I stopped by my local Borders Book Store today

[muntrv]

and walked by the non-fiction best seller shelf. There were 2 stacks of Ann Coulter's book "Godless" and the 2 front copies were turned upside down. Should I read any significance into this?

[EstimatedProphet]

1. Yes-I was there

:)

[SnowGoose]

2. Borders' hometown is Ann Arbor Michigan.

Given that, and the fact that most of the employees are functionally literate, I wouldn't expect the staff to be too friendly to her screedophrenic rantings either.

[muntrv]

4. Ann Arbor is where I live and I went to one of the Ann Arbor stores.

[unschooler]

3. The bookstore is possessed by Satan.

[Fridays Child]

5. I don't know but according to buyblue.org, Borders is...

...politically neutral, in that it contributes to no party, candidate, or political cause. Beyond that, the two front copies were probably overturned by a good liberal employee or customer.

[furman]

6. I saw Coulter's book in Costco

I was very disappointed as I thought Costco was one of the "good guys".

[Dora]

7. Costco is a "good guy."

Costco has good business practices, they pay their employees well, they're not anti-union. There's more, I'm sure. All of my interactions with Costco employees have been friendly, positive, and intelligent.

Selling Coulter's book doesn't negate Costco's "good guy" status.

[UDenver20]

18. Right on, Dora

Just because they want to make a buck off of freepers doesn't make them bad.

[Dora]

32. Hey, if I could make a buck off of other people's stupidity...

If I could do that while being as good a business as Costco, then please show me where to sign up.

[UDenver20]

36. I AM SO GLAD...

There are some other business-minded liberals out there.

Being socially-conscious and enjoying the thrill business aren't mutually exclusive attributes...

[AZBlue]

8. When retailers start deciding whose books to sell & whose not to sell

...we have REALLY BIG problems. That's called censorship.

[earth mom]

10. Ethics should trump censorship in this case.

I'm disappointed in Costco. :(

Coulter is one of the most vile hateful people alive. She should not be given any opportunity to be a mouthpiece for her disgusting vitriol by anyone on the left. :puke:

[AZBlue]

13. Whose ethics? That's a very dangerous statement.

Who gets to decide who to sell? Then, who to sell to? Then, who to allow to own the store? After that, who to house and who can live where? Or, who to feed or who to sell food to or what kind of food to sell??


Slippery slope - and a method practiced by dictators through out history. No, there's no way that can be allowed in my country. I despise Ann Coulter, but any store that refuses to sell her book is more despicable than she is.

[im10ashus]

16. Good points you are making in this thread.

I wholeheartedly agree. We can't start to censor what the public may or may not want to read based on political agenda. It's exactly what you say - censorship. You couldn't pay me to buy her bile-filled books that are absent of any reality, but I have a great respect for freedom of speech, even when I don't agree with the source.

:hi:

[AZBlue]

17. Thanks!

I believe it all falls under Freedom of Speech. And we can't allow that to be tampered with - especially with these nutjobs in power! :crazy:

[earth mom]

20. Sorry, but I disagree. What does selling that vile book say about Costco?

Do they not care about their reputation? Because selling that book makes them a part of promoting Coulters hideous, obscene and hateful messages. Furthermore, Costco picks and chooses it's reading material. They are not a bookstore. I would hardly call choosing NOT to sell Coulters crap censorship, no more than it would be censorship if they choose to sell Mrs. Fields cookies instead of Pepperidge Farm. :eyes:

[karlrschneider]

21. Do they have any books by Clinton? Franken? Moore?

just wonderin'

[AZBlue]

24. That is censorship, plain and simple.

(1) Costco doesn't pick and choose it's reading material by the books' titles, authors or subjects - the only "picking and choosing" is done by the jobbers - what they can get cheaply in large quantities to sell to Costco. That's what determines 98% of Costco's product lines, not just books (the 2% being in their food area since some of that is local and in-house). For more info on that, I suggest you research the wholesale industry.

(2) You support censorship if you don't want them to sell a book, any book, just because you don't agree with it. Period. The next step (lock-step I guess) would be the Moral Police.

[liberalhistorian]

25. Amen!

As heartily as I despise her and her ilk, and as disgusted as I am at the thought of her making money off of her hateful, mean-spirited bigotry, stores have the right to sell her material and people have the right to buy and read them. Turn it around. What if a store decided its customers shouldn't read any liberal books? What if people went around turning over liberal books in stores and libraries? Neither side has the right to do that to the other.

[earth mom]

28. The thugs been censoring the media and all of us for years.

That's why the argument against censorship is already lost.

