{"id":1341,"date":"2009-04-13T19:47:36","date_gmt":"2009-04-14T02:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.candlelightstories.com\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2009-04-13T20:05:22","modified_gmt":"2009-04-14T03:05:22","slug":"amazon-appears-to-censor-books-related-to-homosexuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/2009\/04\/13\/amazon-appears-to-censor-books-related-to-homosexuality\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Appears to Censor Books Related to Homosexuality"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what appears to be one of the worst cases of literary censorship<\/a> in modern United States history, Amazon.com has listed a wide range of books as what the company calls ‘adult material.’\u00a0 It would appear that they have included any title that contains any material related in any way to homosexuality.\u00a0 By being placed on this ‘adult material list’, the books were essentially stripped away from any search results<\/a> and made very difficult to find by browsing.<\/p>\n

The following is from Amazon:<\/p>\n

In consideration of our entire customer base<\/a>, we exclude \u201cadult\u201d material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Candlelight Stories thinks that this represents one of the single most moronic statements ever delivered to the public by a prominent book seller.<\/p>\n

The company has announced that this was due to a ‘technical glitch’ but there are very few bloggers who seem to believe that explanation.\u00a0 It would seem that plenty of ‘adult material’ was left available and that this effort was focused largely on non-heterosexual material.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a terrible thing for a major bookseller to do.\u00a0 It’s a form of book banning<\/a>.\u00a0 It reeks of ultra-conservative fear of ideas or differing lifestyles.\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon says it was engaged in an initiative to protect its wide customer base by listing certain books as ‘adult material’ so that they would not appear at the top of search results and possibly offend someone.\u00a0\u00a0 The complaints of someone who is offended by a book for adults showing up in a list of search results should not be listened to for even a moment.\u00a0 It is a very short step from this kind of censorship to a book burning.\u00a0 This is truly indicative of the danger in primarily relying upon a single online source for books.<\/p>\n

It would be advisable to immediately move away from Amazon as a source for books.\u00a0 This kind of behavior, though given a flimsy explanation by the company, tends to indicate a general direction or pattern of behavior in a company.\u00a0 Candlelight Stories is looking into fully disengaging from our relationship with Amazon and will not be offering their products through our site.\u00a0 This blog stands fully opposed to discrimination, censorship or book banning of any kind whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Once again, we cannot over-emphasize the importance of moving away from Amazon for book purchases.\u00a0 This is a very serious problem and the company’s explanation is insultingly false.<\/p>\n

Here are links to several of the best book sellers on the internet:<\/p>\n

Powells.com<\/a>
\nIndiebound.org<\/a>
\nBarnes & Noble<\/a>
\nBorders<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what appears to be one of the worst cases of literary censorship in modern United States history, Amazon.com has listed a wide range of books as what the company calls ‘adult material.’\u00a0 It would appear that they have included any title that contains any material related in any way to homosexuality.\u00a0 By being placed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195,137,163,71,209],"tags":[191,224,225],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","category-books","category-opinion","category-public-service","category-web","tag-adult","tag-amazon","tag-censorship"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t