Borders blocks Danish cartoons
You know, I actually enjoy going to Borders and spending more on books, CDs, and DVDs than I would across the street at Target. I enjoy going to a place that appears to respect a wide variety of views and carry a variety of viewpoints. I enjoy browsing through the rows upon rows of magazines they carry, from the Utne Reader to Guns & Ammo.
But not, apparently, discussion of a handful of cartoons that might cause extremists to become violent. What is going to happen when other extremists learn this lesson? Will a little rioting over pro-choice articles in magazines remove that discussion from Borders also? What about threats for carrying pornography?
- Borders, Waldenbooks Won’t Carry Magazine
- “Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.”
- Borders bans local magazine
- “Flynn said he was disappointed by what he described as ‘exaggerated concerns’ that were not in the best interests of readers. He noted that publication of the cartoons in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Austin American-Statesman had not provoked any violent response in the United States.”
- Bookstores and political discourse
- If you want good essays on politics, head towards the fiction aisle.
- Sales fueled by Sept. 11, war
- “Bill Jourdan, periodicals buyer for Borders Books, said sales of Soldier of Fortune at Borders outlets had doubled since Sept. 11, but declined to give actual sales figures.”
- Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy at Wikipedia
- “Critics claim that the cartoons are culturally insulting, Islamophobic, blasphemous, and intended to humiliate a marginalized Danish minority. Supporters of the cartoons claim they illustrate an important issue and their publication exercises the right of free speech. They also claim that there are similar cartoons about other religions, arguing that Islam and its followers have not been targeted in a discriminatory way.”
- Free Speech and Tort Lawsuits Over Attacks on Bookstores
- “The costs to which petitioner refers are those associated with the public’s reaction to the speech. Listeners’ reaction to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation. Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob.”
- Borders feature: Why Orwell Matters
- “Much of Orwell’s time was spent circumventing such surveillance and interference. At one point he was compelled to advise E. M. Forster not to mention the work of K. S. Shelvankar, on the grounds that his book had been banned in India. However, not many months later we find Orwell writing in person to Shelvankar and asking him to do some broadcasts on the history of fascism under his own name.”