So now we are becoming censors?

As long as they are not calling for our heads I think we should lighten up and stop being so reactionary.

Perhaps reactionary is the only way to get readers?

Lets play with the title a little bit and see if you think we are being too reactionary. Being gay is no more a choice than they color of your skin or your ethnicity so if this was a calendar called “I am not black I just get welfare” or I am not Mexican I can just swim faster than the border guard” When you play on hateful stereotypes it is always wrong and should be called out for the bigotry that it is.

There’s no censorship here — he can say whatever he wishes. The market can decide whether he makes money on it. “The market” includes LGBTs — and some of them may find the item offensive and take action to alert the vendor and the market of its contents. For all we know this has boosted sales of the calendar because of the publicity.

To be fair: the slogan “We all have AIDS” was an actual public service campaign. It was started by Kenneth Cole in 2005 as a lead-up to World AIDS Day; the full slogan was “We all have AIDS if one of us does.” The campaign has taken a life of its own and remains strong in southern Africa, where about one in five adults has HIV. Mind you, I am not justifying King’s use as a weapon of ridicule, or his horrifically ignorant attitude towards AIDS.

I SAID I WAS A SISSY UP FRONT.

Ah yes, the internet: where anyone can claim to be whoever or whatever they want to be…

Criticism =/= censorship.

…the calendar features Mattel’s Barbie doll for the month of March

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume that Joe King did not formally request permission from Mattel to use the Barbie likeness in his product… and Mattel is notorious for going after folks for copyright/trademark infringement.

corporate.communications@mattel.com

I called them (if you have an Amazon account, you can jump through the hoops on the Contact Us page & talk to a live person.) Told them I was disappointed that they would carry such a thing. Got the usual song & dance about how they would look into it; I’m hoping they get enough complaints that “song and dance” turns into the real thing and they decide to take action – take it down! Then went through & “liked” all the negative comments.

Pam: kudos your response to Cynthia_Lee!

They should not take action or take it down. That would be censorship.

What century is this dude from. I’m contacting Amazon now.

And the 180 Degree Doctrine keeps rolling along.
Most accusing everyone else of what they do themselves. Few taking responsibility when they f**k up.

It’s been going on since the beginning of His-Story since it works so very well.
The shrinks call it “transference” I call it dishonesty and most call it religion of one sort or another: accusing others of doing what they themselves are doing or are.

I say leave it there, for all to see. It exposes the hatemongering that is a staple of the religious right. These people are full of hate, and the more people that see it the better.

I made a phone call to their legal dept. The voice on the phone seemed VERY interested at that Barbie and said that even if they had granted rights, using Barbie in this manner would violate their standard contract.

I think something BAD is about to happen to King.

Boxturtle (Bad mistake. Mattel has lawyers on retainer with nothing better to do)

Zing. Point for BT.

bravo, boxturtle!

here’s where I went…

What the fuck are you thinking, amazon?

Selling the piece-of-shit, hate promoting “calendar” “I’m Not Gay, I’m Just a Sissy”?? Please review my product orders over the past year and then ask whether you’d like to lose them – along with the hundreds of thousands of others you’ll lose when countless more of your customers who object to this inexcusable inticement to perpetuate homophobia-based hate organize to cease patronizing your site. It is just unbelievable that [it] was even necessary for me to write this email.

Wake the fuck up.

I asked whether they would be equally comfortable with the following titles:

“I’m not black, I’m just dirty”
“I’m not Jewish, I’m just a cheap bastard”
“I’m not white trash, I just sleep with my sister.

I guess some people find this sort of thing funny. I think it cheapens the entire human race.

Since Barbie IS a celebrity, isn’t she “fairr game”?????

Over the top offensive. Thank you for the info. USA, it’s not all that much. And becoming less and less every day.

I find it less offensive than any book by Beck and Coulter.

I’m all for rating it down, but I don’t see this as worthy of demanding them remove the product.

In the lefthand corner it says ’12 months of sexual confusion.” I can’t imagine that this at all is comforting to young people who are trying to learn and accept who they are. I find the calendar offensive.

And for those who cry “censorship”: I’m sure you’d feel the same if Amazon was selling a book titled “How to Lynch a Nigger.”

Oh, you wouldn’t? Fancy that.

I wrote Amazon under the third feedback option on the calendar page (would probably work on any other item page) and after typing and submitting, put in my email and password.

I always thought “christian humor” was things like the Creation Museum…

Over 300 negative reviews on Amazon.com, and it’s still up.

Yes, because disgusting homophobia is exactly the same as advocating murder.

Nope, she’s copyrighted six ways to Sunday! The only defense is paraody, and I think that would be difficult to mount in this case.

If Mattel decides this is a violation, I expect Amazon will pull it as soon as they get that phone call.

Boxturtle (Drop a dime on a doofus)

Just dropped a few email’s on Amazon and B & N….I wish it would do any good! In the short term the only real power we have to change the social skills that a corporation has is to stop doing business with that “person”…..

Anthony….this is just what I wanted to say….

bull shit…

I just checked B&N and I can’t find it, but it’s still up on Amazon.

Interestingly enough, the 2012 “101 Things to do with Obama’s Big Ears” is still there.

Plenty of cynicism/homophobia/bigotry in Mr. King, masquerading as humor.

-Sandy

Did you not see the “=/=” as meaning “does not equal”? I can understand that, It took me a moment to figure out that that was probably the best representation that a keyboard could do.
I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here.

Or are you saying that criticism does equal censorship?

And how would they be outside their rights to do so? Freedom of speech does not give a blanket right for anyone to say whatever they want through any platform they want. Barns&Nobles and Amazon are private companies that have rights, included but not limited to deciding which products and organizations they want to be associated with.

Of course it isn’t. However, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is currently on sale at Amazon.com, despite their statement before the first review:

http://www.amazon.com/Protocols-Learned-Elders-Zion/dp/159364020X

…Amazon.com obviously does not endorse The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. This book is one of the most infamous, and tragically influential, examples of racist propaganda ever written. It may be useful to some as a tool in the teaching of the history of antisemitism, but it’s unquestionably propaganda.

Does Amazon.com sell this book? Of course we do, along with millions of other titles…

At least in my case, the “Frequently Bought together” selection includes The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem by Henry Ford and The Jews and Their Lies by Martin Luther, which are two more of the top anti-Semitic English books.

If I chose to stop buying from Amazon, it would much more likely be for selling Race and Reason or The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion or another item which has had far, far more negative impact (and indeed continues to) than a particularly offensive calendar.

This is not “censorhip” in the true sense of the word. Censorship occurs when the *government* (or media outlet itself) suppresses the communciation of ideas. First Amendment prohibits the *government* (state, local, or federal) from suppressing communication. Amazon is a corporation donig business. Consumer complaints to Amazon about the way they are doing business are not censorship or a First Amendment violation. If Amazon decides to change the way it does business based on these complaints, or say, a boycott, that is simply the marketplace at work. That is what the First Amendment is designed to allow– a situation in which all voices are allowed, but the best ideas win out in the “marketplace of ideas.”

Yes, I certainly have no issues with that reasoning.

I believe they are referring to “corporate censorship”, unless I missed somewhere that they have conflated it with first amendment rights.

Just ask Tyler Clementi. Or Seth Walsh. Or Raymond Chase. Or Ryan Halligan. Or any of the thousands of kids who have committed suicide because of disguisting homophobia.

That’s right, you can’t ask them: THEY’RE DEAD.

WooooooHooooooooo! Not coming up in amazon searches any longer! Way to go, firepups!! (And Pam!!)