Time to Boycott Amazon.com

Why? Oh, simply because the company offers a warm and affirming paean to child molestation as one of its selections.

Clayton Cramer, the Second Amendment scholar and relentless gadfly who helped spearhead the downfall of academic fraud Michael Bellesiles, has the scoop here and here. Mr. Cramer explodes Amazon's tedious arguments (italicized) in the second "here" link (Cramer's comments in bold):

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Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your concern.

Let me assure you, Amazon.com does not endorse "Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers." Simply because we sell a book does not mean we agree with the ideas it contains. If you will look at our site, you will see that we have posted a review of the book by one of our editors which is highly critical of the ideas expressed in Mr. Riegel's book.

Please know that, contrary to rumors that have been circulating around the Internet, this book is not a "how-to" manual for molesting children. The author simply expresses his point of view about what he feels are "misunderstood" relationships between men and boys.

Of course, it doesn't have to be a "how-to" manual for molesting children. Most molesters don't need any instructions. They need justification and rationalization to let them get past their guilt feelings about what they do. That's why people like Father Shanley, a Catholic priest and child molester, played a part in founding the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

We believe that people have the right to choose their own reading material. Our goal is to support freedom of expression and provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any title they might be seeking.

My goal is not to do business with an organization that distributes child molester self-justification materials. There's a lot of material out there that I wouldn't buy, and wouldn't think very highly of someone who did buy it. But if someone wants to buy Hustler, or whatever passes for pretentious erotica, that's their bad taste. Distributing and selling stuff that encourages child molesters to think of themselves as the next identity group, in need of understanding, patience, and acceptance--that crosses the line.

That selection includes some titles which most people, including employees of Amazon.com, may find distasteful or otherwise objectionable. However, Amazon.com believes it is censorship to make a book unavailable to our customers because we believe its message to be repugnant.

Censorship is something that the government does. Private organizations are not censors when they choose not to associate themselves with depravity.

While we do not censor items from our web site, I wanted to reassure you that Amazon.com does not promote these kinds of titles.

How gratifying. If Amazon.com didn't offer it, there are molesters out there would have one less source of reassurance for their depraved indifference to the suffering of others.

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Amen, Mr. Cramer. Looks like Amazon doesn't get my business anymore. But it is about to get my viewpoint.

Why not offer yours, too?