How long do you think it will be before Amazon follows suit?
Relegating books to a market outside of the largest sellers basically amounts to erasing them. Sure, in this case people could still find them, because they are from a famous author. But what about unknown writers, with views that don't align with what is approved by the PC crowd?
For the record, I have never read a Dr. Seuss book and don't encourage racial stereotyping, but there are other edgy subjects (like the legalization of certain substances) that I can imagine becoming less fashionable at some point in time. I don't want to see books supporting this idea suppressed at some point in the future.
We should be very careful with this new self regulating market, that follows the loudest outcry to determine what they allow to be sold.
People can complain that something is bad without calling for the government to ban it.
They can even explicitly say that the government shouldn’t ban it, while also saying that the people doing it should stop.
I know your comment wasn't meant to spin off another thread, but I do believe you're touching at something quite significant. We as a society have become way too comfortable with using the government to stop behaviour we don't like, to the point that people automatically jump to that conclusion during political arguments.
This situation quite literally is not using the government. So y’all are complaining about the non-government system working in the way you’d expect it to?
There are surely going to be more voices advocating for removing racist stuff than those arguing to keep it. One side inherently has the advantage. So without the government getting involved, what exactly are y’all suggesting?
Bringing people to our side of the argument. Improving the culture so we're not erasing the past. There's no way around winning the hearts of the people.
Caught on a technicality yet again. I should have said "new type of self regulating market".
Obviously every free market is self regulating, but we never had this mixture of a limited selection in dominating online sellers and the amplifying effect the internet has on any kind of outcry.
The government has nothing to do with my argument. We don't need laws against this (yet), but we should keep an eye out for changes that will push counterculture underground. Dialogue beats suppression any day in my book.
There's a good chance you will never know the books exist in the first place if they are not allowed to be sold on the largest platforms. Surely you are not denying that availability is a factor in exposure?
Relegating books to a market outside of the largest sellers basically amounts to erasing them. Sure, in this case people could still find them, because they are from a famous author. But what about unknown writers, with views that don't align with what is approved by the PC crowd?
For the record, I have never read a Dr. Seuss book and don't encourage racial stereotyping, but there are other edgy subjects (like the legalization of certain substances) that I can imagine becoming less fashionable at some point in time. I don't want to see books supporting this idea suppressed at some point in the future.
We should be very careful with this new self regulating market, that follows the loudest outcry to determine what they allow to be sold.