AMAZON’S WHOPPER OF A MORAL FAILURE: Instapundit (and others) have been keeping an eye on the increasing appetite for censorship, of course, with “censorship” classically defined as State action. But an exclusive report by JustTheNews.com underscores the fact that the people behind these state actors are doubling down to silence dissent any way they can. The report says:
“Sometime before this week, when it removed from its digital shelves a book critical of transgender ideology, Amazon altered its content policy to explicitly forbid books that promote “hate speech,” a major rule change that could be used to rationalize action against a broader range of books sold by the digital retail giant.”
This is problematic on so many levels. With no notice, Amazon this week yanked “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement” by Ryan Anderson, a well-respected philosopher and writer. When JustTheNews contacted Amazon, they merely referred to their “hate speech policy.” JustTheNews uncovered that Amazon has stealthily modified their alleged “policy”:
“Internet archives show that as recently as August of last year, Amazon’s book content policy did not include any mention of “hate speech.” At that time, the company stated only that “we reserve the right not to sell certain content, such as pornography or other inappropriate content.”
We have long heard “hate speech” defined downward and diluted to a meaningless standard that basically says “I find this offensive” or “this challenges my enforced orthodoxy.” There are at least two problems with this.
First, the goalposts are moved by political interest groups who have influence over companies like Amazon. Here, Anderson’s book was labelled “hate speech” by the LGBTQ community because — based on research — the book calmly criticized the notion of “gender fluidity” that has become the accepted wisdom by the elite editorial class. The book did not call for stripping people of rights or respect: it was merely scientific inquiry. Calling scientific inquiry “hate speech” is problematic, and has a chilling effect on future efforts to question the status quo.
Secondly, the hypocrisy proven by the moving goalposts ought to trouble any classical liberal. Legally, Amazon has the right to choose what books it will or won’t sell. But it’s a whopper of a moral failure. Especially given that Amazon still sells “Who Do They Say I Am: The Vindication of Minister Louis Farrakhan“, the thesis of which is “a blistering attack of malicious propaganda coming from the American media, Jewish groups, and the U.S. government.” There go the Jews, again. I thought we had moved on to space lasers, but I never got the memo.
Levity aside, the second problem is compounded by the people behind — or at least accountable — for these decisions. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos proudly proclaims that “Democracy Dies in Darkness” on the banner of his Washington Post. It has less meaning than ever when the same ownership shuts writers up or demonitizes their work. An intelligent, influential man and political contributor like Bezos ought to know better.
Does anyone at either Amazon or The Washington Post have the guts to tell him?
