Her.meneutics: Why I Boycotted Amazon This Week

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November 12, 2010

Why I Boycotted Amazon This Week

When it comes to how-to books for pedophiles, defending the defenseless is more important than defending free speech.

Caryn Rivadeneira, guest blogger

I jumped on a bandwagon Wednesday. I was one of the thousands who tweeted out against Amazon.com’s decision to carry on its Kindle store the e-book The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct.

According to Philip R. Greaves II, his self-published book would “make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certain rules for these adults to follow.” Greaves hoped “to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter [sic] sentences should they ever be caught.”

Ah, lovely. This book, for sale at the same place I regularly order Christmas gifts for my own children. The ones this guy would probably want to molest, albeit “safely,” thereby receiving a “liter” sentence for doing so were he caught. I don’t think so.

So, even though I love Amazon, even though my own book is sold there, and even though I’m grateful Amazon gives us writers a chance to be read and critiqued and ranked, I joined the masses in an “#amazonfail” Twitter campaign. While others called for boycotts and aggressively shamed the company, I simply tweeted, “Glad to have ordered the new Wimpy Kid from @Borders. @Amazon, pull that pedophilia book! #amazonfail”

But even though my words didn’t scathe or scare, I wrestled with what I had written. With what I was asking Amazon to do. As a lifelong lover of books and language and ideas, I seemed to be joining the ranks of the old-school book burners, of those who took offense to a word or an image or an idea and moved to ban it from public discourse. But now, instead of burning a barrel of books on the library steps (I’m imagining that scene from Footloose), we were burning virtual books on Twitter.

A friend’s Facebook comment made me wonder further about what I had tweeted: “There is a freedom of speech issue here. Even when you don't agree with something is it worth having it banned/removed?”

His comment came on Veteran’s Day. No small irony, since it’s a humbling day when I pray for the men and women who risk and have risked their lives so that I can write and say whatever I want (except “Fire!” in theaters, of course), so that I can voice my opinions without fear of being jailed, so that I can write books or articles or stories no matter how offensive they may be to others.

But as I read my friend’s question of, “Is it worth it?” my heart and head said, “Yes.” With this book — an instruction manual for child molesters — yes.

Because this wasn’t simply a matter of free speech. And even if it were about free speech, as a Christian I have higher rights to defend, including this one: to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed” (Prov. 31:8, NLT).

I first underlined that verse as a high school student. Next to it, I wrote, “A good verse for life.” And so it’s been.

So, while I can stand by and even encourage conversations and books and movies about things I disagree with, I cannot stand idly by those things that seek to crush the defenseless, including a how-to manual for pedophiles.

This issue isn’t about censorship (as my friend and Amazon initially claimed) — Greaves can blog and speak about this all he wants. The issue is about a consumer community telling a company that we will not stand by while they profit off child abuse. This is about consumers using their own free speech and the free market to demand more, higher standards from the stores at which they shop.

Amazingly, within a day, because of pressure from Twitter and the Facebook groups that sprung up, calling for boycotts, Amazon took down the book. Let’s hope it stays this way.

Of course, my hypocrisy in all this is that I do business at plenty of companies that profit off child abuse. I’m likely wearing something right now that was made by a child no older than my oldest (age 8). This Christmas, my kids will probably open at least one gift made in part by someone else’s child slave.

That’s a problem. Suddenly that “good verse for life” I underlined so long ago gets complicated.

Yet, today Christians' opportunity to speak up has never been stronger. It took one day for Amazon to change course because of people typing on Twitter and Facebook.

While our government would have taken years and millions of dollars and thousands of unread pages to pass laws to forbid the sale of how-to-molest-children handbooks, it took a lot of caring people just 140 characters and a day. Maybe 15 cents worth of time.

Imagine what those same people — plus a whole Twitterverse of Christians — could do to speak up for the defenseless, to rescue all those others being crushed by injustice. If we took everybody else to task. If we tweeted up for those who cannot tweet for themselves. That’s about the best use of free speech I can think of.

Caryn Rivadeneira is a writer, speaker, and mother of three, and the author of Mama's Got a Fake I.D. as well as a book forthcoming from Tyndale House. She has written for Her.meneutics on Halloween, burqas, fathers, Mother's Day, spanking, happiness, and pregnant Olympians.

Comments

Be prepared to get beat up over this.

