Amy Poehler mentions, in an interview, that they just made up their anti-library stance in order to make a joke. But it turns out that they found many government officials actually shared those sentiments.
How much does Parks and Recreation hate the library?
The library represents that branch of government that’s like the smart kid—the teacher’s favorite. And the library always wins. They get whatever they want. Everybody loves them—nobody can say anything. People who work in the library think they are so much better than everyone else. And what’s really funny is we’ve been doing Q&A’s about our show, and people from local governments have said, “You guys nailed it about the library.†We were just making it up as a joke on the show, but I guess everyone hates the library.
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How truly sad that it’s funny because it’s true some people believe that :(
They hate them because they are a great example of a public program with no profit motive working fantastically well.
The same reason they hate public schools, national healthcare…
I love the show but I always cringe when they bash the library (even though it is in jest).
In our city, our mayor is very outspoken in his support for libraries. In his 5 years as mayor so far the only department that hasn’t had their budget(s) cut has been the library. There have been salary and job freezes at the library, but no budget cuts. I know for a fact that other departments are resentful that we in the library system haven’t had to go through the painful cuts other city departments have gone through.
But we do have the public on our side. If you took a vote to the public in our community, the library would be at the top of services people like best and don’t want cut every single time.
“And the library always wins. They get whatever they want.” – If only!
It’s a sitcom.