...and sign this petition against the discriminatory move Amazon recently made against the gay community. You can read about it here. It's pretty disgraceful not too mention outright stupid on Amazon's part. My favorite part, Nathaniel said sarcastically, was the de-ranking of books about homophobia. Way to prove the point of those books, you fools.
update 04/13 there's some jerk claiming "I did it" about the Amazon de-gaying... with dozens of commenters enjoying his prank (censorship is so hilarious). Other web denizens think it a lie, a hoax about a hoax. The levels. And still others are saying it was a glitch. None of this solves the real problem (why are there ANY systems that allow customers to decide for other customers what is appropriate reading material?) or answers the real question (Why did Amazon originally defend this as policy?)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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17 comments:
Did I felt asleep and wake up somewhere 20 years ago?
I mean WTF? Has Amazon gone crazy? A wide percentage of online shopping are made by gay people.
Whatever... I already sign.
thanks for posting this. i'm boycotting amazon until they rectify the situation. until they do, i'll never shop there again, and i'll spread the word.
i love that details about this are still emerging and the latest? Books about homosexuality are all de-ranked but books about how to cure homosexuality are still ranked.
FUCK THEM.
I just heard about the Amazon thing. I'm hoping it is some kind of tagging error because otherwise they've gone insane. Orlando lost it's ranking?!? The complete works of Jeanette Winterson are now "adult" content?
Also, Giovanni's Room, doesn't appear now when you do an Amazon search for James Baldwin. Who at Amazon thought this was a good idea?
Amazon's the most convenient thing on the web, but I guess I'll be taking my business on over to Barnes & Noble from now on.
Amazon must be competing for the most evil company in the world. Let's count the ways: 1) homophobic sales policy; 2) exploited workforce; 3) no charitable giving; 4) the Kindle.
They're saying that all of this was a "glitch" now and are fixing the problem.
Well this gives me a good excuse to stop buying DVDs I don't need.
But the funny thing is I JUST spent a whole shitload of money on gay things there, including Gods and Monsters, American Psycho (well, it's gay to me), some books for research for a Rock Hudson paper, and Francis Bacon books for my BF.
Don't know if this policy was in effect when I bought them cause I didn't use bestseller lists. Meh.
Ian... fascinating how the "glitch" didn't affect the how to cure homosexuality books, huh? You'd think a technical glitch would've included all the gay stuff period, pro & con.
Well, don't shoot the messenger. It's all over the wires now that the problem's fixed. That's all I know about it.
who could be stupid enough to think that this was a good idea? did they think no one would say anything in this day and age? Wow, and I was just about to buy something from Amazon too.
Ian... that wasn't against you! It was just them claiming that? seems fishy to me.
What is this, a step back into the dark ages???
Ebay here I come, but seriously WTF is the purpose of a kindle? Is it that hard reading a book and turning the damn pages. NO!!!???
Amazon was always stupid.
I'll allow myself to copy (slightly expanded) my comment to the petition (which I signed, thanks for the link), because I think it needs to be stressed:
Amazon, as a private company, has a full right to promote or hide any of the products it sells. I strongly disagree with the petition in that selling adult books but keeping them out of the public eye is in itself necessarily hypocritical. Surely there are a variety of books (and other products) you as an adult person want to have available, but don't really believe *everybody* (especially children) needs to see unless they are specifically looking for them? My local video rental store carries porn films, but displays them in a separate semi-closed section. I think it's actually pretty cool (and regardless, not a case of censorship).
On the other hand, holding different (and wildly so) standards for hetero- and homosexual adult themes, is a dfferent matter, and something that needs to be explained to the public. I think we should concentrate on this angle of the problem, because the "censorhip" one (again, I am not sure you can even call it a censorship, to be honest), is far less clear-cut.
Wow, this is pretty contemptible. I just don't understand Amazon's mode of thinking at all! "I can't stand these conservative bedwetters." In this day and age, what the fu$@ are they thinking?
As a young gay man, I believe that we (the gay community) as a whole are starting to win this overall war for acceptance. More and more people are coming out or becoming allies that soon, society will have to accept us for what we are: just as "normal" as heterosexuals. This sitch sounds like the company is PATHETICALLY trying to hold onto conservative values that are obviously out of touch with our society's currently changing sexual mores. Thank god so many people are recognizing it for what it is: discrimination.
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