Date: Mon Nov 11 09:00:23 PST 2002
Subject: Please pull these horrific titles from your bookshelves....
To: feedback@amazon.com

To Whom It May Concern:

I have shopped with Amazon.com since it first opened up as the largest online bookstore. I have had an Amazon.com Associate's bookstore since those were first made possible (I now have two associates stores). However, I have just been made aware that Amazon.com carries books that cater to child molesters! Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers is most certainly not a title that any decent publisher should print, and to see that Amazon.com carries it is most disturbing. The customer reviews alone should convince you to pull this title (all bad ratings), since it apparently isn't monetarily successful, even if the moral issue doesn't move you. The same goes for books on bestiality and incest.Why are you promoting "literature" that encourages men to violate little boys? And why on earth do you think this makes you "avant garde?" It actually makes you seem downright foolish and unthinking.

If this title is not pulled from Amazon.com, I will be closing my Associates bookstores and signing up with Barnes and Noble's associates program. I will also tell all of my websites' visitors (over 75,000 per day combined) why I am no longer selling books from Amazon.com and will not purchase any from them myself.

I was very sorry indeed to learn of this from a visitor to my website and to see the book on your shelves when I followed her link. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. Amazon.com has been one of my favorite online stores since its beginnings, and I would be sad to learn that they didn't care enough about the safety of children and the minds of their customers to pull such titles from their shelves. Regards, Mrs. Jennie Chancey

Amazon.com's First Response:

From: cust.service02@amazon.com
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 12:13 PM
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry

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.

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

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. We value all feedback from our customers, and I thank you again for taking the time to send us your comments about this issue.

Best regards,
Vineet Kumar
http://www.amazon.com

My Reply:

Date: Tue Nov 12 07:38:40 PST 2002
Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
To: cust.service02@amazon.com

Dear Vineet,

Your response only strengthens my decision to drop my Amazon Associates bookstores and all my links to Amazon.com. To claim that selling a book is not the same as "endorsing" it is ludicrous. Selling a book is supporting its author, therefore Amazon.com supports and "endorses" an author who is trying to make pedophile predators look normal.

Free speech is not an absolute right, and to claim that Amazon.com is only upholding "freedom of expression" is a gross misunderstanding of the right and priviledge of free speech. Free speech does not give a person the right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. It does not give criminals (pedophiles) the right to promote or even explain their criminal behaviors in print. Child rape is a crime in this country. It is an immoral and abominable act. Surely Amazon.com would agree that selling "snuff" films (where a victim is actually murdered on film) doesn't come under the aegis of "freedom of expression." Why, then, does selling a book that seeks to make pedophilia (a crime) "understandable" constitute the protection of free speech?

Amazon.com's policy is untenable and immoral. In the wake of the pedophila and sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic church, it is completely irresponsible and insensitive.

I will say it again: I have enjoyed using Amazon.com for years and have been happy to act as an Associate, selling books and tapes through the online stores connected to my websites. But I will not hesitate to pull all of my links to Amazon.com and redirect all of my book, tape and video links through Barnes and Noble's associates program. I will notify my e-mail lists of the change and explain the reason. I will post the reason on my sites and ask my visitors to join with me in hurting Amazon.com in the pocketbook, since an appeal to reason and moral responsibility seems to make no difference.

I regret that I even have to make such a step, but Amazon.com's unwillingness to see this issue for what it is (endorsement of a moral evil and a criminal act) forces me to do so.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Jennie Chancey

Amazon's Final Response:

From: orders-reply@amazon.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 11:46 AM
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry

Dear Jennie,

Hello again from Amazon.com.

First, I would like to thank you for your heart-felt e-mails. I understand that you feel very strongly about this issue. Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts; we do support the right of every individual to choose his or her own reading material or entertainment.

Therefore, Amazon.com continues to provide a wide variety of products and does not engage in censorship, regardless of our own individual tastes and beliefs.

Please know that we respect your opinions and value your feedback. Thank you again for letting us know how you feel about this issue.

Best regards,

Manoj Soni
http://www.amazon.com

Well, there you have it. Books promoting pedophilia are "entertainment," and, regardless of whether or not Amazon.com's staffers agree with pedophilia, they feel it would be "censorship" to cease selling a book that seeks to normalize child rapists. This is irresponsible and deeply disturbing. Please join me in protesting Amazon.com's decision by refusing to purchase products from them and telling them why! Such behavior should not be overlooked or bypassed. Our children's safety is at stake!