I just discovered a new library (new to me) that I kind of can’t wait to check out.
Where is this library? Well, the great part is that anyone can go to it, and you don’t need to travel far.
It’s online, contained within a video game.
That video game? Minecraft.
It has been there since at least 2023 and is called the Uncensored Library: a digital haven for independent information.
On the Minecraft website, they say:
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and yet, there are countries that seek to censor their citizens or prevent them from accessing certain information. This is why The Uncensored Library exists; a grand digital library meant to combat censorship – and it’s all accessible through Minecraft.
Censorship has occurred throughout the world as long as human civilization has been around. It is a means to control populations and give power to a few. The only way to keep your freedom of speech and freedom to accurate and sound information is to keep fighting for it.
Now, I remember being a child and never really thought that a library was where I’d want to go while playing video games, but going to a video game world if I had to go to the library? That’s a different story. (Okay, I’m fudging this a bit in order to make a point – I was a bookworm and never really got into video games).
For all of the children, teens, young adults, and neurodivergent folks out there who don’t prescribe to traditional norms, practices, or institutions, or are still rebelling against them, this is such a clever way to make information accessible.
It is also a clever way of making it, not only accessible, but tucked away out of sight from those who wish to oppress and misguide populations.
As a mom, Minecraft has always had a positive place in our home. This just makes me like it even more.
Well done to Minecraft and the Reporters Without Borders and everyone else who contributed to this brilliant and inspired way of preserving freedom to information and the fight against censorship. I tip my hat to you.
Happy Friday, everyone!
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I’m glad there’s somewhere accessible to everyone (theoretically) as more websites get taken down in traditional free-speech societies like the U.S. I had no idea!
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Right?! But I do hope that when I, and others, write about places like this, that information (our articles) only fall into the hands of those who wish to see these spaces remain or rely on these spaces. It always feels really dicy when you spread the word about these things, hoping that the wrong sorts don’t come along and shut them down.
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