that they can’t recognize how wonderful Mychal is?’!?!

    He’s encouraging people, and especially kids, to read.  Which leads to curiosity.  Which leads to questions.  And for those who insist on unquestioning acceptance to their way of seeing the world?  Nothing could be more horrifying.  More terrifying.

  49. 49.

    Redshift

    @RSA: Yeah, I bet his entire feed and podcast are so “bizarre and performative,” he can’t believe anyone else is actually sincere.

    And he definitely wouldn’t have jumped on this if the guy hadn’t been black.

    Asshole. I’m glad it turned out well.

  54. 54.

    TS

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I own that label, loudly and proudly,

    If you haven’t read it – you need to ask a librarian (or use the internet) for a copy of “Clancy of the Overflow” by Australian Poet AB (Banjo) Paterson

    In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
    Gone a-droving “down the Cooper” where the western drovers go;
    As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
    For the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

    And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
    In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
    And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
    And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

    http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/patersonab/poetry/clancy.html

  56. 56.

    TBone

    @OzarkHillbilly: oh and have I mentioned that I lived in a tumble down shotgun shack of a cabin on the banks of Penn’s Creek near White Mountain Wild Area (Bald Eagle State Forest).  Bought it in 1995 as a weekend vaca getaway and friends helped me fix it up over the next 30 years.  I moved in 2015 with hubby and it still had no running water and a 1920s Heatrola wood stove as the only heat source.  We spent our first 6 mos. waiting for the well digger.  I miss those days, hard as they were.  Now I’m in the suburbs but still close enough to visit.

  57. 57.

    moonbat

    Thanks for this lovely palate cleanser, AL. It is encouraging to know that a bunch of people recognize a good, kind, positive person when they see one and aren’t letting the haters win.

    I long for the day when psychoanalyzing Drump is no longer the national pass time and we can talk about who’s doing this “life” thing with verve and heart.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @TBone

    We spent our first 6 mos. waiting for the well digger.

    No matter how attractively low the estimate, better to avoid hiring Godot & Sons.
    :)

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @TBone: dedication!  love it!

     

     

    @MagdaInBlack: it mentions incense in general:

     

     

    The scent of marijuana tends to be strongest just after smoking. To cover that smell, try lighting candles or incense, Reynolds says. She also has less traditional solutions: “Say your mother-in-law is coming over or something like that, and you need a quick fix. You can even pop popcorn in the microwave.”

    Reynolds also recommends boiling vinegar or essential oils, especially lavender and citrus oils, to help cover the smoke smell. But keep in mind these scents mask the marijuana odor while doing little to actually remove it.

  64. 64.

    gogiggs

    @bbleh: There’s one just around the corner from where I live; a five minute walk and freshly remodeled.

    Librarians get all my love. Of all the gifts I was given when I graduated high school, the only one I still have/use is a set of geode bookends that my high school librarian gave me.

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