Thursday, November 11, 2010

Amazon eventually caves

It looks like Amazon.com has finally removed the controversial pro-pedaphilia book from their website one day after reportedly holding their ground. Was it capitalism that motivated them to sell it in the first place? Obviously they're after the bottom dollar. Was it capitalism that motivated them to then remove it from their website? A boycott was called for; they would have probably lost more money than they would have gained from the sell of the book. I guess this is one example where capitalism, albeit inadvertently, had a public morally beneficial outcome.

But some questions still remain for me. What would have happened if amazon.com hadn't removed this content? Would it be morally wrong to continue to order "Christian" (or any books for that matter) from such an entity? I now order all my books, as well as most other things through amazon.com, because its easy and free shipping. Should I have stopped?

Even though this e-book was removed, this article actually mentions some other questionable stuff. Should the sell of questionable material stop me from buying good material from them?

When is an economic boycott necessitated? Should we rely solely on such means, or is it better to have government play a more hand's on role and not rely on the consumer in such situations? Since all legislation is essentially moral in nature, would this even be much of a stretch to assume that the Federal government should intervene?

Free speech, (the moral category which justified the publishing of this book) which we Americans love, is obviously a slippery slope. And I presume the question of how it should be regulated will not be getting any easier.

I'm not attempting to answer any questions, but simply passing on questions which I'm now beginning to ponder.

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