Wal-Mart stops selling anti-semitic book (1 Viewer)

[Ricardo C]

First of all, the book is not "banned". But if you'd like to know why it was taken off the shelves: Because it's a proven forgery designed to misrepresent Judaism as a cabal with a plan for world domination through the deliberate ruination of world economy. Funny you should mention the Nazis, though, since Hitler himself swore by this particular text.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> "How To Win Friends And Influence People" all books that maybe inspired far more hatred, violence, and death.

I hope you're joking about that one.

 

[Kenneth]

Whether Walmart wishes to sell a certain piece of fiction is up to them. However, they can't misrepresent a work of fiction as a non-fictional work (which is what the news report indicated they did). Personally I think that some of these works of fiction (like the protocols and turner diaries) fail the movie theater test (Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is not protected free speach) and should be regulated for that reason (not necessarily banned but perhaps restricted to people over a certain age). For the other documents mentioned they have a historical reference and although any document can be used for bad purposes (the US Constitution was used to justify Slavery and prevent Women's Suffrage before it was amended) the documents themselves are not inherently bad.

Kenneth

 

[RobertR]

I disagree completely. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater where no fire exists is a violation of a) The theater owner's property rights when the person yelling fire is not him or his agent, or b) The contract the theater owner made with the audience if he or his agent yells it.

There is no such violation with these kind of lies. The best way to combat them is with the truth, not suppression. I do not care for the idea of government regulating access to books it declares untruthful or "inherently bad". It seems to me that the market worked as it should in this case, and demonstrated that there is no basis for government to act. John and Jeff got it right.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Agreed Walmart should label it better but I guess low prices, equal poorly paid web designers, and equals poorly labeled website. When I did some research I didn't realise that most of the books mentioned in this thread can be downloaded and read for free online. The funny part is that I don't understand why Walmart wouldn't want to take the money of whoever wants to pay for it?

 

[Ricardo C]

Without stepping into the political arena: Zionists are not necessarily supremacists. Whatever problems a person may have with the policies of Israel, the core concept of Zionism does not involved supremacism. And of course not all whites are white supremacists. What is your point? Reading the book does not make someone an anti-semite, but the fact is that the vast majority of the people who buy ARE part of the WN movement. I wouldn't carry the book if I owned a book store. Nothing personal against someone wanting to read it out of curiosity, but I'd rather not provided another outlet for a tract frequently used by anti-semites worldwide to "educate" their membership.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

It is not about anything that is real or proven, it is a forgery, and a pretty bad one at that. It was essentially plagiarized from a mid-19th century satire about Napolean. It was not even meant to be non-fiction in it's original context, yet it is sold as the truth. It is a piece of crap that has no redeeming qualities, unlike the other books you list, including the Bible, Koran etc. Those other books may have caused a lot of grief in the world, but they were not written (forged) for the sole purpose of causing hatred against a race of people. Even "The Communist Manifesto" is a philosophical work that has merit in a historical sense (and is considered a "bible" of sorts in academia). The "Elders of Zion" has no such status. As far as taking a whole genre off the shelves, I would expect Walmart to see this as a first step and we'll see where they go from here. If you are suggesting that the Bible, Koran, "How to Influence" etc., are in the same "genre" as "Zion", well I find that a leap of logic that is quite silly. YMMV.

BTW, if my military leaders ever go to battle without reading "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, I would consider them quite negligent. It is simply one of the greatest pieces of literature in history and it is quite amazing to find it mentioned in the same breath as racist baloney like "Zion".

 

[Kenneth]

I would agree that The Art of War is a classic that has impact in many places. Many of its ideas translate well to business as well. My favorite concept from The Art of War is "The attacker must vanquish, the defender need only survive." A fundamental concept for many different arenas, not just warfare.

Kenneth

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Personally I think all these books are as whether right or wrong the other person we deal in life may not have a full deck and any advantage we can have and use is to our own benefit.

