tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post114108416838265305..comments2023-10-05T06:28:29.938-07:00Comments on Bookseller Chick: Bring Your Nose Plugs: Opinions On Opinions.Bookseller Chickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16740546395821645741noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141148379128541812006-02-28T09:39:00.000-08:002006-02-28T09:39:00.000-08:00I happened to hear David Irving (historian who has...I happened to hear David Irving (historian who has just been jailed for holocaust denial in Austria) being interviewed on the radio this morning. I'd only taken a peripheral interest in the case before, and would have thought those who defended his right to Free speech had a point, but having had to listen to him, I'm afraid I'm in a burn-his-books mood. <BR/><BR/>Isn't there a difference between theory and practice? Yes, in theory Free Speech is What We Want, but if in practice someone wants to say something evil, why would we let ourselves be a conduit for that, just because of an idea? <BR/>Hugely problematic in practical terms: it's probably impossible to reach a consensus as to whether Danish cartoonists are fun-loving chaps or evil heretics - but still I'm not sure you can claim being a bookseller compels you to professional amorality. <BR/>You could even go further and play with the idea that we usually hold people to some extent responsible for the products they sell. If you sell a book that claims the Holocaust didn't happen, and your customer buys it and uncritically accepts that version, are you in no sense to blame?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141142346508902892006-02-28T07:59:00.000-08:002006-02-28T07:59:00.000-08:00Lady T, you're a better person than I am. I do thi...Lady T, you're a better person than I am. I do think Coulter should be carried in libraries, but if I owned a bookstore and a customer wanted me to order something I really hated ("Italians: A Plague Upon Humanity!"), my computer would probably freeze up...The Gambino Crime Familyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09188999459345511249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141139999380705792006-02-28T07:19:00.000-08:002006-02-28T07:19:00.000-08:00I'm glad that people such as yourselves recognize ...I'm glad that people such as yourselves recognize the dangers of banning books from libraries -- unfortunately, not everyone does:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/challengedbanned/challengedbanned.htm" REL="nofollow">ALA's Challenged and Banned Books site</A>Jean L. Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05820846337864043092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141139269011793182006-02-28T07:07:00.000-08:002006-02-28T07:07:00.000-08:00Your post was excellant,BSC-thanks for taking the ...Your post was excellant,BSC-thanks for taking the time to read my rant and for taking a stand here. I would be shocked at the Powells "Kooks" section story but it's like that line from Casablanca about being shocked to find gambling going on:)<BR/><BR/>Gambino CF-it's not so much as helping Ann Coulter make money,it's more like being a defense attorney for a client you may not respect but it is your duty to give them the best representation that you can. If you have a general bookstore and don't wish to carry Ann Coulter or Al Franken in stock,that's fine but if a customer asks you about it or wants to order it from you,you should give them the respect and proper customer service you'ld give to any other Joe Average looking for a book.<BR/><BR/>I will confess that I was a bit of a romance snob but I never gave anyone looking for the new Nora Roberts a hard time about it and by working with readers of all tastes and different reading needs,it helped to appreciate other genres better.lady thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16287907577241697874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141136683222123912006-02-28T06:24:00.000-08:002006-02-28T06:24:00.000-08:00Yeah, while there's no good reason to be rude, eve...Yeah, while there's no good reason to be rude, everyone draws the line somewhere. A bookstore isn't a library and if you're willing to make the commercial sacrifice of not carrying Coulter, I don't think it's any big deal.<BR/><BR/>I mean, you're not trying to have her banned or thrown in prison, right? Ok, ok. I know a good card-carrying liberal should be able to rise above pettiness but really... Why do we always have to be so happy-clappy? "Sure, Ann, I might not agree with you saying that us lefties should be publicly flogged and beaten but I WILL help you earn a little more cash for the bank account."<BR/><BR/>I don't know. In this particular case, I think the republic will survive...The Gambino Crime Familyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09188999459345511249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141095263469951752006-02-27T18:54:00.000-08:002006-02-27T18:54:00.000-08:00Excellent post. I am fine if a bookstore chooses n...Excellent post. I am fine if a bookstore chooses not to carry a book for any reason, political, don't think it will sell, not their genre etc. Unless it's mine of course- that is a different story. : ) <BR/><BR/>However, I think ridiculing a customer for what they choose to read is wrong. A simple we don't carry this item would suffice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141095138996149152006-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:002006-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00Christine, exactly. Don't call yourself a general...Christine, exactly. Don't call yourself a general bookstore if you aren't going to carry books for the general population. As for what a bookstore carries or sells