Amazon Caves to Pressure, Pulls Pedophile Book

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mikem_90

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[citation][nom]HalJordan[/nom]As a father, perhaps I should pick up a copy...know thy enemy.[/citation]

Here's the conundrum, What does the book exactly do?

The text excerpt sounds like it is setting rules in order to keep people from drifting down the baby raper /murderer pants leg of Pedophilia, and more into the "Creepy Uncle" leg.

If it is more of a "How not to get caught", you can bet cops are wanting to read it and find out for those things to look for. It might go as far as to make pedophiles stand out if they start doing some of the things in the book, some things that cops will then be looking for? Would not regular citizens be able to read and look for people doing these things too and help report them? Its benefit is increased awareness for these people.

If the content is more a book to keep these people from becoming child murderers and less of a predator, censoring it is doing the wrong thing. The benefit means a smaller percentage of violent child murders from molesters. Any parent would tell you which type of call they'd rather get between the two.

Its the law of unintended consequences. You can't make pedophilia disappear by sweeping it under the rug. Censoring it means that people can't talk or discuss it, closing off dialogue. Instead of intelligent discourse on what is good and bad, you shut it down before any thinking happens. Maybe we'd have better ways to deal with this issue or reducing its occurance if we can have some thought put into it?

A book like this is not likely going to turn people into pedophiles, not unless they are pretty damn close to it already.
 

guruofchem

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Thanks to those of you who made the point that this is NOT banning a book. Amazon chooses to sell some books and not others based on any number of different criteria, and the fact that they chose to remove this particular, highly offensive book from their list of available titles does not mean it was banned, or even censored. The Constitution allows you freedom of expression - it does not, however, say you have to make Amazon deliver a Kindle version of it...
 

mikem_90

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[citation][nom]scimanal[/nom]To those who argue the subject matter in this book is bad, fine, but if these gaping wholes exist for pedophiles to escape consequence, would a book about their tactics be nothing short of the best possible thing to educate not only yourself but the lawmakers and police who work to stop this activity? If someone was stealing from a cookie jar, it would be almost incomprehensible how valuable it would be to have a dossier from them explaining how they did it... The arguments in this thread basically boil down to knowledge is dangerous, and sure it is, but we have plenty of educated and highly trained combat veterans around us, and you don't see them mowing down civilians, a gun by itself isn't dangerous, it is the action of using it that hurts. A pedophile has consequences for their actions, and they are dire here in the United States, a pedophile has an inclination towards children before they ever pick up a book, this is as outlandish as stating people 'turn gay' after reading a book.In summery, thumbs down to Amazon.[/citation]

My points exactly. In fact, I'd go as far as be a teaching guide to parents on telling their children what and who to avoid. Know the situations to steer clear of, how to protect yourself.

I'm reminded of the movie "Patton" where George C. Scott watches his forces wreaking havoc on the German tanks yelling "Rommel...you magnificent bastard, I read your book!"
 

millerm84

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After reading these comments I must be drawing different conclusions about the intent of the book. First a little background, it is widely accepted that pedophiles and other sexual predators are..lets say mentally ill. They have a sickness (in more ways then one) that compels them to act in horrendous way against innocent victims. Also I am a father of a little girl I understand the fear of predators and the offensive feelings this book brings, however, I haven't read this book and don't plan to. That said

The description above makes think that this book is a guide showing pedophiles how to live in a world of children without hurting them, a guide to normal interaction, and a resource manual for those who have harmed children. The author states ""This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, establishing certian rules for these adults to follow." no one posting on these forums knows what these rules are because we haven't read the book. How many of you would feel like a horses ass if the first rule was "look but don't touch".

Again I haven't read the book I could be completely wrong, but what are the consequences if I am right? If this book is a guide to avoiding sexual contact with children then the angry mob who didn't read past the description and title have taken a book that could help save many children from unimaginable harm.

Free speech is necessary for a free society to function. New ideas and contrasting views are vital to our nation and our own well-being. I kind of doubt this book would have been published if it were indeed a child rape manual as some on here have suggested. What I have gathered from the information provided here is that the book looks to help sick people integrate with society while finding fulfillment that doesn't involve harming others. It's a contrasting view, and again I could be wrong, but that is what being an American is about the right to disagree.
 

beachbod

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the book hit the site's best-seller list, entering at number 80. Before it was pulled, it was priced at around $5.

Great, now people are shoveling a bunch of money to a pedophile. Dont people know when its ok to pirate?
 

masop

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Who said the author isn't a pedophile himself? You would think a pedophile would know a pedophile best? Has anyone thought of that? Why would a normal person want to write and distribute such material? It's beyond taboo.