I struggled with the boycott issue also - not because of the freedom of speech issue (as I believe the content of this book is illegal - not an issue of free speech), but because, like you, I wondered how many other products I own, or places I shop that pour money into organizations with whom I disagree or use slave labor, etc.

Boycotts are hard - cause the minute you turn in another direction there is something deplorable staring you in the face.

Like when Christians called for boycotting Target because their checkers would say, "Merry Christmas." Please. Was my response. Get off yer high horses.

Anyway, this one was hard. And I'm still struggling because I really like Amazon.com. But, in the end, they "repented" at least somewhat and removed the book in question.

Moving on now.

So, I hear you. But

that should have read checkers "wouldn't" say, "Merry Christmas".

While I am glad the book was removed and I do not believe it is a censorship issue (not because of the legality or illegality of the product but because we are talking about a corporation that has the right to sell or not sell anything they want, so it cannot be legal censorship), I still am not comfortable with the process of this. How many other books are still for sale that also have reprehensible material? Is there going to be another 24 boycott every time someone notices something on Amazon?

And at the same time, I am not sure I want businesses to primarily cater to a vocal minority over all kinds of things. (Christian books stores are great examples of removing things from shelves because a vocal minority objected to some content.)

@Joline: In general, boycotts tend to annoy me too. The Christian ones--of Target, Disney, whatever--or the political ones (like, the boycott of Whole Foods because the founder is a Libertarian? Give me a break!). But money does talk, so at some level, they work.

@Adam: That's a whole other rabbit trail. And a great point. Apparently, Amazon also sells some "How to Kill" book and Lord knows how many other horrid things. But a couple years ago, the same thing happened with that "RapeLay" video game. People were appalled that they sold a video game that simulated the rape of a mother and her teenage daughters (imagine!), and they removed it. Thank God.

In many ways, it's an uphill battle. But just because we can't tackle it all, doesn't mean we shouldn't tackle any of it. Or at least do what we can....

--Caryn

I hope you'll be kind to me after I write this, but I can see a benefit to such books because they INFORM ME how to protect our children. I read a "how to" website to know the danger signs of when adults were acting inappropriately towards my children. I was so thankful to learn an insider's look at pedophilia. Now I know what a predator looks and acts like. This book could expose the whole industry and make us all aware. Maybe mothers should read it and learn the mind of a pedophile to SAVE our neighborhood children.

The problem with many of these stories is that the majority of sales were most likely after the stories started. And the majority were probably to people like LiveWithFlair that were reading them not to learn how to actually commit crime, but for another purpose.

And stories like this further fan the flames of fear that our children might be kidnapped by a pedophile. But that is an almost zero chance compared to things that we don't protect our children from.

If this makes some people feel good that they protected their children (because this was really about the mommy bloggers more than anything else) does this just assuage guilt for spending so much time online instead of playing with kids?

I get your point about doing something even if we cannot do everything. But I wonder about how the something gets chosen. It is rarely the most important thing. It is usually something that doesn't directly affect us. And usually it has little long term consequence. But it makes us feel better that we have done something.

It's amazing how everybody gets up in arms about what Amazon.com carries when it's been known for a long time the company is probably one of the world's largest pornography purveyors. The rest of the world will buy from Ben & Jerry because they have recyclable ice cream cups, but when it comes to personal gain and profit, they buy from Amazon because of self-interest not for what the company stands for: profitability at all cost. Amazon has an unfair advantage against regular bookstores because of outdated tax laws so doesn't even support local communities with sales tax dollars, much less content that doesn't rot the mind. Christians ought to patronize stores that support who Christians are as Galatians 6:10 might be applied.

Nobody should have even a slight twinge of guilt over having boycotted (not merely repremanded) Amazon over its sale of this how-to book for pedophiles. Of course it is not censorship to do so. It is the free choice of a consumer. Amazon chose to yield. In this case the main-stream media were on our side, which is not always the case, and may not always be the case in the future even on the issue of pedophilia.

The choice of boycotts is a matter of tactics. Such economic tactics only work if we choose to target the worst offences, not dissipate enthusiasm by choosing doubtful causes to act on.

Sorry, I mis-typed my URL for my last posting. It should have been www.socialconservatives.ca .

Eric, I find Gal 6:10 a very odd justification of local purchases and/or Christian businesses. In context that passage is talking about holding one another accountable for sin and restoring someone back into the church. It is an encouragement to do good generally in society and among Christians, not to encourage consumerism.

