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- Newsgroups: misc.consumers
- Path: sparky!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!webdw
- From: webdw@cbnews.cb.att.com (bruce.d.woods)
- Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
- Organization: AT&T
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 13:12:37 GMT
- Message-ID: <1992Sep8.131237.3388@cbnews.cb.att.com>
- References: <5SEP199223305034@acad3.alaska.edu> <88059@netnews.upenn.edu>
- Lines: 31
-
- In article <88059@netnews.upenn.edu> rsk@aspen.circ.upenn.edu (Rich Kulawiec) writes:
- >In article <5SEP199223305034@acad3.alaska.edu> jsdph@acad3.alaska.edu (Dennis P. Harris) writes:
- >>According to a story on today's NPR Morning Edition, Waldenbooks has fired the
- >>staff of its Georgetown store in Washington, DC for refusing to sell the
- >>"Joke-A-Date" appointment calendar, which contains racist and demeaning "jokes"
- >>for each day of 1993. After hearing some examples in the story of some of the
- >>"jokes", I agree with the former WB employees that the publication (from St.
- >>Martins Press, which should know better) would offend a large number of
- >>bookstore customers.
- >
- >Fine. Then that "large number of bookstore customers" do not have to buy
- >the book and read it, thus avoiding the unpleasant prospect of being offended.
- >It is not for the staff of the bookstore to decide that certain books are
- >inappropriate; that is a decision which should be left to each individual
- >consumer, who should be free to buy and read whatever they wish. The staff's
- >job descriptions and responsibilities do not include passing editorial
- >judgement on the contents of every book in the store, and supressing those
- >which they find personally unappealing.
- >
- >This political correctness stuff is beginning to get on my nerves.
- >
-
- Let me get this straight -
- (1) It's OK (according to the far left/politically correct crowd)
- for an employee of a private company to censor what can or cannot
- be sold (legally) by the company worked for; it's "OK" for a
- person to refuse to perform the work he is paid for.
- (2) It's "not OK" (according to the same crowd) to in any way suggest
- or propose that public tax funds not be used to support any kind
- of art/music etc. no matter what.
- Big Brother's 1984 is here!
-