It's time to fight these bastards at their own game and not let them control the message.

[stanwyck]

35. Disagree. The owner gets to decide

If you frequent a Christian bookstore, you won't expect to find New Age books, right? And bookstores that carry primarily gay literature don't normally stock William Bennett's or John Gibson's books, right? There is only so much room on the shelves and so much money. So, the owner decides which books are ordered and which aren't. Of course, a bookstore like Borders just wants to sell books, period. They'll stock books of general interest, including Coulter. However, don't think censorship isn't happening. Think of all the books Borders DOESN'T order. Decisions have to be made. Who knows what their criteria is? Probably just dollars. But, then again, personal beliefs and politics could also influence whose book is on the shelf. And whose isn't.
So, if a "gay" bookstore refuses to stock Coulter's book, you think that store is as despicable as she is? I disagree. Maybe that store owner knows his/her clientele and wants to save the space for an author who doesn't insult his/her customers. That's freedom, too. Or in your world are ALL stores required to stock ALL books...smells like fascism.

[muntrv]

15. If Costco refused to sell Ann Coulter books, it would be no better than

Clear Channel banning the Dixie Chicks on all their stations.

[earth mom]

22. The Dixie Chicks promote peace while Coulter promotes hate & war.

Costco should care about who and what they associate themselves with.

Clear Channel? What a joke! Censorship is their middle name. :puke:

[AZBlue]

26. In your opinion.

And I, for one, do not want you deciding what I can or can not read, listen to, watch or believe.

If you don't like her, don't buy the book.

[earth mom]

30. The reTHUGlicans have been deciding what everyone reads,

listens to, watches and believes in for a long time now. Make no mistake about that.

IMO-It's time to fight them on the same playing field.


And FYI-I would NEVER buy or read a book by anyone I know to be so evil and vile.

Why you would want to, I have NO idea.

[AZBlue]

37. Why don't you try reading a post before you respond to it?

I already stated my feelings about Ann Coulter earlier.

As for your plan to lower the Dems to the base and gross level of the Reps...yeah, good one. Let me know how that works for you. Oh wait...you're already there.

[LTR]

39. I agree

As much as I despise Manthrax, I wholeheartedly support wingnut goons wasting $25 on terrible, plagiarized books.

Costco should have a right to sucker these idiots out of their money.

BTW: I have the theory that Manthrax is a fraud, basically a plant by liberals to make conservatives look stupid, but I'll save it for another time, another thread.

[AZBlue]

27. Almost worst!

I mean we expect that crap from the GOP and its cronies (as in Clear Channel). Dems shouldn't lower ourselves to their level.

[warrens]

12. Buyers are not paid to buy their political beliefs, only what will sell

Hopefully, it was a total dog and he won't make that mistake again. But seriously, would you like it if the record buyer refused to buy your favorite artist because the lyrics were liberal?

[furman]

38. A business has the right to refuse to sell a book

It would be censorship to ban a book in general,
but individual businesses may decide whether to sell the book or not.

In my mind Costco should have excercised better judgement than to sell
this book which contains vicious and obvious hate propaganda.

[Buck Laser]

9. Funny...I do that occasionally in bookstores.

No particular campaign, the notion just strikes me sometimes. I like to make sure I'm not being watched, though.

[otohara]

33. Me Too - But I Don't Care Who

sees me doing it!

[yellerpup]

11. In any bookstore

I look for my cousin's latest book and move all the copies to the "hot, hot, hot" section then making sure to arrange them artistically. Never thought of rearranging Ann Coulter's books before, but hmmm....

Edit for spelling

[Freedom_Aflaim]

14. Sounds like they want people to buy books or something

Don't fall for it. Books are the work of the debil.

:)

[redwitch]

19. Wasn't me

I turn 'em backwards. :-)

[diamidue]

29. That's just wrong.

Turning books upside down and backward! Honestly, that's just not right. Much better to just place a neighboring book on top of it...by accident of course. You wouldn't ever actually want to touch an Ann Coulter book.

[redwitch]

31. You are right! I have seen the evil of my ways!

Henceforth I will cover all Anne Coulter trash (after turning it upside down AND backwards) with something more intellectually stimulating. Thank you for showing me to the light!

[liberalhistorian]

23. The Borders here in Rapid City, SD,

has several stacks of Coulter's lying POS "book" in the front, and it never seems to get any smaller. I don't see anyone picking it up or reading it, either. And this is in a conservative area!

[Bullwinkle925]

34. I wonder if my sister had been there?

She always turns the Uber-Conservative trash backwards on the shelves. Says she can't help it, something just rises up in her and takes over!

:evilgrin: