# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 48
**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 18, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/944 "2021-04-18T06:01:21Z")
You cared enough to respond . . . so, there’s that… ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/945 "2021-04-18T06:03:05Z")
Still waiting, > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > So, what other ethnicities don’t get capitalized? ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/946 "2021-04-18T06:19:41Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Can you explain what you think is wrong about it? Evidently not. ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/947 "2021-04-18T06:33:15Z")
Already gave you the links. Furthermore, prior to summer of 2020 all major style guides and papers did not capitalize black nor white nor brown. Do some research and stop asking questions you should know the answers to. ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/948 "2021-04-18T06:35:12Z")
Again, what ethnicity or nationality is ‘’‘brown’’’? ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/949 "2021-04-18T06:37:42Z")
I don’t know. Ask the folks who use the term in their writings. Like I already told you to do. This is probably beyond you but who knows… [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html#commentsContainer](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html#commentsContainer) And of course since the NYT just started this, relatively speaking, it sort of contradicts your false assertion that this is how it’s always been done. Check the AP style guide as well while you are at it. ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/950 "2021-04-18T06:41:43Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > {…} it sort of contradicts your false assertion that this is how it’s always been done. {…} It can’t because I never asserted any such thing. You are lying, AGAIN. Also, you are against capitalizing ‘brown’ but you can’t explain for yourself what ethnic group/nationality ‘brown’ is referring to? ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/951 "2021-04-18T06:45:08Z")
You said you’ve been using that form for 40-45 years. Which is decades before prominent black activists have used it themselves. Decades before major papers used it. Decades before even the wokest wokesters used it. So who’s the liar? Why that would be you. Furthermore your irrelevant nitpicking is irrelevant. ---
**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 18, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/952 "2021-04-18T06:54:49Z")
Yes, it’s not possible that seeing Christian get capitalized that one might think that atheist should be also. Yes, it’s not possible that seeing Jew get capitalized that one might question why any other ethnic group wouldn’t be also. ---
**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 18, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/953 "2021-04-18T07:04:49Z")
If black were a tribe, sure, why not. Like Eskimo, Crow, Ugandan, Zulu. Those are all proper names and capitalized. Black, white, tall, short, etc are not proper names and have not been treated as such. Seriously, check out the changes to the style guides. The reason they are changed is because in the past it wasn’t the woke thing to do. Now it’s just pure virtue signaling. ---
**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 18, 2021, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/954 "2021-04-18T07:12:59Z")
black folks in america didn’t call themselves black/Black until ‘’‘’‘woke people’‘’‘’ in the 2010s told them to… One must at some point realize that octopus is actually a bad Turing Test, [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IKROeWxZHfg/hqdefault.jpg "Logan's Run") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKROeWxZHfg) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/955 "2021-04-18T13:18:07Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > So octopus is still being kind of a jackass about this. But at least not so much of a jackass as to actually mock condemnation of a real-life right-wing plot to kidnap and murder Democratic politicians. I disagree with your assessment of the degree of jackassery on display. It’s a pretty big jackass to dismiss casual racism and characterize a complaint about such as a childish pout. And I’m sure he just hasn’t gotten around to the latter yet. He’s really busy worrying they might take away Mr. Potatohead’s genitals. > [@octopus](#): > > I’ll call anyone son, male female black white various shades of grey straight gay tall or short. Son. Troll is as troll does. > [@](#): > > I’m not into this weird infantilization of the so-called minority that the left is so keen on. I don’t get it. In what way am I infantilizing anyone? At least I don’t call everyone “son”. