Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

Post by erhk » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 10:18 AM UTC

illirik wrote: post #592

anonisko wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many people support the development of powerful weapons without considering what happens when their enemies get a hold of them.

The “weapon” here is just basic conscientiousness. A publisher decided to stop publishing some books because they denigrate people, and eBay decided that they did not want to be facilitating the sale of books that denigrate people. We are not talking about an H-bomb - there is no power structure wielding a “cancel button” here.

Post by kstenerud » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 10:20 AM UTC

runsWphotons wrote: post #692

kstenerud wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvoted you to counter the downvotes since this actually does add to the discussion. It's important to remember that the power of Mein Kampf lies in its status as a symbol, not its actual contents. Nobody actually reads Mein Kampf, nor have they ever (just like nobody actually reads the Bible unless they're actual preachers). It was (and still is) about the personality cult of a strong man and his message of power vi…

Lots of non-preachers read the Bible. Less people read mein Kampf but I know of some (some friends at school, some teachers at uni, some people on YouTube). I think Dr. Seuss was a bit of a symbol before, but now is definitely a symbol. I don't think your distinction here is very clean and your comment is elitist.

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 10:21 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #669

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's two kinds of freedom: freedom from and freedom to. These are some children's books that contain illustrations that some people find offensive and the publisher (and sellers) are deciding they no longer want to be associated with and sell to children. There are internet forums where the images are available and people can view them without the police knocking your door down, and I'm sure these are available in…

Nobody is forced to sell it, but ebay is a website that consumers list their stuff on. They’re clearly going out of their way to remove it. I don’t think that falls under ‘freedom to’, because nobody can list it going forward either.

Post by enriquto » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 10:23 AM UTC

kstenerud wrote: post #628

wirrbel wrote: post #573

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Germany here, we banned Mein Kampf from being sold (used copyright law to do that). I once stood in a book shop (teenager, time to look at books but not enough money to buy them) and some skindheads wanted to buy it, it wasn't available. They went away. Providing context is good, but frankly also really difficult and why not just provide newer childrens books that are more inclusive.

Upvoted you to counter the downvotes since this actually does add to the discussion. It's important to remember that the power of Mein Kampf lies in its status as a symbol, not its actual contents. Nobody actually reads Mein Kampf, nor have they ever (just like nobody actually reads the Bible unless they're actual preachers). It was (and still is) about the personality cult of a strong man and his message of power vi…

Post by mikaeluman » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 10:26 AM UTC

whitepaint wrote: post #612

mikaeluman wrote: post #570

It’s bad enough that the company self-cancels the books. But now we also can’t even have a secondary market for what already exists. People have severely underestimated the influence these woke people have. In my company, we receive forms from clients asking us to survey our employees for their sexual preferences and racial categories, essentially based on the same nomenclature used in nazi Germany. It is completely…

> In my company, we receive forms from clients asking us to survey our employees for their sexual preferences and racial categories Wait, what? Is this legal?