I saw a meme about a cartoon frog get zapped off a city library's public computer screen last Tuesday.

I was killing time in the Springfield public library before a haul. Pulled up a social site on their computer, and right there in the feed was that old Pepe meme, just a silly drawing. A librarian walked by, saw it, and her face went flat. She leaned over, clicked something, and the whole page just refreshed to a blank search bar. She said, 'We have filters for that imagery here.' I just sat there for a second. It wasn't hateful, it was literally the frog looking confused. Makes you wonder who decides what a picture means, and if a library, of all places, should be in that business. Has anyone else had a totally harmless meme get treated like it was dangerous just because of its history?

3 comments

3 Comments

jana_hernandez2mo ago

Yeah, @miles948 has a point about checking the actual written rules.

cole_lee91mo ago

But sometimes unwritten rules are just as real, you know? Like everyone knows you don't cut the line even if there's no sign. Staff still has to make judgment calls on the fly.

miles9482mo ago

What did you say back to her? I'd ask to see the filter policy in writing, because a lot of times it's just some staffer making a call they don't have the authority to make. If it's not written down, they can't enforce it.