Amazon Quietly Bans Books Containing Undefined ‘Hate Speech’

I'm assuming you mean books like The Turner Diaries?

I'd ask if you read the book Amazon pulled....but I can guess that you have not.

Given their publishing guidelines, I am not surprised that they will not sell some books. They are not a library, they don't have to give access to every book.

Amazon outlined in its publishing guidelines what it won’t sell: “We don’t sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains inappropriate contentography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.”

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civilwarbuff said:

Amazon Quietly Bans Books Containing Undefined ‘Hate Speech’
Amazon has adopted a rule against books that contain anything the company labels as “hate speech.” It appears there was no announcement of the new rule. It was only noticed by media after the online retailer recently banned a book that criticizes transgender ideology.

It isn’t clear what Amazon means by “hate speech” or even if it used that label to drop that particular book. In general parlance, Americans hold widely diverging views on what constitutes hate speech, a 2017 Cato poll found.

Thought this was interesting. Comments/thoughts?

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Epoch Times? I am disappointed. ET requires an account and I already have to throw away the paper issue that clutters my mailbox each week.

SilverBear said:

I'd ask if you read the book Amazon pulled....but I can guess that you have not.

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Have you, and if so, what was the problem with it?

civilwarbuff said:

Amazon Quietly Bans Books Containing Undefined ‘Hate Speech’
Amazon has adopted a rule against books that contain anything the company labels as “hate speech.” It appears there was no announcement of the new rule. It was only noticed by media after the online retailer recently banned a book that criticizes transgender ideology.

It isn’t clear what Amazon means by “hate speech” or even if it used that label to drop that particular book. In general parlance, Americans hold widely diverging views on what constitutes hate speech, a 2017 Cato poll found.

Thought this was interesting. Comments/thoughts?

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Honestly, if we are going to go with the "hate speech" meme, I think calling a person you disagree with "white supremacist" is hate speech unless you specifically call out their membership in a group that self labels as "white supremicist". Labels don't really work for me.

There it is oh enterprising conservative free marketiers, your chance! Amazon has opened up a market for you, jump in and grasp this opportunity to sell books they refuse to!

Wait, that's so old hat. Cry and scream that they should be compelled to sell what you want them to and your rights are violated if they do not do so.

civilwarbuff said:

Amazon Quietly Bans Books Containing Undefined ‘Hate Speech’
Amazon has adopted a rule against books that contain anything the company labels as “hate speech.” It appears there was no announcement of the new rule. It was only noticed by media after the online retailer recently banned a book that criticizes transgender ideology.

It isn’t clear what Amazon means by “hate speech” or even if it used that label to drop that particular book. In general parlance, Americans hold widely diverging views on what constitutes hate speech, a 2017 Cato poll found.

Thought this was interesting. Comments/thoughts?

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I think what civilwarbuff is saying is that Amazon is applying their own standard to what is hate speech. That is a slippery slope that could lead (with a lot of hyperbole) to a "Fahrenheit 451" style purging of all literature. I tend to be more optimistic about this. Amazon has made a lot of money on online book sales and will not willingly wean themselves from that by purging till it hurts. As a capitalist company, they also have the right to sell what they want. There is no mandate that they sell everything, it just seems that way.

That being said, their banning of books cannot be without bias. We all have one. I tend to think that capitalism will overcome this and the books will just move to another less popular platform. The overall result will be an even greater fracture in this country. Right now there are people who will only watch CNN and others that will only watch Fox. As more and more media outlets are seen to be swinging into an ideological approach towards business, there will be others that crop up and further polarize the American political landscape.

tz620q said:

I think what civilwarbuff is saying is that Amazon is applying their own standard to what is hate speech. That is a slippery slope that could lead (with a lot of hyperbole) to a "Fahrenheit 451" style purging of all literature.

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How? Even as large as amazon is they only have control over their own business. Other individuals and businesses are free to publish, sell or give away free of charge books that amazon chose to no longer stock.

Paulos23 said:

They are not a library, they don't have to give access to every book.

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Lol, like your average modern library is going to do that! Or even a fraction of it. The once presumed "free speech" crowd is now into banning books. Who knew?

GOD Shines Forth! said:

Lol, like your average modern library is going to do that! Or even a fraction of it. The once presumed "free speech" crowd is now into banning books. Who knew?

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I had a friend that was a teacher in library sciences. He had his students go find things from unpopular books to inappropriate content. No matter the request, they were expected to find it.

So yes, any adult should be able to get help to find any book that the library has.

civilwarbuff said:

a 2017 Cato poll found.

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If I think or say it then it is not hate speech. if I don't agree with it, then it is.

"Epoch Times" is not what I would consider a trustworthy enough source to tell me what the weather was going to be today.

I'm not finding any information about this supposed ban anywhere except the right-wing bubble. If the policy actually exists and isn't the work of overactive imaginations, I'm guessing it's similar to the recent decision by the publisher of Dr. Seuss books not to continue publishing books that may not be considered racially sensitive these days.

I know that some are determined to find things to be offended by. There are a plethora of reasons to be critical of Amazon and its ubiquity in our modern world. Whining about criticism of alleged """"transgender ideology"""" is not one of them.
Ringo

Who knew Amazon was a public utility?