Caryn, just chill. Nothing to lose sleep over.

Whether we like it or not we all boycott something because of our commitment to Christ each and every day. As the parent of a 15 year old girl we don't watch the Tyra Banks show and America's Next Top Model had been banned from our home, among other programs. My wife refuses to buy from KFC because of their slaughtering practices , and I won't buy a Harley (OK, that's just a personal preference, but nevertheless), we all boycott something. It's just semantics. An organized boycott rallying millions of people to bend to the will of the majority to affect change is one thing. Deciding to do make a stand for something and telling others of your decision is totally different. Sort of like sharing the Gospel, and I have NO problems with that.

If Target starts selling porn and giving away free condoms with every purchase over $20 I will definitely find another store to put a hole in my wallet and won't hesitate to tell others what I'm doing and why. It's my "constitutional right" to do so, but above all, I answer to someone with a lot more juice than any advocacy group or legal scholars.

In this age of social media and immediate dissemination of information, the line that separates organized "take-it-to-the-streets action" and simply sharing the reasons for a personal action (to hundreds of your "friends") seem to have become blurred. But really, the line, according to Scripture is crystal clear. Let others argue the constitutionality of your voice. If the Spirit leads you to action and the Word confirms your attitude then do what is right.

I'm pretty sure that when I meet the Lord face-to-face I'll have more than a few "Uh, I guess I didn't quite get that one quite right, did I?" moments. I get that and am so thankful for His grace. My heart was truly in the right place but the execution was lacking. But there will be those moments where He says, "You did the right thing. Despite the "constitutional costs", you were faithful in the the face of persecution for My sake". My goal is more of the latter.

Not buying from a vendor that sells a how-to manual for pedophiles and then telling others what I have chosen to do? I'm sleeping like a rock tonight (much to the consternation of my wife because I kinda snore when I'm really well rested).

A friend of mine recommended that I read "The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse" by Dan Allender and he was going to lend me his copy but since it would be awhile before I would see him again I began considering getting my own copy. The stats are crazy - 1 in 3 women were sexually abused as children (oh how I laughed at Adam's comment about people being scared about their children being kidnapped by pedophiles) 1 in 3. Means that's either your mother, wife, or daughter.

I was going to buy the book from Amazon because it was $5 cheaper than Lifeway.

I bought it from Lifeway instead.

Leslie, I am sorry I was not clear. But my point was trying to be that usually we thunk the problem is outside but your child is much more likely to be murdered by a family member, sexually abused by a family member, etc. When we protest books like this it reenforces the idea that all dangers are outside and we can protect our children from everything.

On the hand the stat of 1 in three is not valid according to most studies. Federal Dept of Human Services says that boys are abused a rate of 1.1 per 1000 and girls are abused at a rate of 1.7 per thousand. (this is per year, not in total. Some kids are abused multiple times or over multiple years.). But the best numbers that I have found say that about 10 percent of kids are sexually abused as children, still way too high but no where close to one in three. The difference come in how the estimates of unreported abuse is handled. The DHS numbers are based on verified cases of sexual abuse. We all know there are unreported cases, the question is how many are unreported. One study suggested that 71% of all girls are sexually abused, so the range on some studies is way higher than the 1 in 3, but many of the higher numbers have some very questionable methods. The national association of rape and incest victims uses the numbers of 1 in 6 women will be assaulted or have an attempted assault some time during their life (including childhood sexual assault). Men have a rate of 1 in 33, very few men are assaulted outside of childhood or prison.

Caryn, I agree that this issue goes beyond censorship into "legality" and additionally to our Call as Christians to stand up for the weaker etc. I would think that if you KNEW that shirt was made by a slave child you wouldn't have purchased it. I believe the hinge is in the knowing. If you look at the tags on your clothes and the toys this holiday season, then money will talk. We can only do what we can do. You and I cannot go to another country and single-handedly shut down a slave labor operation making our clothes. But we CAN make our voices heard and demand that Amazon take down a book explaining how to do something illegal, AND how to do it more effectively and avoiding detection.

Do what you need to do to sleep with a clean conscience. Boycott what you need to, take your hard-earned dollars wherever you'd like, and make your voice known. Get on twitter, get on facebook, get on a blog. Speak your heart, and eventually if enough of us do that often enough, someone will start listening. And we'll all sleep well in the meantime.

