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To: yendu bwam
Be strong, there, mhking. Take a stand on this, if you can find the tiny bit of moral courage you need.

This book is vile. I can't stomach even the thought of reading it. But at the same time, I cannot condone censorship of any sort - and that's what you're asking, no demanding, that Amazon does.

Your stance is no better than going off on a news outlet for reporting about this kind of filth. You're going after the wrong people. Amazon is not promoting moral atrocities. Amazon is not putting ads out promoting this.

If you're successful in getting this crap pulled from Amazon's shelves, then are we truly safe? This publisher is still out there publishing and making money. This author is still out there and making money from this.

If Amazon carries this, then we at least know who the authors are; who the publishers are - we can deal with them on that level. In this case, Amazon actually becomes an asset; a tool for us to discover who is perpetrating this crap. I'd rather that than to have them secreted away under the woodwork. There's a much better chance of getting this crap done away with overall that way.

The larger issue is that if/when someone like Hillary Clinton comes to power, what happens then? If we succeed here, who's to say that a Clinton or disciple of hers doesn't put the kybosh on any critical or contrarian books/authors? Are you ready for that precedent? Are you ready for that slippery slope? I'm not.

Moral courage? I've got plenty. I'm courageous enough to let everyone know that the better way to get rid of this filth is to remove it at the source. Otherwise, they'll go to ground and put even more vile stuff out there. I'm willing to be courageous enough to have people go after the publisher and author directly. Are you?

11 posted on 10/02/2002 7:48:45 AM PDT by mhking
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To: mhking
Define censorship. I think you give the term far too broad a meaning.
When a merchant assumes responsibility for the quality of the products he sells, that is not censorship - that is good, ethical business.
Determining that the quality of a book is worthy of your business establishment is not censorship.

If Amazon dropped the pedophilia book from its inventory, that wouldn't be censorship - it would be responsible citizenship.
13 posted on 10/02/2002 7:53:35 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
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