Posted on 06/12/2018 11:56:48 AM PDT by rickmichaels
An “iconic feminist bookstore and community space” is closing in Portland, Oregon.
What could be the cause of this retailer’s failure? People don’t want to buy their books? Perhaps the rise of e-commerce?
Not in the slightest, obviously. The problem lies in white power, patriarchy and white cisgendered feminism.
That’s the takeaway from a statement posted last Monday announcing the closing of In Other Words, a volunteer-run bookstore made famous by the television show “Portlandia.” According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the store will be closing at the end of this month — and it’s all the fault of you blue-eyed devils.
“The current volunteers and board members stepped into and took over a space that was founded on white, cis feminism (read: white supremacy). It’s really difficult, actually, impossible, for us to disentangle from that foundational ideology,” the statement said.
“Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Capitalism cannot be reformed and ever serve the people. Abolition is the goal.”
Apparently, all of us white people are responsible for making In Other Words an unsafe space.
“This isn’t sustainable, especially emotionally, for the people who come here and work to provide this space as a resource to Portland Feminist communities,” the statement said.
Of course, this has nothing to do with people not wanting In Other Words’ wares. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact the store’s management decided to shirk the fame they garnered through “Portlandia,” severing ties with the show in 2016 because they “struggled with the spotlight of the hit show,” according to OPB.
Nor was it the fact that as the store’s “focus has shifted from indie bookstore to community space, it has welcomed groups as diverse as AA meetings to Rock Camp for Girls to anti-racist activists.” While this is a nice thing to do, it can’t actually be the focus of a business. A bookstore can indeed be an important community space, but its first goal is to sell books.
No, it’s all the perfidy of white folks. Their supremacy is the sole reason this bookstore is closing down.
There seems to be another non-profit which is interested in running the space, however — although its attitude seems to indicate it will run into the same problems the previous group did.
“We’re definitely keeping things open-ended, in the spirit of In Other Words,” said Anna Swanson, a representative of social justice group Critical Resistance.
OPB says she’s “keeping the space free or low cost and open to all-ages, with an eye to anti-capitalist, anti-racist, intersectional work.”
“It’s really important to us,” Swanson said, “if we can to keep the space alive in that sense, but also to take the opportunity to transition it out of the sort of intractable problems the volunteers and board are talking about.”
Given that the store seems to be definitely anti-capitalist (inasmuch as it can’t actually sell enough to stay in business), I think there’s one very intractable problem that Critical Resistance will still run into.
Good luck solving that one.
Hahaha, they can’t even get business in Portland. That is HILARIOUS!
The same militant books are available at Powells and Amazon.
What was the point.
Fool
Good riddance.
at some point someone in the psychiatric field is going to come forward and call this kind of behavior delusional, right?
a store that caters to radical feminists, blames white men for its own failure.
You could make this stuff up.
The bit in Portlandia regarding the bookstore was pretty funny
(Netflix Season 1, episode 1 or 2?)
Portlandia - The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8drAetibJzg
Well since they didn’t offer any of David Glantz’ histories of unknown battles between the Germans and Soviets in World War 2, or even a good copy of Shirer’s Collapse of the Third Republic, I saw no need to shop there.
Maybe they can sell their books in Venezuela.
Or maybe the Venezuelans will eat them.
I’m ok with either one.
Was it this one:
Oops - this one without foreign subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2mAs5pnA34
“Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Capitalism cannot be reformed and ever serve the people. Abolition is the goal.”
Hah! They can’t even spell Abortion right.
Sigh...wrong again...I give up - y’all get the idea...
Heck, I think we should take CREDIT for this. If we truly are responsible, then we made the world a slightly better place by shutting down a racist, sexist, hateful salon frequented by ugly lesbians, pansy pseudo-men, decaying refugees from Woodstock, bong-polishers, and a variety of other unemployable scum.
No need to thank us. It’s what we white, cis-gendered, normal people DO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.