depends on who's doing the buying and what area they are buying for. The line of where to stop buying is up to the buyer. Personally I don't think you need to have every kind of book in stock, but you do have a duty to order that book for a customer if they want it (and it's within your power to get it). The way I think about it is, if I start imposing my opinion you, how can I then defend myself if you respond like-wise. Not to mention there is always a chance you may be reading neo-nazism books not because you are a nazi, but because you're trying to understand neo-nazism, or whatever. I can read the anarchist's cookbook without being an anarchist or wanting to blow something up. I personally think that everyone should read a few things that they don't agree with and then ask themselves why, the answer might surprise you. <BR/><BR/>Laura, I would go with that argument if I hadn't seen bookstores turn around and play the "poor me" card when someone gets on their case. You can't claim that some book is attacking the very foundations of free speech, without acknowledging that by not selling that book you are too. You can't call yourself a bookstore that supports banned books, and then not support all banned books (as was the point of the article from the LA Times). I don't think its hypocritical to sell something you don't believe in because we individually are rarely representative of anyone other than ourselves (and that sentence made a lot more sense in my head). There are a lot of books that I dislike but still sell because I realize that I am not the same as the person standing across the counter and I'm not going to change their mind about something by denying their requests. It's only going to make them dig in more. A better plan of attack would be to sell them the book and then suggest an alternative that is a little closer to your tastes (but won't scare them off), lulling them into slowing seeing both sides, or even pointing out a radically opposite book in case they want to read both sides of the argument. <BR/><BR/>What starts as a matter of taste and opinion can domino into censorship and hating what we don't understand. Many people can say they hate and disagree with X, Y, and Z, but far less can form coherent, fact-based arguments to support their opinion. <BR/><BR/>Again, it's not a matter of stocking every book out there in a store (it's just not possible), but simply being willing to order it in if the customer makes a reasonable request (reasonable meaning that it is even possible to get the book, not reasonable due to content). If that's still something that the bookstore doesn't wish to do then they should still be polite about it as opposed to giving attitude.Bookseller Chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16740546395821645741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141093290102382662006-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:002006-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:00I dunno, I think that a bookseller would have the ...I dunno, I think that a bookseller would have the same right not to sell a book that is repugnant to them that a customer has to read it. The customer can just get it somewhere else, no? The seller takes the "punishment" of not making a sale. <BR/><BR/>I could even argue that it is a principled stand not to make a profit off of books that are repugnant to the purveyor. <BR/><BR/>If a clerk ridiculed my taste, my revenge is to no longer patronize that bookstore. (And perhaps mention it to the manager, if the clerk was that rude--certainly it would suffice to say, "We don't stock or order that title, I'm sorry.)<BR/><BR/>It's always been annoying that so many high-falutin' bookstores turn their noses up at romance, but it never struck me as an issue of my freedom or freedom of speech. If the books were censored, that would be one thing (and that danger does exist for romance, I believe) but what you are discussing seems to be an open matter of taste and opinion. That has to be free, for both buyer and seller, it seems to me, or we are all forced to march to the same drummer.<BR/><BR/>Libraries supported by the public are another matter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13002022.post-1141091349798878012006-02-27T17:49:00.000-08:002006-02-27T17:49:00.000-08:00Great post, BSC. Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood qu...Great post, BSC. <BR/><BR/>Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood quote; I don't remember it exactly, but it goes something like: "Go far enough to the right, and you'll meet the same kind of idiots coming around from the left."<BR/><BR/>For me, the litmus test has become: if the "other" side is doing this, would I find it objectionable? If a bookstore with a conservative slant refused to carry books by Hillary Clinton, or shelves Al Franken under "Kooks", I'd find that narrow-minded and childish. So...ditto to stores with a liberal slant. <BR/><BR/>I'm interested to know why bookstores would refuse to carry books of the "wrong" political stripe. Is it because they don't want to support those politics in any way? Fine, but then it's no longer a general bookstore. I don't expect the feminist bookstore in town to carry Rush Limbaugh's stuff (in point of fact I don't know whether they do or not), nor the cookbook/gardening book store. But a general bookstore -- yes, I would.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, though, I wonder: How DO bookstores decide which books to carry? Those they think will sell, obviously; but beyond that, where are the lines drawn? What about erotica? What about a book promoting neo-Nazism or race supremacy? Do the personal values of the seller/owner EVER enter into the equation?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com