I've got no complaints against amazon's decision to pull it, as many of my female friends from my school years were molested or raped at some point either before or during their high school years back in the day. Censorship and 1st Ammendment aside. In this case, I feel this was the correct decision to make. I don't believe our society would allow anything remotely close to 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 to happen.
 

slabbo

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[citation][nom]JWHancock[/nom]Sounds like something from the South Park episode with NAMBLA.[/citation]
its more from the Scrotie Mc Booger Balls episode.
 

fromage2323

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forget the social 'taboo' behind this book or why it offends people. forget censorship. the subject matter is just plain illegal. it seems to me that this book is trying to be a guide on how to commit a crime. what if there was a book like "How To Murder Someone And Get Away With It"

sounds equally bad to me...
 

tommysch

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[citation][nom]fromage2323[/nom]forget the social 'taboo' behind this book or why it offends people. forget censorship. the subject matter is just plain illegal. it seems to me that this book is trying to be a guide on how to commit a crime. what if there was a book like "How To Murder Someone And Get Away With It"sounds equally bad to me...[/citation]

Ignorance is not an argument... Just look up this book:

If I did it

by O.J. Simpson.
 

mikem_90

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[citation][nom]fromage2323[/nom]forget the social 'taboo' behind this book or why it offends people. forget censorship. the subject matter is just plain illegal. it seems to me that this book is trying to be a guide on how to commit a crime. what if there was a book like "How To Murder Someone And Get Away With It"sounds equally bad to me...[/citation]

That's just the thing, no one has really read it to know what it actually is. Is it supposed to guide people with pedophillic urges away from harming children as much? or is it a "how to do it and get away with it?" book? The excerpt seems to suggest the former.

What if the author wrote it to get pedophiles to do something the cops easily catch on to and get caught? What if a cop wrote it?
 
G

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Every time an event worthy of media attention occurs and the topic of censorship comes up, it amazes me more how people automatically object to "censorship" in any and all forms.

We have been so thoroughly programmed to despise even the slightest censorship, or any act even labeled as such, that we don't even seem to want to protect innocence, social or moral values if doing so ever involves saying 'no' to someone. It could be a total wack-job who literally hates the public, publishing something of no artistic or social merit, for completely malicious purposes, and we should automatically say nothing and do nothing about it because 'censorship is bad'.

Maybe the overwhelming opinion of the majority (democracy, by the way) is what is really being censored when 99.999% of the public does not desire something and yet it is allowed to remain. Glad that did not happen in this case.









 

tornitron

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This goes beyond simply censoring a book. The listing on Amazon displayed photographs of naked children provocatively, which is highly illegal. I am a little shocked at some of the responses here, and the general lack of understanding of the 1st amendment.
 

endermc12

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For those of you stating that this is a first amendment issue, remember that the Bill of Rights guarantees that the Federal government or any inferior government will infringe on the people's right to speech. There is no government entity involved here and therefore, this is not a first amendment issue.
 

millerm84

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[citation][nom]joeyjoyjoe[/nom]Every time an event worthy of media attention occurs and the topic of censorship comes up, it amazes me more how people automatically object to "censorship" in any and all forms. We have been so thoroughly programmed to despise even the slightest censorship, or any act even labeled as such, that we don't even seem to want to protect innocence, social or moral values if doing so ever involves saying 'no' to someone. It could be a total wack-job who literally hates the public, publishing something of no artistic or social merit, for completely malicious purposes, and we should automatically say nothing and do nothing about it because 'censorship is bad'. Maybe the overwhelming opinion of the majority (democracy, by the way) is what is really being censored when 99.999% of the public does not desire something and yet it is allowed to remain. Glad that did not happen in this case.[/citation]

Yet it is that .1% of the public that the Constitution seeks to protect with the first amendment. They may be wrong in the eyes of the majority but that doesn't mean they cannot have a voice. What amazon has done here isn't censorship (unless a government body forced their hand) but simply removed a potentially image damaging product from its store. But the fact remains no matter how any of us feel about the subject of the book the author has a right to wright about it.
 

Mike00

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The interesting part about this, is that even though something like this can spark such a debate and such anger with customers, I am sure authorities and psychologist find it interesting to have someone do something like this because they can use to book to better understand those who do things like this, which in turn is why we have the 1st, because anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, but it's also the reason why we have the 5th. I believe the act of this is not right, but I do believe that if they can write about it, maybe it can be used to better understand and possibly help the kids. But we all have our opinions and they should all be respected.
 
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