Library Closing, Grown Man Cries About It (VIDEO)

A library closed in Philadelphia and a grown man cried about it...on film.

Vh1 writer Noah Garfinkel wrote, "It's 2011; gender roles have evolved. But there is still something inherently silly about seeing a grown man cry. Obviously, there are times when a man can and should cry. A library closing, however, is probably not one of those times. Getting misty eyed? Fine. Mist up. Get as eye-moist as you want. Let the black of your eyes glisten with sentimentality. But if you want to not end up as a web video, you should probably not blubber away in a high pitch voiced and then yell "sh*t" at yourself for doing it."

There might not be a need to be so pessimistic about the closing of libraries, however. As Garfinkel wrote, "Libraries are closing and being replaced by the internet because the internet can provide all the information in a library plus the entertainment of a guy crying about a library being closed."

So true.

WATCH:

Comments

[Jetwash]

10:17 PM on 02/13/2011

A library means so much to a community. A refuge for many, a place where you could go as a kid and lose yourself in books, music, articles, news stories. It was all there. Now, we can access all that in our homes on our computers, but the physical space cannot be replicated and certainly not replaced no matter how many faux coffee cafes there are. There are few places in a community so secure as a library. Closing a library is like closing the door on potential for a community.

[bagelbones]

09:05 PM on 02/13/2011

The first thing I do when I move to a new city is get a library card. Libraries were the temples and cathedrals of my chidhood, places where the most miraculous doors would be open for me through books. I fully understand how distraught this man must be. In spite of how much connectivity I have in my life through computers, iPads and iPhones, nothing can replace what I call my "companion books."

[ThEbor]

08:39 PM on 02/13/2011

When I was 4, my mother took me to the Eastchester NY Public Library to get a library card. We lived in the next village, and adults had reciprocal borrowing privileges. It turned out not to be same for children. I cried, so much that I remember it to this day. I was able to get a card from my village library and, at 4, that satisfied me. Later, we moved to another state and the library was across the street from my house -- nirvana. Prior to the internet age, the public library was THE place to get information; even today, libraries serve to organize and rationalize the vast amount of information out there. I believe children's libraries are most important of all; one of the foundations of our democracy. Carnegie donated millions to have public libraries erected around the world. The net billionaires of today would do well to follow his example. We still need public spaces for knowledge. Physical spaces. I understand this man's tears.

[antaeus]

12:51 PM on 02/13/2011

Stereotypical urban snark.

And can someone please defend the factual claim that the internet functionally replaces lending libraries? Because everyone can afford a personal computer? Because all content is online and free?

[mitzvah]

10:45 AM on 02/13/2011

The author of this article needs to read a book....no, MANY....books to rediscover (or maybe just discover) the joy and self-awareness that comes from the experiences, emotions and imaginations of others offered in the private and tactile moments found only within the world of books.

[NebDem78]

01:35 AM on 02/13/2011

This written article is disgusting and heartless. The man who was shown crying lost something that the article about him never had: a soul.

[Retrofuturistic]

07:48 PM on 02/12/2011

I would cry about libraries or bookstores being closed, about the burning of the Library at Alexandria, about the burning and banning of books, about the editing of "Scripture" and/or history.

The fact that this author makes fun of a person's reaction to a library closing says a lot about himself.

[MrGman]

10:41 AM on 02/12/2011

For most of us a Library has always been there, through out childhood until we die, its part of the town we grew up in. So yes it is sad when you lose that familiarity, you may or may not have gone there, but you always knew you could. When we as a nation can't not or will not keep library's open then we have lost more than we know.

[bessielil]

09:27 PM on 02/11/2011

Cold. Some people have no idea what a library has been or can be to a community. It's like watching a life close down. No. Many lives. Lives in the books themselves, the readers who came before, and the readers who won't be able to breathe that air, pick and choose, watch other readers instead of being a solitary reader in a world where Kindles and iPads make one feel like an alien for turning pages.

[efmo]

06:59 PM on 02/11/2011

Maybe this man doesn't have access to the internet because he can't afford it. Maybe he has vision problems that using the computer exacerbates. The guy who wrote the article is a donkey's behind. And I am not thinking in those words. And I know I won't be reading anything else he writes.

[yathink]

05:15 PM on 02/11/2011

Yet one more reason not to visit HuffPaol.

[rcthomp]

02:45 PM on 02/11/2011

So speaker o the house can cry over nothing but this guy cant? wtfever

[Soulfest]

01:45 PM on 02/11/2011

If the writer does not understand why we should cry for our libraries closing than we really ought to cry for the writer.

[AC Guts]

07:04 PM on 02/11/2011

I feel for this man, this library has been a light in his life and now it is gone. He probably feels as if he has lost a member of his family. He may have sounded silly but the emotion and the sentiment were real. We should all cry when libraries, schools, and other public institutions that provide for the people close. The writer truly missed the chance to bring light to a sad situation and a genuine chance to showcase real human emotion.

[Soulfest]

08:35 PM on 02/11/2011

Agree, a writer has their voice and this writer's voice is as shallow as they come.

[jaredbrain]

07:37 AM on 02/11/2011

Did the author (who has since removed his name it appears) think that HP readers were going to "join in the fun" making fun of this guy? Did they think people reading the books section were going to not be sympathetic to a guy upset about a library closing? What was the target audience for this piece? HP is not Cracked (although you guys link to them every day now too)

[dumosumo]

05:02 PM on 02/10/2011

The reason that this story lacks a by-line is simple: The writer is an ashosle and knows it.

[MollyMal]

06:03 PM on 02/10/2011

Thank you. I thought it was horribly callous too. Libraries closing is sad. I would even say tragic. Sure you can books on line, but what about community? What about story hours where children learn to listen and imagine instead of stare at screens?

[jaredbrain]

07:31 AM on 02/11/2011

im wondering why HP published this in the first place. It's basically pointing and laughing at someone who was sad about something. People are passionate about things that make no sense to others. They don't have to make sense to others.