Stepping Over the Borders
The Borders/Waldenbooks chain is letting the terrorists win again:
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
“For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority,” Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.
I woudn’t know an issue of Free Inquiry if it walked up and tapped me on the eyeballs, but I do know a case of kow-towing when I see it. Only in America would we have a tradition of relinquishing our hard-earned rights the instant someone waves a pipe-bomb. It’s unconscionable that an American literary institution, such a bookstore or library, would allow itself to being bullied into self-censorship.
I feel like I’m living in the land of the free and the home of the prudent.
Those who feel I am being overly critical would do well to remember the dust-up over the novel The Satanic Verses in 1988. For his criticism of Islam, Author Salman Rushdie was placed under an Islamic fatwa, or legal pronouncement, by the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. The fatwa called for the execution of Mr. Rushdie, preferably at the hands of the closest available Muslim.
As with the Danish cartoons, the Satanic Verses resulted in worldwide demonstrations, outbreaks of violence, and threats or assaults against associated persons. Rushdie himself went into hiding for several years. And the response of American bookstore chains? Like today, they pulled in their shingles and took the book off the shelves, citing “the safety of employees.”
At the time, my wife was the assistant manager at the local B. Dalton Bookseller, part of the Barnes and Noble chain. She and her fellow booksellers were in total disagreement to the corporate policy. Books were the reason that B. Dalton’s was in business, and to remove one out of fear for a foreign government was totally out of line with their personal beliefs. They complied with the order, but they felt wrong for doing it.
That very evening, they sat down and wrote an e-mail to corporate headquarters, expressing their disappointment in B&N’s decision. They were not alone. Hundreds of B&N stores did the exact same thing. As a result, Barnes and Noble reversed its decision within the week, citing the letters and comments made by their own employee base.
The number of American booksellers that died as a result of this decision: 0. As in zero. As in “we win, they lose.” Stick that in your hookah and smoke it.
I can only hope that Waldenbooks and Borders employees take a similar stance, and that their corporate heads begin to realize the depth of their mistake. Until that happens, I’ll be doing my bookshopping elsewhere.
This news came via Dan Lovejoy, who also won’t be visiting Borders anytime soon.
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So you think there is no difference between having a book that shows some of the weak (satanic) verses of a belief system and a cartoon that makes fun of their most holy person? Is the response by muslims around the world extreme or even insane? Of coarse. But that doesn’t negate the truth that some one they reguard with the same reverance that Christians used to hold for Jesus. With the exception of some insane group from Kansas, we have largely outgrown the whole “ifn youns talk bad ’bout Jesus you’ll git a mouth full o’ lead” thing. They have not. So before you stick your chest out in self righteous defiance remember that the rights of the press to insult people DOES NOT superceed the rights of those who take offence at being insulted.
Totally off-topic and I’ll have to come back later to read your posts. Meanwhile, I’ve infected you with The Indie Virus over at my site. Please don’t come lookin’ for me.
“the land of the free and the home of the prudent”–CLASSIC!
Wow, a political debate on my blog. Now I’ve seen everyting.
Fred, although I’m not advocating that we write books to ridicule everyone’s personal beliefs, what I believe about the content is irrelevant. If I look though the bookstore hard enough (and in this country, it wouldn’t take much), I’m quite sure I’d find something that offends me. I even have the right to tell everyone how much it offends me, boycott the publisher, and write nasty letter to the newspaper telling everyone how the author eats children for dessert.
However, I don’t have the right to silence the person, especially by driving a car bomb into his front yard. Neither does anyone else have the right to do the same to me. It’s all part of the beauty of living in America (even better than the cheap fast food).
That’s pretty much what you were saying - we outgrew that behavior and they have not. However, this doesn’t mean I can’t expect some civilized behavior from them. If you’re walking to school and a bully pushes you around, you have two choices - go to school the long way around next time, or kick the bully in the kneecaps when he isn’t looking. I’ve always been a kneecap kind of guy.
So according to your annalogy, the bully is the guy that everyone is picking on and drawing demeaning pictures about his familey and passing that not only aroud the school, but the whole city where the bully lives and when he stands up and says “no more” we should run over and kick him in the kneecaps when he isn’t looking. No wait, that would make us the bully, wouldn’t it.
“Kneecap diplomicy” must give way to understanding. We must, as a nation (world) come to understand that what we communicate are our seeds and they will grow. Perhaps the Danish cartoonist thought he was being funny. But honestly, no one has the “right” to make fun of anybody else and then hide behind “freedom of the press” or “free speech” rhetoric.
Nor does anyone have the “right” not to be offended.
As for the comparison to Christianity, call me when Jerry Falwell has someone beheaded for blasphemy on TV.
The entire “lets all respect each other” issue is kind of a sidebar. In my eyes, the real issue is an American corporation censoring speech for fear of foreign terrorists.
If I start monitoring my speech for fear that I’ll offend someone with access to an Uzi, I might as well barricade myself in my house and be done with it.
That is a good point. I have never been one to fear offending someone, except on the point of making light of thier beliefs. Paul wrote “Do not let ANY unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only that builds others up according to thier needs”. The problem I have with the corperation censorship is that they don’t really care about the content and weather or not it is making fun of some one but rather fear.
Fear will never serve us.
Niether will a show of beligerance on our part.
I used to work at a Borders. I’m sure the employees are super-duper thankful that their well-being is being taken so seriously. It’s too bad that couldn’t have provided us with decent health insurance. That might have gone a bit further…
When the “Satanic Verses” issue occurred, my wife struggled with the same issue. She was grateful that her own safety and well-being was the reason for the removal of the book, but being forced into the situation by a foreign government stuck in her craw. In her case, pride won out over protection. However, I wouldn’t fault any bookseller who felt less the activist and more the survivalist. It’s a tough call for anyone.
At least some things never change — her health insurance stank, too.