@Adam

Well said.

Any parent or grand parent worthy of the name should support this boycott of Amazon. They seem to care not about the lives ruined by childhood sexual abuse or exploitation. They only seem to care about profits.
This should be not only an opportunity for us to exercise our economic power but also an opportunity for COMPETITION for Amazon's market share to step up to the plate. Let's see some statements of intent to uphold the law and protect the innocent and vulnerable from Amazon's competitors...statements from the highest levels of their company management. They will benefit from such a stand on the issue.
Also, if you were a victim of childhood sexual abuse or exploitation, remember, it was NOT your fault, and you NEVER deserved such treatment...Nor do you deserve being haunted forever by this evil.

@Adam, seriously? You are blaming moms for not playing with their kids enough because they took time to inform others and encourage a boycott. First of all, who are you to judge mothers? How about the fathers who work 50-60 hours a week and NEVER play with their children? How about back in the day when NO ONE played with their children because children were playing with EACH OTHER? Ugh. I am so over the mommy-blaming of today's society. It's over-the-top offensive.

@Caryn, I supported the boycott, and I am continuing to boycott Amazon because of what Eric said. Amazon is one of the largest sellers of pornography in the world. Same reason I won't use Craigslist. And I also agree that the tipping point is in the knowing. When I KNOW that something is a product of immorality, I'll avoid it. Like non-free-trade chocolate. But how can I if I don't know?

Robyn, you are right. I should not have been personal or blaming. What I was trying to point out, very poorly, was that often what happens is that we focus on things that we have very little control over, and have very little direct impact on our lives instead of the things that we do have lots of control over and we can have a direct impact on.

(By the way, I am a nanny for a 3 year old and a 20 month old for 50 to 60 hours a week, my nieces. And I end up spending a lot of time on weekends with them because we often hang out with family on weekends. I also spend too much time on the computer. Some of it doing the exact opposite of what I am suggesting here.)

Wait......What about Fathers who work 50-60 hours a week? Im one of those, and so are several guys i work with. We make those sacrifices because I have a responsibility to provide for my children, and i dont want them being raised by a nanny, so my wife does not work. I play with my kids when i can, but sometimes im gone before they are up, and they are back in bed when i get home. Come off it. I see very little mommy-blaming, what i do see way too much of is this "always the victim" mentality among mothers.

If you see very little mommy-blaming, you aren't looking. Apparently mothers are the cause of all society's problems. You don't have to look far to find articles all over the place about what mothers do or don't do and how supposedly affects the "horrible" children "today."

Make whatever choices about employment that work best for your family. Some families need two wage-earners; some choose to split the wage-earning; some only need one. The reasons for this are complex and differ for every family. I'm not judging your choice or anyone else's in this matter. Every family must do what they feel is best. I don't believe there is a universal right or wrong here.

My point about fathers who work that much and very rarely play with their children wasn't that there was necessarily anything wrong with that choice. My point was that blaming mothers for supposedly not playing with their children enough is ridiculous two-fold: because all the responsibility for raising children does not rest on the shoulders of mothers, and, because "playing" with children is far from the most important thing they need and a relatively new idea, historically speaking.

Too many people do not seem to know the difference between democracy and anarchy. When everyone is free to do anything they want without regard for the effect on other people, that is anarchy. In a democracy, one person’s freedom ends where it infringes upon another person’s freedom. Sexual assault is a major infringement of the freedom to live a life free of assault and fear. Assault, sexual and otherwise, is against the law in this country for a very good reason. There is no defense for a book that advocates the most heinous form of assault - the sexual assault of children.

@Adam: Have you considered that some, probably many, of the pedophiles who would buy this book, given the opportunity, are targeting children in their family, neighborhood, and/or circle of friends. Unfortunately, more of us than are aware of it, know a pedophile (they do not advertise the fact). We do not need them being taught how decrease their chance of detection when assaulting the children in our families and communities.