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/956 "2021-04-18T14:57:05Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > By the time one gets to college or a profession, acceptance of an unqualified or lesser qualified candidate based on group identity does no one any real favors. Yeah, so letting in legacy admissions and prioritizing rich people should be avoided. A straight A in high school student can flunk out from partying instead of attending classes, and a C student can be motivated to succeed enough to study hard and graduate. And the qualification method might just be unfair. > [@octopus](#): > > It’s the pit snowflake. At least I’m not whining about Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potatohead. Oh wait, do you think my response is because you implied I’m a crybaby? No, you ignoramus (ignoram-ass), it’s because you insist on acting like a racist and smug asshole. > [@octopus](#): > > Now bore someone else with your cliches, illogical and immoral arguments, and with your mythology. **octopus** , meet mirror. > [@Kimstu](#): > > What’s not intellectually consistent is your arbitrary ignoring of issues of history and custom only when it suits you. But that’s “traditional”. > [@octopus](#): > > You don’t even have the sense to realize that calling me grandma implies that there is something wrong with being old and/or female. That’s double bigoted. Yet you have internalized misogyny and ageism so deeply that you can’t recognize it. Bullshit. The only thing calling you “grandma” does is imply you are an old _woman_ instead of an old man. The only reason being an old woman is bad in this context is because you have such a hyper-transphobia. > [@Kimstu](#): > > you’re just sulking because you might have to put in a little effort to avoid inadvertently coming across as a racist asshole. At this point, I don’t think it’s inadvertent. It’s just one more way to troll. > [@octopus](#): > > Really, you folks on the left think the so-called black man is so inept they can’t get an ID and so fragile that they can’t be treated as an equal. Sad! And yet you refer to everyone as “son”, implying they are your inferior. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > IT’S THE FUCKING WORD WE USE FOR THAT ETHNICITY! > Now, try to explain why this ethnicity doesn’t get treated like every other ethnicity? To give a real answer to this question, some other terms that are capitalized come from continent or country names - African, European, Asian, Indian, German, Italian. Continents and countries are capitalized, so the derived ethnicity is too. Hispanic comes from Spain, and Latino from Latin America. What about Jew? Doesn’t it originally derive from Judea? Or is Judea actually derived from Jew? I honestly don’t know. Anyway, the terms “black” and “white” to refer to racial identities has a different origin. They come from colors used to reflect the cultural interpretation of the skin tones of the ethnicities. Colors aren’t typically capitalized. However, recognizing that there is an inconsistency in capitalizing most ethnic labels and then not capitalizing one group - a group historically highly marginalized and degraded group at that - it becomes sensible to consider ethnic labels should be capitalized for consistency. Ergo, Blacks and Whites. > [@octopus](#): > > Of course I don’t have a problem with the term African American. It’s not my preferred term because it leads to some silly things like referring to Scary Spice as an African American. Oh crap, I actually agree with **octopus** on something! Shoot me now! Seriously, “African American” is complex because it becomes applied to everyone who is Black, but what about a UK citizen (“Scary Spice”, aka Mel B. [Melanie Brown]) or someone who is an immigrant from Africa but White (like the South African neighbors I had briefly)? Is Trevor Noah an African American? He’s Black - from South Africa. He resides in New York City, but his citizenship is still South African. How do you refer to a UK citizen living in London who is not in America? I prefer Black for the collective group, but will also accept more specific ethnic terms where they apply, such as Kenyan, or a tribal affiliation if known. But for the vast American population of Blacks, they don’t have the knowledge of that history. A collective label for that group is necessary. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Again, what ethnicity or nationality is ‘’‘brown’’’? You know what? While “Brown” doesn’t identify a specific nationality or ethnic group, I’m going to use the same logic and say that when I refer to a collective group of people, I will capitalize. > [@octopus](#): > > The reason they are changed is because in the past it wasn’t the woke thing to do. Now it’s just pure virtue signaling. Oh please. You are against all progress in thought. The collective population coming to understand a possible slight and deciding to correct it doesn’t make the past behavior correct. Even the “woke” can learn something they need to fix for themselves. The term “virtue signaling” is just the right’s way to dismiss people caring about how they treat other people. For conservatives, you’re supposed to care about money and business and fetuses, not women or social justice. They even use “social justice” as an epithet. To virtue signal for a conservative, you have to say things like “cut taxes” and “reduce regulations” and “contraception is murder” and ~~wave~~ hug an American or Confederate flag (either works). ---
**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 18, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/957 "2021-04-18T16:52:10Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The term “virtue signaling” is just the right’s way to dismiss people caring about how they treat other people. It’s their way to signal the virtue of not giving a shit about other people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271.md?page=47)