Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

axisofeasy.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 345 posts

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#81

Post by ardy42 »

kazinator wrote: post #65
urthen wrote: post #9

[flagged]

Corporations in the USA are not free to do business with whomever they choose. Can a USA corporation sell rocket launchers to Iran? Can a USA company buy the president of Ruritania a Rolex watch in order to beat a French company in a bridge construction bid? Can a USA corporation get together with its cohorts and agree not to sell some commodity below a mutually agreed price? Can a US citizen obtain and act on advice…

>> A libertarian complaining about a private company choosing not to do business with them? Damn those big corporations and their... checks notes freedom to do business with who they choose?

> Corporations in the USA are not free to do business with whomever they choose.

But wouldn't a libertarian (or at least some of them) be opposed to those restrictions on the individual liberty of corporations?

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#82

Post by belltaco »

misiti3780 wrote: post #43
pen2l wrote: post #2

After a half hour long conversation with my neighbor last week of him trying to convince me that Bill Gates is behind coronavirus, please, for the love of our future, continue banning information that is blatantly put up on a bad faith basis. It's exhausting to see my mom and dad succumb to a new conspiracy every other day. I don't see how else we can curb this other than for the tech companies to start aggressively…

Why does he think bill gates is behind COVID? That's a new one I have not seen yet.

It's very popular right wing conspiracy.

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#83

Post by ardy42 »

solarkraft wrote: post #76
whoisjuan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free flow of information is not the same as misinformation. Lack of understanding is not the same as misinforming. I 100% support restricting distribution of material that is based on conjecture and bullshit info. Especially when that information comes with a for-profit motive. This person can easily put their book for free on their own website if they really feel they have important information to share. Amazon can…

> That's not what free speech is. The argument becomes more difficult the more widely used and essential a platform is. Would you make the same argument about being restricted in what you can say over a private chat service? Over the last decades and especially during the pandemic how people assemble and use their right to free speech has massively shifted. Before you assume that I hold an strong opinion on this: I d…

>> That's not what free speech is.

> The argument becomes more difficult the more widely used and essential a platform is.

The solution is to not let any one platform get that big and essential as a matter of policy.

For free speech to actually be positive, I'm starting to think it's actually pretty important for that speech to be subjected to some kind of peer review process before it's broadcast widely. We used to have that when broadcasting was more limited and expensive, but by destroying those limits, social media also weakened the peer review.

People are more comfortable with smaller actors making editorial decisions, we need those kinds of decisions, so we need to keep the actors smaller.

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#84

Post by zepto »

reaperducer wrote: post #50
zepto wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘who decides what is bullshit’ Is the usual problem with this.

I don't buy the argument that bullshit exists on a perpetually grey gradient. There are things that are clearly bullshit.

Nobody is making that argument.

The problem is that there are fewer clearly bullshit things than people think.

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#85

Post by em-bee »

briefcomment wrote: post #79
misiti3780 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm generally confused why you are being downvoted for pointing this out.

HN should really get rid of downvotes. They only play one role: To alter how others perceive a post I am unfortunately immediately biased against a post that is greyed out. Greyed posts are increasingly just a different political view rather than an objectively wrong statement. If a post is truly problematic, there is a flag option. Let the cream rise to the top, but don't tell people how to think.

having seen to many unreasonable downvotes, i have the opposite reaction. when i see a gray post i tend to expect the downvotes to be unreasonable. frequently it is something that i don't agree with but feel is a comment made in good faith that doesn't deserve to be downvoted. rarely it is something unacceptable that deserved its downvotes.

(like this comment is made in good faith but off topic...)

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#86

Post by briefcomment »

em-bee wrote: post #85
briefcomment wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN should really get rid of downvotes. They only play one role: To alter how others perceive a post I am unfortunately immediately biased against a post that is greyed out. Greyed posts are increasingly just a different political view rather than an objectively wrong statement. If a post is truly problematic, there is a flag option. Let the cream rise to the top, but don't tell people how to think.

having seen to many unreasonable downvotes, i have the opposite reaction. when i see a gray post i tend to expect the downvotes to be unreasonable. frequently it is something that i don't agree with but feel is a comment made in good faith that doesn't deserve to be downvoted. rarely it is something unacceptable that deserved its downvotes. (like this comment is made in good faith but off topic...)

My comment was definitely off topic, but the message never gets traction when it's on its own.

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#87

Post by jtgi8jgfdg »

whoisjuan wrote: post #20
Reedx wrote: post #3

Never thought we'd see wide support for book restriction or censorship again. Are people not reading history or considering the second order effects? Heck, you don't even have to go back that far. Just look how badly "official sources" handled Covid-19. For example, remember what the official word was, even despite being a self-contradiction: masks don't work, but save them for health workers. You may say that's a no…

Free flow of information is not the same as misinformation. Lack of understanding is not the same as misinforming. I 100% support restricting distribution of material that is based on conjecture and bullshit info. Especially when that information comes with a for-profit motive. This person can easily put their book for free on their own website if they really feel they have important information to share. Amazon can…

Have you kept up with our esteemed epidemiologists? They did an abrupt U-turn within a week:

“We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-hea...

How can we decide what's scientific anymore?

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#89

Post by dmix »

jtgi8jgfdg wrote: post #87
whoisjuan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free flow of information is not the same as misinformation. Lack of understanding is not the same as misinforming. I 100% support restricting distribution of material that is based on conjecture and bullshit info. Especially when that information comes with a for-profit motive. This person can easily put their book for free on their own website if they really feel they have important information to share. Amazon can…

Have you kept up with our esteemed epidemiologists? They did an abrupt U-turn within a week: “We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/20…

> How can we decide what's scientific anymore?

Trust Amazon moderators will do the right thing, of course!

I'm sure Amazon can build a massive team of highly educated unbiased technocrats to carefully parse through the tens of millions of content being added to their services any one day.

There's no way this could fail.

Re: Amazon refuses to sell book on Covid-19 and lockdowns

#90

Post by StuntPope »

It's ironic that an article that seeks to examine the subtle aspects of this situation, after hitting HN Top 10 and front page, gets FLAGGED as inappropriate (it's unflagged now, for the moment).

What is it about cognitive dissonance can't you handle? Only approved opinions allowed?

Post reply on HN