I once heard a saying that resonated deeply - 'you are free to say or do anything you want, but you aren't free from the consequences of what you say and do." It is not wrong to say that you will not buy a book. It is also not wrong to boycott a distributor of a book that you find offensive. That is a completely different issue than a person's right to write a book. Even asking Amazon to pull the book is a far cry from stepping on rights

Good for anyone who reacts to an injustice and uses that reaction to look closely at OTHER actions in their lives that should change. But never use the reasoning that other things I do are wrong to excuse the continuance of a current action

@Adam - thanks for clarifying what you meant- I recently did a bunch of internet research and it indicated that rape (age 12 and over) was 1 in 4 and abuse (12 and under) was 1 in 6 - I was using the stat from Wounded Heart when I replied which said 1 in 3 .....but... I think he's counting everything from child porn, inappropriate touching all the way to actual rape (why they call it "abuse" if the child is young, I don't know), perhaps that's part of the discrepancy?

As a victim? survivor? myself it sure seems like God is preparing me to help other women get to to a healing place like He brought me. Its actually pretty scary - especially when I figure out or am told all of the women I know who were abused as children. It's getting overwhelming knowing how many need help. I thank God that He brought me to where I am today.

Beautifully said, Caryn. Thank you.

I too had to wrestle with my own heart a bit while this went on -- not so much over the free speech issue as over other issues. Was I just jumping on a bandwagon? Would I speak out as boldly if others weren't doing the same? What other abuses am I turning a blind eye to even as I protest this one?

These are questions worth asking. We're not perfect and most of us are not consistent. But still, even knowing that, we have to be willing to protest the abuses we do see.

Thank you for your insightful comments! I appreciate our free speech, but when we read the Bible, the most important thing is caring for the defenseless and speaking up for them, not worrying whether we are decrying free speech. A book like this makes my blood boil, having younger siblings and when you read the news you can see how much already children are being molested. God forbid we stand back in the name of free speech and let children be exploited.

The interesting thing to me is that this should not even need to be discussed. A big line has been crossed. If Amazon had even the most minimal level of discernment, this how to book would never have hit the shelves. As mature responsible adults, we are charged with the duty of protecting our children against predators and Amazon has proven over and over that we need to protect our children against Amazon and the subhuman behaviors they promote by selling and helping Philip Greaves self publish his vile words. Shame on Amazon. I have closed my Amazon account and will not buy anything from them in the future.

onoudidn, Amazon has an automatic system for uploading books for sale in its electronic book content. Amazon did not go out and look for a book on petophilia to sell, someone decided to try to sell one and Amazon took it down in less than 24 hours after it was flagged. That seems like fairly responsible actions. Canceling your account and never buying anything again from Amazon seems like you are over reacting to the situation. And who are you replacing your purchases with. No matter who it is, likely they have done something reprehensible as well. Maybe unintentionally, maybe not.

The problem with boycotts like these is that they continue long past the action and just as often people are boycotting for things that never actually happened. We all likely have received emails about boycotting stores for their misdeeds. I have seen emails about boycotting Target because they "only give grants to gay and lesbian causes" (not true), boycott Tommy Hifiger over racist sentiments (not true). Even the fairly Neiman Marcus cookie recipe is fake and still passed around.

If we are going to boycott something we need to make sure we have the right facts. Boycott based on bad information can have have real effects.

Geez, I may be against censorship as well, so it disturbs me to ever have to say, "Don't sell that book" but like Cooper said... if they won't sell porn, how can they even fathom selling this? One might be against porn, but at least it is generally two consenting adults. This guide to pedophilia is disgusting. Hopefully they have taken this down. I realize it might have slipped past due to the automatic uploading system, so I only plan to boycott if it is up there for a certain amount of time. Here is hoping no one buys it.

SaraL, your comment is exactly why I am against boycotts. The article said the book was taken down in less than a day. Many of the comments have noted the book epwas taken down. But still more than a week after the incident is really over, you (and I am sure many others who are hearing about it afterwards) are still talking about the potential of a boycott. If you cannot be responsible and know what you are talking about you should not be involved in a boycott. The book is down.

I don't know what the big deal is, frankly. He's free to publish and say what he wants: Amazon is free to not sell anything they don't want to sell. If they decided to pull the book because the better part of their customer base recognized it for the dung that it is, that's their right. It would also be the right of said customer base to put Amazon out of business right quick should they choose to restock the book. Our definition of "censorship" is pretty loose these days. Defending the right of this person or that to say or publish something is one thing, but somehow guaranteeing access to that "something" by insisting that a network of publishers, book-sellers, libraries, and ultimately readers automatically and even begrudgingly accommodate any- and everything said or published is patently ridiculous.

It seems to me it is good idea. I agree with you.

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