A lame reply from Amazon.com

by Xandria 42 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  morrisamb

  Hey, I'm Canadian, what do I know? Different constitution...but this issue is just as hot over here!

  The head honcho of our Chapters Bookstores didn't want this book Hitler wrote on her shelves so she had it removed. That got a big reaction.

  We've also had this guy out in Vancouver who wrote stories involving sexual abuse of young boys. There was a big court case. He won. Freedom of speech? It still made me sick to my stomach.

  This is the way I see it...if my corner store carried kiddie porn along with frozen tomatoes, I'd buy my fruit and vegetables elsewhere. That's my freedom of choice.
• 

  Bodhisattva

  But Amazon does not purport to be your corner store. Your corner store also may not sell The Anarchist Cookbook, but Amazon does, and it is a how-to book for bomb makers. Several other online booksellers also offer it, including the notoriously censorial Walmart. Meanwhile, among those checked via Addall.com, only Amazon seems to offer the book in question defending and rationalizing pedophilia. If this book is legal to publish and sell, then I think there is a place for someone who will sell anything between two covers, just as it is the right of individual or organized consumers to boycott them. As for the content of the book, I think that the first couple of user comments from (apparently serious) self-identified pedophiles are enough to make one wretch, but if bad science and bad scholarship in defense of harmful ideas were illegal, how would we get the Blood brochure?
• 

  scootergirl

  My .02........

  I personally found the book (and reviews) disgusting about David Riegel's book, and my "right" is to not purchase it. There are plenty of view points that are in written form that I chose NOT to purchase......case in point, when I purchase gas at my local gas station I chose to walk past the pornography and not purchase it. Now, before anyone yells "boy lovers is completely different than pornography".......I agree. My point being that we each have a choice. My choice is to not purchase........

  Let me bring another example to the table while I have your attention. On June 28,2000 the Supreme Court made a decision to ban homosexuals from the Boy Scouts of America-not only from leadership positions but also from membership. I found this an appauling decision. But, I guess that is their choice, right? My choice.......I refuse to support them in any way. There will be no popcorn sales made from my house, there will be no membership for either of my sons when they get older. What I am trying to get at is that their "right" wasn't "right" in my eyes.......I can't change a Supreme Court decision, I can't change what Amazon sells. I can change what I chose to support-hence not offering any financial means to a product.
• 

  Big Tex

  Amazon has the right to sell what they want. By the same token, customers and potential customers have the right to express our disgust at what they choose to promote and sell. We also have the right to extend our disgust into a boycott. That is not censorship. Censorship would be for the government to step in and ban Amazon from selling that trash. Amazon, and other book stores, are not interested in what is right or wrong. They are only interested in the bottom line. If enough people band together to affect their profits, they will drop this book. Simple as that.
• 

  Liberated

  Ahhhhhh, the US Constitution......this was probably the very thing the founding Fathers were thinking of when they wrote it.

  I agree with hitting them in the pocketbook. They may spout freedom of this that and the other thing until sales decline then they may reconsider that the price of that kind of freedom is too high.

  Libby
• 

  DakotaRed

  this seems to be a pseudo-scientific approach to justify abuse... not a how-to guide.

  Anything seeming to justify any form of abuse is irresponsible. Yes, idiots often hide behind the U.S. Constitution and many have perverted it's original intent to satisfy their sick demented minds today. Yes, it is completely legal for Amazon to sell it and make it available. It is equally legal for Xandria and others to voice their concern and outrage over it being made available.

  It is much like when Charlton Heston went before a meeting of the board of Time/Life to express his concerns about some of the Rap CDs they were selling. With lyrics calling for killing of police and demeaning women, he was disgusted. It is legal to record and sell those too. But he spoke out and they stopped selling certain ones.

  Pedophiles don't need a "how to guide," they already know. But, any attempt to encourage them and justify their behavior and crimes, I find dispicable. That last thing a pedophile needs is some psycho-babble helping them "feel good" about themselves.

  Freedom comes at a great cost and with an awesome responsibility. Any attempt to legitimize or justify any adult/child sexual liasion, although legal, is totally irresponsible. As long as this book is offered through Amazon.com, I too will boycott them. That is my legal and moral right.

  Lew W
• 

  patio34

  The book seemed to be pro and apologetic for an illegal activity.

  Barnes and Noble does not offer the book for sale in its regular search engine. Someone said they will order it for a person, but that's different than carrying it in its regular stock. B&N seems to take the high road and more ethical stance.

  It's not about legalities and doing all you can get away with under the guise of freedom of press, etc. It's about ethics. It seems B&N would rather lose the few bucks than offend a lot of its customers.

  I'd rather give B&N my business from now own. I'll vote with my $$.

  Pat
• 

  Francois

  Kingpawn is right on the money.

  No one has to purchase that, or any other book.

  Do you remember when Jesus Christ Superstar was playing on broadway? The Southern Baptist Convention circulated a petition to stop the production and damn freedom of speech. For years, you couldn't purchase any of the works of D.H. Lawrence in this country, like, "Lady Chatterly's Lover," or "Sons and Lovers." The musical works of Stravinski sparked actual riots, and no proper young lady would dare play any of the works of Claude Debussy (too sensual). And on and on and on.

  We either have freedom of speech, it's absolute, or we don't have any. If this book can be banned because group A objects to it, then some other group is sure to want to ban some other book.

  I think that the North American Man/Boy Love Association is an abomination. But I don't want to see any government action to disband it. It would just go underground, AND the government would soon be about banning other groups it didn't like, like the Libertarian Party for instance.

  When I went to the book store to buy Rush Limbaugh's first book, there was a group of lefties there harrassing me and telling me I shouldn't buy anything Rush wrote. God was I furious.

  You nice folks who want to ban this book, or to give Amazon hell about it are on very thin ice. Think about it.

  francois

  Edits for spelling

  Edited by - francois on 29 September 2002 11:3:51

  Edited by - francois on 29 September 2002 11:4:36

  Edited by - francois on 29 September 2002 11:6:10
• 

  patio34

  Hi Francois,

  Good points all. However, there is quite a difference between taking your business to what seems to be a more ethical company and wanting the govt to ban books! I think you're jumping the gun there, guy.

  There are adult book stores and there are regular book stores. Just because i don't frequent adult book stores and prefer B&N, it by no stretch of the imagination implies, nor should you hastily infer, that I am for book banning and censorship.

  This is a red herring and incendiary tactic, imo. But I mean that in the nicest way

  Pat
• 

  Max Divergent

  TT, you CAN buy Playboy at Amazon - $15.96 for a 12-month subscription! If you prefer Penthouse, that's $39.95. A gay person may prefer Out or Men, both available at Amazon.

  Trauma_Hound, I've 'Got it', I've got that a comprehensive book seller has a right to sell a book that's legal to sell. I've also 'Got it' that people in the western world with an unpopular view have a right to explain their position to anyone who'll listen. Got it?

  In my view, it'd be better to ask Amazon to donate the equivilent of the full purchace price to childrens' charities than to limit the distribution of even these depraved ideas. Much better to highlight the wrongness in what's published than to limit it's distribution.

  That's what we do with the WTS's books - show up the faults, double-standards and hypocracy. Banning and prohibiting things (by law or market forces) is seldom a good idea.

  Max, who developed an alergy to all things authoritarian and thought-police-ish while a JW

  "I disaprove of what you sell, but I will defend your right to sell it" (apologies to Voltaire)

  Edited by - Max Divergent on 29 September 2002 11:22:34