Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
First Amendment Rights?
As I was glancing over the day's news on MSNBC, one article definitely caught my attention. This article discussed the rising controversy surrounding Amazon's selling of a book called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct. The controversy rests in the fact that legally, through the 1st Amendment, Amazon has the right to keep any book they want on their website and the author has the right to sell it. Morally, most people would agree that keeping this book readily available is absolutely wrong.
According to this article, Amazon defended its right to sell the book until they lost a large amount of customers. What I don't understand is how someone could defend a book teaching pedophiles how to deal with being criticized and targeted because of their "sexuality." The author of the book says that the protesters are "free to think whatever they want to think about the book." He justifies writing the book by stating "everytime you see (pedophiles) on television, they are either murderers, rapists, or kidnappers" and by letting you know, "that's just not an accurate representation of that particular sexuality." But when MSNBC purchased the book for reviewing purposes, they stated that the two sexually graphic stories "presented as an adult's recollection of his youthful experience" could be interpreted as thinly veiled examples of pedophilic-themed erotica.
Do we really want "pedophilic-themed erotica" in the hands of those twisted people obsessed with our children and little brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and grandchildren? I would say that we should definitely make sure these kinds of books are kept away from the rapists and kidnappers of the world. Amazon took the book off its website only when they realized they were losing many potential customers through protests and anti-Amazon Facebook groups. What kind of world do we live in where big business overpowers morality and a person's sense of right and wrong?
According to this article, Amazon defended its right to sell the book until they lost a large amount of customers. What I don't understand is how someone could defend a book teaching pedophiles how to deal with being criticized and targeted because of their "sexuality." The author of the book says that the protesters are "free to think whatever they want to think about the book." He justifies writing the book by stating "everytime you see (pedophiles) on television, they are either murderers, rapists, or kidnappers" and by letting you know, "that's just not an accurate representation of that particular sexuality." But when MSNBC purchased the book for reviewing purposes, they stated that the two sexually graphic stories "presented as an adult's recollection of his youthful experience" could be interpreted as thinly veiled examples of pedophilic-themed erotica.
Do we really want "pedophilic-themed erotica" in the hands of those twisted people obsessed with our children and little brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and grandchildren? I would say that we should definitely make sure these kinds of books are kept away from the rapists and kidnappers of the world. Amazon took the book off its website only when they realized they were losing many potential customers through protests and anti-Amazon Facebook groups. What kind of world do we live in where big business overpowers morality and a person's sense of right and wrong?
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