My main objection is why Walmart would make an annoucement over just one book and when a company as big and influential as Walmart does this it's almost akin to a government banning (heck in some areas they may wield more power).

 

[Jeff Gatie]

 

[Kenneth]

Self censorship is not the same as government censorship. As others have noted, there are organizations that will happily provide this material to interested persons. My understanding is that it can still be purchased from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Self censorship occurs all the time from the personnal level to the corporate level. Only if self censorship was practised by everyone at the same time on the same subject would it be close to government censorship (a highly unlikely occurrance).

I have visited countries that engage in government censorship. Malaysia banned the movies Babe and Schindler's List (B because it was about a pig and SL because they don't acknowledge The Holocaust). Their supreme court overturned the ban on B but not SL. Malaysia also banned a Chinese serial called Judge Pao because they have a law against costume dramas using costumes other than their own. We haven't had anything close to real censorship in this country for a long long time (there are always local attempts to censor things but no recent national programs).

Kenneth

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Thanks for the great perspective Kenneth. Sometimes in our zeal to label anything and everything a "violation of rights" et al., we forget that there are places in this world that truly do censor every aspect of a persons life and actually do trample on a person's rights. I think we can all agree that Walmart (no matter how much "power" one thinks they wield) choosing not to sell a racist screed is nothing compared to a government enforced holocaust denial.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - When we apply such hot button words as "censorship" to anything and everything, it soon begins to mean nothing, and then we are all in trouble.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Every politician I've met in real life stated they read this book and therefore the decision of war usually rests in their hands.

Oh, please. You're saying wars started because someone read Dale Carnegie? Those people probably also drank milk at some point in their lives; maybe that was the cause.

 

[RobertR]

I agree with that, as well as the all-too-frequent use of terms such as "racist", "fascist", "Hitler-like", "genocide", etc. It dilutes the meaning and the genuine evil behind such things.

 

[Kenneth]

We may already be there with Stalin's famous quote, "The death of one is a tragedy; the death of a million, a statistic."

Kenneth

 

[Jeff Gatie]

It also signifies a lack of respect for the brave, dedicated persons who fought and in some cases died to eradicate these evils and those that practiced them. It seems that some like to equate their tossing about of these words and judgments on the internet with the genuine sacrifices of those that fought against real, actual censorship, racism, fascism and genocide. My reply to these "delusions of granduer" types has always been - "Stop your silly rhetoric. If you want to impress me, storm a beach, stare down a tank, stand in front of a fire hose or at least do something besides typing for your cause."

 

[Michael Warner]

When I was designing a website for a major U.S. bookseller we used a formula that weighed various factors (sales history, historical importance, etc) in deciding what books to automatically display on section pages. For some reason the book that always popped up front and center on the History page was "Mein Kampf." Needless to say this caused much consternation but no matter how we massaged the formula this title kept showing up as a featured selection. We finally had to add a line of code that specifically forbade "Mein Kampf" from appearing as a staff pick. Certainly one of the weirder things I've come across over the years.

 

[RobertR]

And such an action was NOT censorship, nor would it have been if the book was written by, say, Michael Moore or anyone else.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

A fascinating discussion


Just add mine to the voice that does not consider what Wal*Mart did either censorship or even wrong. As many said, the book is not censored because you can still get the book you just can't get it at Wal*Mart. There are a lot of books that Wal*Mart chooses not to carry even before they are released, does that mean they are censoring all of those works? I don't think so!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

"Mein Kampf" has a legitimate historical/sociological significance that can be usefull to study, either as a historical document or the rantings of a tyranical madman who just happened to control a country and start a world war. The "Protocols" has no historical significance; it is, in fact, a misrepresentation of history and being such it has no useful purpose, except for those that would like to perpetuate the lie presented in it's pages. I do not have to read it to realize what it is or what the petty, half-assed, deluded and very small minority of people that believe what it says are like. Learning the inner feelings of Hitler before he came to power can be enlightening and useful, learning what a forged absurdity says about a "zionist conspiracy" is not.