# Why are Christian Bookstores Allowed to Ban Books? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 5, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271 "2021-03-05T15:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 39
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/764 "2021-04-01T18:03:01Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Basically it boils down to a situation like what we see with so-called speech codes at public universities. Everyone with a brain knows they are illegal. It depends on exactly what such a “speech code” consists of. The ACLU, an organization well known for having both a brain and a deep commitment to civil liberties, [presents a much more nuanced description of the issue](https://www.aclu.org/other/speech-campus) than your uninformed overgeneralizations. > [@](#): > > To be clear, the First Amendment does not protect behavior on campus that crosses the line into targeted harassment or threats, or that creates a pervasively hostile environment for vulnerable students. But merely offensive or bigoted speech does not rise to that level, and determining when conduct crosses that line is a legal question that requires examination on a case-by-case basis. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/765 "2021-04-01T18:38:13Z")
Should change the tense of that verb of having to had. And as I said, the universities among others don’t care what the law is. They care about profit/loss analysis. If it’s cheaper or advances a long term ideological goal to ignore the law they do. This is why some rioters are arrested and some are cheered. This is why immigration is such a mess. This is why Amazon and ebay will sell all sorts of offensive and blasphemous material but are scared to sell Dr. Seuss or allow it to be sold. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/766 "2021-04-01T18:41:24Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > This is why some rioters are arrested and some are cheered. This is why immigration is such a mess. This is why Amazon and ebay will sell all sorts of offensive and blasphemous material but are scared to sell Dr. Seuss or allow it to be sold. No it’s not. But reality is too complicated and frightening for a stupid coward like you, so go ahead and bask in your fantasies of righteous indignation. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/767 "2021-04-01T18:41:41Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > This is why Amazon and ebay will sell all sorts of offensive and blasphemous material but are scared to sell Dr. Seuss or allow it to be sold. Do you have a cite for this (that they’re “scared to sell Dr. Seuss”), or is this just a fucking bald-faced lie? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/768 "2021-04-01T18:42:48Z")
Amazon ain’t afraid of shit. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/769 "2021-04-01T18:45:21Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > fucking boldfaced lie Didn’t you get the euphemism memo from your committee? It’s mostly truthful. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/770 "2021-04-01T18:46:07Z")
To be fair, it’s not a lie if you believe it. @octupus is not necessarily a pathological liar, even though nothing that he says is even remotely connected to reality. It may be the case that he’s just delusional, and actually believes these things that he spews. I just hope that his loved ones have invoked appropriate red flag laws, as generally the next step for one like him is to start shooting up a public place. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/771 "2021-04-01T18:46:31Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > > fucking boldfaced lie > > Didn’t you get the euphemism memo from your committee? It’s mostly truthful. - “fucking boldfaced lie” is all truthful. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/772 "2021-04-01T18:49:33Z")
Is this how reprehensible you want the pit to be?!? Tut tut! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/773 "2021-04-01T18:50:48Z")
[If I Ran the Circus available in hardback from 26.99, or on Kindle for 9.99](https://www.amazon.com/If-Ran-Circus-Classic-Seuss/dp/039480080X/ref=pd_cart_vw_crc_1_2/140-6150205-2097257?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=039480080X&pd_rd_r=80dd3858-7670-44b8-862e-74f7b2c67d05&pd_rd_w=sasKi&pd_rd_wg=oytF9&pf_rd_p=01004c92-8f40-4f1a-bee8-08cb36dccac2&pf_rd_r=VQY0JX5MC7MWMNR7D9ES&psc=1&refRID=VQY0JX5MC7MWMNR7D9ES) ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/774 "2021-04-01T18:54:09Z")
Bringing facts to a Pit fight? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/775 "2021-04-01T18:58:38Z")
Just a pathetic, lazy, lying troll. Obvious to all. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/776 "2021-04-01T18:58:44Z")
I’m sorry if that was a sore spot. Do you not have any loved ones? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/777 "2021-04-01T19:06:55Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > {…} This is why Amazon and ebay will sell all sorts of offensive and blasphemous material {…} As-salamu alaykum brother octopus, Allāhu ʾakbar! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/778 "2021-04-01T19:08:46Z")
They disowned him, the damned libs. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/779 "2021-04-01T19:21:31Z")
