Disclaimer : Abuse. The consequences are never ending, it is a cycle that we, as humans, will forever live in. If you do not care to hear someone else's opinion on sensitive subjects you would be advised to navigate elsewhere. I know there are people who will find this offensive and as you have your opinions, I have mine. I am no angel and I am just as guilty as the next consumer of the goods that hurt lives. This is just a small window as to why i think some things are dumb.
Basic foundation to base my opinion off of:
People are interesting creatures. Either you believe you are responsible for your own decisions or someone else is. It may be some combination of both or neither. Power is there whether you believe it's yours or not. Choices, choices, choices. Everyday millions of choices. Some of these are conscious decisions. Others are not so much. It's all a matter of control. We pick and choose everything we do and don't do. It's when we choose to take control of someone else or their decisions that I find interesting.
Likes. Dislike. Ideas. Beliefs. Thoughts. Are all usually one sided opinions. There are two side to every story. It's amazing how easy it is to forget that these one sided THINGS are very much double sided. Most people choose a stance and view the world from there. Once the decision is made it can be hard to change or see from another side. Often blinding. To some people the option of there even being another side just simply could not exist.
Giving a shit. We live in a culture where we have the freedom to care if we want to. There are so many ways to care. A little caring can go a long way as much as a lot of caring can go a little way. You do? You don't? Revolutions and revelations are built on it.
How the dilemma comes into play:
Today I signed onto the World Wide Web and logged into a little social networking site called Facebook. Maybe you've heard of it. Curious to see the adventures the world of my friends have gotten into I scrolled through my Live Feed. I was bombarded by one post. "BOYCOTT AMAZON!!" My live feed was covered in it.
Which included a link to a book Amazon was offering, which has now been removed called "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure".
WTF?!
Attention sparker so I click and read the reviews about how everyone hates Amazon now. The product description didn't help :
"This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter sentences should they ever be caught."
Really? It's gross and stupid.
But you're going to "BOYCOTT AMAZON!!" over this? I could think of worse.
I don't care what anyone does really as I stand to gain or lose nothing by you boycotting Amazon. But I'm annoyed by this one. You same boycotters would be the biggest crybabies if someone did this to your books.
My thoughts :
Yes, I find this subject disgusting. Anyone that hurts a child deserves whats coming to them. I would never spend a penny on it to support this guy. That's it. That's where it ends. A book is a lot like television, if you don't want to watch it then turn the page. He thinks he's right. You think you're right. TWO SIDES. If boycotting Amazon would stop this guy or anyone who has the same opinions as him from doing what they want then you must be working some real magic. I bet you the library will get it. Or how about Barnes and Noble? Will you boycott them? Have you done any investigating lately into anything else that you might support or BUY that belittles some one's life? Or at least in some part affects some one's quality or lack of life? I bet not. If you do, you choose to not care and ignore it because it's not how you see it.
Greed? :
You care, which is great and you are doing what you think will help by getting others to care but don't try to blame your boycott on Amazon to greed. The problem I see with this kind of caring is how controlled and double sided it is. You are trying to control someone else for things you support in other forms.
Been to any major fast food chain lately? How about Walmart?? You go to these places to save a buck for yourself because you want more money to stay afloat in life. Amazon is only doing the same. Worn any Nike's or Converse or almost ANY brand lately? Use a computer much? Sure these make life nice for you but at a price of someone else.
Welcome to reality, they all use SWEATSHOPS! These sweatshops hire people in other countries, including children! Out of sight out of mind. These children work for hours on end everyday for most of their life. They are often abused and live in what we would consider unlivable conditions for wages no one can live off of in countries they have no rights in. The same greed finger you point could very well be pointed back at you for saving your buck and supporting this act.
Books :
Another wall people seem to be hiding behind for boycotting is how this can be a learning manual. Or that books like this should not be available because it may influence someone to molest a child. You could say that about any book! If I read an biography of a serial killer or rapist does that mean I will go out and do what they did? I think it would be cool to be a ninja why don't I go read a bunch of ninja books with that thinking.
Sure you could hide behind the types of books and say that a ninja book won't make someone want to turn into one because well that's fiction so that's different. Ever read the Bible? The most printed book EVER. Definantly gory. Supposedly true. Encourages people to live by it! But most people are smart enough to know that when it actually tells you to pluck out some one's eye or stone them, you don't actually go out and do it. You wouldn't boycott Amazon for that because you see that as right and well since it's right in your eyes it can't be wrong. Right?
Why aren't these places being boycotted for selling history books? Ever heard of Hitler? He did some crazy shit but you can buy books about him anywhere. They teach it in school. One might say that they don't teach about child molesters in school so they don't need these books available. This book sure as hell would have come in handy in any psychology or sociology class I've ever taken. I've taken more than one class in High School and Junior High where I was searching for hours for this point of view on the Internet for school projects. And who's to say law enforcement or psychologists can't use this to profile and help people! The best way to defeat something is to understand it. If people are so quick to burn books or boycott any place that sells them how the hell would we ever learn?
Why stop there :
Well you're at it try boycotting the news for documenting or reporting crimes. Or any horror movie for showing people how to commit crimes. Oh, and video games.
