A Genealogy of Refusal : Walking away from crisis and scarcity narratives

I am not your hero

In our genealogy there are stereotypical librarians from the Bookmobile Bad Girl, to the Parks and Recreation "Sssshh!" librarian to Morgenstern's Acolytes, Keepers, and Guardians. Each of these stereotypes help us to recognize the encumbered ways librarians live out saying nothing but "yes" so we can "deliver it all over town" or how we Ssssh in the face of actual crisis, or even offer ourselves up to elinguation so that saying "No" becomes impossible. The burden of these roles make it difficult for library employees to refuse, let alone have the difficult conversations we need to work through if we want to experience greater trust in community whether during abundance or crisis.

As an antidote to the hero narrative and accompanying vocational let's take another look at reframing crisis and empowering librarians to embrace refusal. We propose Martha Wells' Murderbot, an anti-hero, as the new patron saint for librarians.

In her novella All Systems Red, author Martha Wells introduces readers to Murderbot, an artificial intelligence designed to serve as a security unit (SecUnit) for profitable ventures. The SecUnit was created for a single purpose (keep the contract alive even if it means taking damage to itself)--and Murderbot's feature set ensures that it can do so, but it turns out that it would rather watch media than fraternize with those it protects. Through a first-person perspective, it becomes clear that Murderbot is no gung-ho savior seeking adulation. As much as the Murderbot cares about anything, it is interested in keeping its cohort alive -- but even then would prefer to do so in a self-interested way that requires a minimum level of effort and interaction. 

Murderbot has hacked its own governor module and this allows it to make independent decisions that don't conflict with its primary mission. In spite of its capabilities, which in some capacities far outpace its peers, Murderbot isn't volunteering to take on more work; nor is it attempting to fraternize, or ingratiate itself in search of greater acceptance or promotion. Murderbot prefers not to spend unnecessary time on stuff it does not want to do. Murderbot uses its specialist capabilities to create workplace efficiencies that allow it to spend less time working and more time watching media. Self sacrifice is the furthest thing from its mind as it escapes the tedium of work and its workmates by watching episode after episode of Sanctuary Moon re-runs.

This fan-imatic by Mar set to a soundtrack by Canadian duo Tegan and Sara depicts Murderbot, freed from its governing module yet no less expert, no less effective as it [re]-negotiates its relationship with work and team members.

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