So is that the new rule now? Just make shit up? In that case why should we care that Dr Suess is no longer available on Amazon, when the Republicans have signed legislation that prevents Shakespeare from being taught in school and gives a 1 million dollar fine to anyone who plays a Beatles song on the radio. Not to mention that mob that burned down the local Walmart for having a Madonna CD on sale. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/780 "2021-04-01T19:21:42Z")
It’s a bald-faced lie, considering there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of copies of “And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” for sale on Amazon. Maybe not new, because it’s not being published anymore. And it wasn’t discontinued because of some mythical “mob”. Are you a parent? If you are a parent, how would you feel if your 5 year old pointed at an Asian man in the mall food court and loudly asked “Why isn’t that funny looking Chinaman eating with sticks?” If your answer is “embarrassed” or “mortified”, then you are a decent person who should understand why that book was discontinued. Any decent person that pulled the book off the shelf and began reading it to a child would quickly turn the page in horror after encountering the page _encouraging their child to laugh_ at the “Chinaman eating with sticks”. Then they would wonder what other gems might be lurking in other Dr. Seuss books, and they might decide not to read any of those books to their kid without previewing them, and maybe not to leave them around where an unsuspecting babysitter might accidentally read them to their kid and encourage their kid to laugh at funny-looking minorities. Which is why the Seuss estate pulled the small number of books that didn’t withstand the test of time - otherwise decent parents would avoid the brand altogether. But maybe you’re a parent that doesn’t see the problem, a parent that would be OK with your kid going to the mall, calling an Asian a “Chinaman” and asking him why he didn’t eat with sticks. Maybe you’d even think it was funny and that the Asian man shouldn’t be such a snowflake about being called a Chinaman. And I’m sure when other parents covered their kids ears and told you off for allowing your child to insult a stranger, you’d probably dismiss them as a mob. If this is you, you aren’t a conservative fighting for freedom. You’re an asshole fighting against basic decency and politeness. The reaction you are condemning isn’t coming from a mob, it’s coming from dozens of decent people who have each decided, on their own, that they have decency and morals and want to fight back against people that encourage racist behavior in young children. Political correctness is, in this case, just “correctness”. Human decency. Manners. Politeness. And I know what side of this debate I’m coming down on. I’m just surprised there are so many people putting all their political capital into defending their right to be assholes. Please note that if this were a work geared towards adults my position would be much more nuanced, but it’s not. A young child can’t be expected to understand historical context and one of the prime purposes of these books is to make children laugh. Are you OK with Amazon not selling snuff porn, you conservative hypocrites? Maybe that should be your next battle in your war against decency. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/781 "2021-04-01T19:32:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > This is why Amazon and ebay will sell all sorts of offensive and **blasphemous** material but are scared to sell Dr. Seuss or allow it to be sold. Just another religious nutball. In the immortal words of Ringo Starr in _Help!_ - “Get sacrificed! I don’t subscribe to your religion!” ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/782 "2021-04-01T20:22:54Z")
@Octopus: you have the faith of a religious zealot in ‘markets’ when it means that American labor can be had for three bucks a day, yet in cases like this – where corporations make simple, quotidian business decisions – you excoriate the same ‘market’ because … because … because … well, I _guess_ it’s because _you_ simply don’t like the decision they make. Care to try to explain that ? Also, Cuomo and Northam still have jobs because the markets _they_ serve actually said something other than what _you_ expected those markets to say. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/783 "2021-04-01T21:30:19Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Any decent person that pulled the book off the shelf and began reading it to a child would quickly turn the page in horror after encountering the page _encouraging their child to laugh_ at the “Chinaman eating with sticks”. I was that parent. Only it was _If I Ran the Zoo._ “All right, bean sprout, time for a story, look at the cute tufted creatures! Doot dee doot de holy shit that’s racist!” I later mentioned reading the book collection (without mentioning the racism) to **Sr. Weasel** and he asked, “Did you encounter the super racist caricatures?” Two parents immediately picked up on racist material, it was hardly subtle. Why the hell would anyone want to read that to their kid? Why? When there are so many other books in the world? So many other Dr. Seuss books, for that matter! Fucking unreal that people are picking up the banner of racism because of some abstract principle that all books should always be required to be published forever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271.md?page=40)