# Should eBay ban racist collectibles? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005 "2003-02-23T19:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SLASH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SLASH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SLASH)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005/21 "2003-02-24T01:38:16Z")
They should be able to do what they want as far saying what can and can’t be sold, but I’d hope they go with allowing people to sell/buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005/22 "2003-02-24T02:13:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by monstro \* > **So why are you complaining, Revtim? They are expressing freedom by making this decision.** I’m not sure I’m “complaining”, I’m just offering my opinion as the OP asked. > [@](#): > > **If they caved into the whims of people who have a hard-on for some vague concept called"freedom" (who wouldn’t be buying this stuff anyway, most likely), they WOULDN’T be erring on the side of freedom. It would be no different than forcing a Christian bookstore to sell pornography just because pornography isn’t against the law.** That’s another analogy that doesn’t fit very well. I gather most Christian bookstores don’t want to sell porn, but eBay is _already_ selling the racist stuff. They may not like it, but I’m sure they are aware of it and at least tolerate it. If they change their existing policy, they wouldbe caving. Continuing existing practices is not. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005/23 "2003-02-24T03:25:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > **Sometimes people buy such things for research.** Exactly. I collect propaganda from the WWI era up to the 1970s. In some of the pieces I have there are references to things which would most deffinetely not be considered pollitically correct. Some are openly demanding the extermination of other races while some others use racial slurs which were accepted at the time. Rather than burn them all for what they contain I preserve them and make them available digitally to everyone who would like to see it as a “Let’s learn from history and not do this again” type lesson. If I had just burned them then there would be that much less evidence that such evil things happened, only allowing for people to make the same mistake again. Of course you will have the usual sick people who purchase these things for other reasons. This is the price that has to be paid to try and prevent these ideas from becomming predominant again. All in all, I think keeping these things availible for purchase is a good thing. just my $0.02 ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005/24 "2003-02-24T13:38:38Z")
Sorry. I didn’t know that this was a policy switch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ebay-ban-racist-collectibles/157005.md?page=1)