Boycott This!

Amazon.com sells used to sell (see update below) an e-book that advocates for “safer pedophilia.” Disgusting! You’re likely being encouraged by your Facebook friends to boycott Amazon.com until they remove it.

Here’s something to think about:

• Amazon.com has more than one disgusting book. Which one(s) are you going to boycott Amazon.com over? Choose anything you hold dear: a religious belief or scientific fact, a relationship, or a view that something is reprehensible. Amazon.com sells a book (probably, many books) that denigrates your belief and belittles you for holding it, denies the scientific fact and offers an inane alternative, maligns your relationship, or cookbooks that reprehensible thing. Are you going to continue to boycott Amazon.com until all of those books (and ones still being written) are no longer available?
• Amazon.com is not the only purveyor of the disgusting. eBay sells it to the highest bidder. Craigslist advertises it secondhand. Your computer and gaming console lets you experience it firsthand. Your TV broadcasts it as entertainment. The local theater shows it in graphical detail. And the Internet has a porn version of it.¹Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it. Will you boycott eBay and Craigslist, sell your computer, gaming console, and TV, picket the theater, and cancel your Internet service?

I can imagine the response, “But we have to do something about pedophilia.” You’re absolutely right.

• We can work to provide safe environments for our kids at school, at church, and in the neighborhood. From background checks for volunteers to classroom architecture, there are things we can do to improve their safety. Find some time to volunteer at your kid’s school or church. Meet your neighbors. Don’t think it can’t happen to your kids because ______ (fill in the blank with your excuse).
• We can learn how pedophiles operate and learn to recognize their grooming behavior. Our ignorance makes it easier for them to operate.
• We can advocate for laws and their enforcement that provide for consequences and treatment for pedophiles.
• We can have the courage not to look the other way when a situation doesn’t look right.
• We can be willing to speak up!

Instead of making a statement we can make a difference.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments.

Update. After only one day of pressure, Amazon.com relented and pulled the e-book. Don’t be fooled. The real threat is still out there.

• 1
  Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it.