Amazon, thy name is suck.

[secondlina]

I like Amazon for the same reasons everybody else does. 20$ off expensive things, good fast shipping, convinient web searches... As a service, Amazon is super. At least as long as you think that they put all the books on their website. But they don't. Oh no. Amazon fails at freedom of speech.

Problems Amazon have been accused in the past : Killing small businesses, restricting french books on their canadian website even though canada is bilingual and Amazon as a french version in europ (amazon.fr), stealing webtexts and publishing them under another label... And you know, as much as these things suck, they can still be excused under the fact that they are a big business and big businesses suck that way.

However, when you start backed up scientology and removing gay litterature from your website, we've got a problem. Gay litterature (aka books about homosexuality, books with homosexual characters or writers and self-help books regarding alternate sexualities) is now classified as *adult* lit. But not in the sense that it is ment for intelligent, mature readers. In the porn sense. Beautiful, best-selling books with gay characters are now in the *sexy sex bowchicawowow* section and do not appear in any best selling rankings or search engine suggestions. They are basically impossible to find, unless you know the exact title. Oh, but guess what? Porn is not ranked as adult yet. Hilarious.

But wait, no, not ALL gay litterature is gone. Oh NO! Amazon kept the best books around. Everything Pro-gay is gone. But books like "A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" kept its rank. No anti-gay books were affected by this. Only books that showed homosexuality in a positive light. But books that show homosexuality as a perversion or books like these that teach to heal homosexuality thru hypnotic prayers are ranked NUMBER ONE in the search engine.

I'm not gay. So i'm technically not affected by this. But you know what, yesterday I watched the film Milk and I was happy when I left the theatre that homosexuality is now accepted in most places. So when I see something like Amazon, that is international, take money from american churches to *ban* (or as they say - Rank) positive homosexual books, it burns me up! Even, I might have been able to accept it if it was just controversial books, but they even ban books for being written by gay writters or having gay characters. Unless it's a best-seller.

Amazon, thy name is sucky sanctimonious money bags.

I'm sorry, but I think this is the last straw for me. I may never buy from amazon again. I don't mind paying the extra 20$ anymore and having to walk to a book store (god forbid - walking! Oh  NOES!). This might be a useles action and it probably won't affect Amazon much but it makes me feel a lot better.

-The angry isa

EDIT:  Rumors on the internet are now claiming this is some kind of hoax / troll thing. I don't know if that's true. But just so you guys know, this might just be a big not funny website munipulation. Oh well... Still seems kinda true to me. Bah, hopefully it works out one way or another.

Comments

[auriga]

That is utterly ridiculous. I can't even properly express my disgust at this--what, homosexuality is some horror that the precious underagers need to be protected from even more than actual explicit porn? Ugh.

Besides that, it must be awful frustrating that they restrict French books. What's the point of that? Really, just as you said, it's a bilingual Canadian website. That's just sending mixed messages, not to mention that, from a business point of view, wouldn't they be alienating potential customers? Sounds like they're just getting weird.

Buh. This annoys me too and now I don't really want to buy the DVDs (incidentally, the DVDs seem unaffected--I came across and a DVD with, *gasp*, a cover with two girls kissing! Perhaps they haven't finished their witch hunt. XP)

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Wait, what?

So now, there is, like, NO PLACE TO SHOP ONLINE FOR CANADIANS???

Because indigo is full of douche, and now so is Amazon?

Godfuckingdammit.

Amazon, thy name is sucky sanctimonious money bags.

[brother-bliss.livejournal.com]

Ok, I almost fell out of my chair when I read that.

people should be reading books not banning them.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The Dvds seem currently unaffected, it is true. However, like you say, does it mean they left it out or are the ynot finished with the witch hunt.

The weird thing i that you can't actually buy things on Amazon unless you're 18... So why is there an underage/adult section? Because some teenager might sumble on the site and see the COVER? God forbid, the cover! The gay cover!

Completly redonculous!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

oh, there's smaller websites. You just can't find them because Ebay and Amazon have bribed google. This is really sad and frustrating. I can't imagine what it feels like to search for a homosexuality self-help book and finding books called *The church vs Gay - what is right?*

Small local bookstores, prepare to have clientele.

Re: Amazon, thy name is sucky sanctimonious money bags.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Hell yes.

You know, I would not be quite as pissed if they had banned EVERYTHING, including books with negative gay comments. But they just removed the pro-gay ones. And called it a technical glitch when asked to explain. Amazon, oh you are so full of fail!

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

No kidding. I will give indigo points for having some titles on their site and in their stores on gay tolerance, but the titles involving marriage purity and heterosexuality far outnumber them. Our society is so backwards. We claim to be a Christian state, so we ban normal things like gay love, marriage, and healthy sex (prostitution and otherwise), but when it comes to outright hetero sex, flashing breasts, and outright disgusting displays on TV, we're all for it.

This whole thing just proves my point: that while North America is prosperous, the priorities are ALL WRONG.

Re: Amazon, thy name is sucky sanctimonious money bags.

[brother-bliss.livejournal.com]

So they have erased gay books for the site....didn't the germans once try that?

[inverce.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'm appalled! But it seems to doesn't seem to be happening on the american amazon. I think its even more weird that only certain branches of a company would use such tactics?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

oh, actually, the american amazon is the main one where this is happening. Seriously, type .Homosexuality. in the search engine and behold the books that pop up as the first hits. My favorite title in there is - You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling With Homosexuality or for Those Who Know of Someone Who Is by Jeff Konrad...

They might have started to uncensor. They did mention in a newsletter today that it was a regrettable glitch by former employees and that they were working to fix it...

Glitch my left butt cheek!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Amazon.com is actually a Seattle-based company (I've passed it many times), and while Washington (the western side) is very liberal, we still don't allow for things like same sex marriage yet. I've no idea if that factors into things at all, but the U.S. is not Canada, Mexico, France, or any other country. We're still having the almighty struggle over whether to accept homosexuality or not, and there are countless citizens who strongly oppose all things homosexual. First and foremost Amazon.com is going to want to stay in business, and the company did nearly go under so many years back when all the dot com businesses died away. I don't doubt the company allows and prevents certain book topics and such to remain in business with the American masses.

I can't say I approve of Amazon.com's choices, but I can't disagree with them either. The company is allowed to do as it wishes to appease the masses. That's just how business works. Personally, I do not agree with homosexuality, but that does not keep me from banning or approving a company. (If I did, I would hate Disney with a passion for even employing such people.) They're allowed to do as they wish since they are an American company. Now, should there be a major uproar of upset citizens over the barring of books putting homosexuality in a good light, you can bet they'll change. That's just how business works.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I can understand why you don't necessarly approve of homosexuality (being from a religious background) but I'm sure you can at least agree with the following...

If you're going to ban a subject, you should ban both the good and the bad. In the case of Amazon, they only got rid of the good. I mean, if homosexuality is a touchy subject, then remove the whole sha-bang. They remove only the pro-gay books and kept all the anti-gay ones. See, if they would have removed both, I would have agreed with you; it would just be how they do business and who cares. But in this case, it's a clear choice, a clear side that is chosen. And that's what bothers me. Plenty of compagnies choose to exclude homosexuality as a subject because it's still so touchy. But clearly choosing to side with the negative suggests more then just neutral business attitude.

In general, it's pretty bad PR.

[inverce.livejournal.com]

I typed in Gay and lesbian. I didnt try homosexuality but yeah once someone caught on I'm sure they already started covering their tracks!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

I do agree to that, yes. (I never think to look for books on homosexuality at all, so I feel really neutral about the whole thing.) It is bad PR, but I guess I'm not surprised by it since a lot of the country is still run by religious ideals - be they good or bad. Amazon would do better to just wipe itself clean of the subject all together instead of choosing sides since by choosing either way, it will upset a great deal of people.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Even if it's *home* country is still run by religious ideas, Amazon.com/ca/fr/uk is NOT a moral or religious institution. It has no autority on which to judge it's customers and what they read. Hence why i'm saying (and you clearly agree) that if you're going to take a stand with a controversial theme, don't take a side. It's upsetting to their customers, as you say, either way. And it's bad PR to shun a minority, no matter what your views on said minorities are.

[rowenathewitch.livejournal.com]

I agree that it is their choice to consider this or that topic not4kids material...or to even put a label on them attention guys, this is a gay book XDDDD , but the thing is those books don't appear on the site unless you search the exact title, and that's like not selling them...

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

That just ticks me off, just when we think we're in an age where society is realizing that there is nothing wrong with being gay. *sigh*

I especially feel for the people who are trying to figure out if they are gay or not. That can be hard enough challenge by itself, but to also have to go through this when they're trying to find books to help them figure it out. That's not right.

If it is a joke, it's still aggravating. -_-;

[isabiunleashed.livejournal.com]

Hm, so I was quie shocked by that, and went to check myself because I am a huuuuge fan of amazon - not just because of the prices, but because of the excellent customer service I received *coughIndogoSuckscough*
I was reaaally surprised at the difference between the .com and .ca.
On the American site and, you were right, the first hits are clearly anti-homosexuality. But lower, I found a little bit funny (and, if you want my advice, maybe the proof of how younger generations are more accepting?), all the pro-gay books were... children's stories! (and some of them look friggin cute!) there are a bunch of children's book abou homosexual couple/families, all pro-gay.
On the .ca, there is only one of those children's book, but there was also the Gay Kama Sutra (clearly pro!) and a bunch of books on history and homosexuality.
So while I agree that they shouldn't exclude pro-gay books, I'm kind of releived that it seems like a hoax on the .ca (although I dearly hope it wasn't something intentional that they tried to pass off as a glitch when they saw it wouldn't go).

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

The first thing I thought was that it was a hack of some kind; it just didn't make sense to me otherwise. I hope I'm right, but I'm usually not. :-(

[rowenathewitch.livejournal.com]

I'm glad this is a hoax, because cancelling books is one of the most hateful examples of legal negation of freedom of speech (if you can't shout their mouth, kill them economically...sadly I have seen that.)