AMAZON FAIL

Before I set to work catching up on my poem-a-day venture, I have to say that I came home to some disturbing (albeit not very surprising) news. I am late to this, but what can I say - I do not tweet (and I am no worse off for that fact).

Apparently, Amazon has stripped rankings from GLBT and sex positive feminist works, as well as, ridiculously, D.H. Lawrence, deeming them "adult" (although Edward Champion helpfully points out that traditional romance novels, e.g. Jackie Collins do NOT, for some reason, fall under this definition). What does this mean? See for yourself. Go to Amazon's front page and do a general search for homosexuality. Note the #1 hit. It is most definitely not a "glitch."

I, for one, have decided to henceforth take my book-buying business elsewhere, as I should have done long ago, were it not for my own laziness. I trust you will have the fortitude to do likewise if you have not already done so.

UPDATE: I just noticed my girls at Jezebel have a pretty lengthy and linkful run-down of the situation, including many specific books that have been stripped of their rankings, including (WTF) The Advocate College Guide for GLBT Students. I smell fundies. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 2: A thoughtful response to this debacle from LJ user tehdely. Frankly, I'm one to call a spade a spade. Whether 'tis indeed the work of trolls pitting the meager (though still frightening) forces of fundie conservatism against wishy-washy corporate libs, there was a BIG responsibility/trust fail here on the part of Amazon. They aren't redeemed by this rational explanation, IMO. Amazon obviously has some pretty weak ethics and it follows that they would capitulate to the pot-and-pan clanging of some (supposedly) marginal loony tunes to avoid the bad PR they threaten to rouse, ironically rousing exponentially MORE bad PR. Lulz, yes. But this instance still points to a big general failing in the workings of such massive companies - they lack humanity because they are so machinated. Dystopia win, Amazon. Dystopia win.

UPDATE 3: To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence. (Nietzsche)

UPDATE 4: From Jezebel's Anna N.: Whether or not Amazon intended to keep us from buying evil gay propaganda, the debacle does reveal something disturbing about our reliance on online bookstores. At least in books[sic]-and-mortar stores you have to actually burn the books to keep them away from people — on Amazon, you can just make them invisible. That about sums it up, methinks.

UPDATE 5: (Last one, for swears) Iiiinteresting. Your pretty techie talk wins me for the moment, Bryant. Conclusion still stands, though - troll, yes, but Amazon still fails! /liberal reactionary pants