OK, I'll admit it. I was just visiting Amazon to look at their 50% off sale on cookware - after seeing a link at Instapundit. And like any shopper, once I'd decided against the Calphalon wok, I wandered down some other aisles. I looked at the Gold Box specials. There I found, to my surprise, the Gold Box Forum. Featured near the top of this discussion board was a string of posts titled "Is Being A Lesbian Morally Wrong?" I know where I come out on this one. NO. Of course, many of the 300-odd replies don't share my view.
I don't have a problem with people arguing about sexual orientation (or basketball or hair color) in the privacy of their own prestigious discussion board. But why is Amazon in the business of hosting this particular conversation? Does Jeff Bezos think that this pleasant chat is going to put me in a shopping mood?
It does seem like a very bizarre topic for discussion at Amazon.com. However, you seem to have a little bit of a misunderstanding about how the intertubes work.
1) I'm sure that Jeff Bezos didn't start the discussion thread.
2) I'm sure that Jeff Bezos doesn't know the thread exists.
3) The threads are user-created. Amazon provides a public space for discussion, what users do with that is up to them.
Its like you go to a bar. There are big tables where anyone can sit down. At table 1, people are talking about how to cook eggplant. At the next table, people are talking about anti-semitism. The bar owner is just providing the tables.
Also, it seems that your umbrage might be a bit misplaced. If you look at that thread, it *appears* that the first comment in the thread is suggesting that there is nothing morally wrong with homosexuality. If bigots jumped in to disagree, so what? Add your comment! What discussions like that need is for the bigots to see that they are outnumbered, and for our sexual minority brothers and sisters to see that they are not alone -- not complaining that "people are talking about something bad over there."
Posted by: Marc J. Randazza | May 11, 2008 at 10:15 PM