Monday, April 13, 2009

Amazon.com censors Gay books

Letter to Amazon.com:

So, let me see. You want me to publish my original (gay) material on Amazon.com, and pay whatever fees you deem fit to charge, BUT, you're not going to allow people to find my books? Why on earth would I allow you anywhere near my intellectual property if you're going to treat me like garbage and charge me money for it?

With the ban on LGBTQ material do I have to fear that Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka is never going to see the light of day at Amazon.com because amongst the nearly 400 poems deemed the best of their kind in the world, there happen to be some with a gay theme?

Do you even READ the books you ban?

Why do books like the Anarchist Cookbook remain ranked on the site? According to the author, "The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change...I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print."

Do you even READ the books you continue to sell (and sell very well: Anarchist Cookboook Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,323)

Apparently Amazon.com is more worried that people might enjoy gay sex than that people might blow each other up.

God forbid that taking a stand on these issues should cost you money--let's ban the books that don't rank very high so we can appease the Moral Minority by appearing to care without sacrificing much in the way of money.

If you really want to take a principled stand, quit ranking Playboy.... Playboy: Redheads Amazon.com Sales Rank: #107,685 in Books.

~K~

1 comment:

  1. I'm infuriated! I honestly can't believe that such a major bookseller would be both blinkered and hypocritical.

    LW

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