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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/ebay-removes-discontinued-dr-seuss-books-1573824%3famp=1

[b]eBay[/b] won’t let you sell or buy the handful of Seuss books because they’ve been deemed offensive.

This is the ripple effect. While the Seuss publishers can make a business decision not to publish, the reality is the accompanying rhetoric has an impact. The takeaway is racism, and it will likely impact the entire catalogue.

Let’s see how book sales of the cat in the hat do year over year moving forward. My guess is there will be a dramatic decrease because most people won’t want to inadvertently offend anyone.[/quote]

Is Ebay a government entity?

If not, it isn't censorship, its capitalism.[/quote]

Lots of naivete online about tech oligarchs: they're governmental, alright. Don't fool yourself about this stuff, the person you're cheating might just be yourself.[/quote]

Lots of naivete about how we got to this point and what we can do about it. There are two choices:
1. Pass a law restricting the free speech of corporations. It would probably be unconstitutional due to Citizens United.
2. Organize boycotts. I'm perfectly willing to participate in these as appropriate. But I rarely buy books or use Ebay- we are a library family. So it doesn't make sense for me to boycott in this case. You are free to give it a go. [/quote]

B.S. That list isn't MECE, Einstein.

The real option is to re-legilate how tech companies operate. At present they harness public investment for private gain, creating weird private profits and prerogatives. They are among our ages' greatest cancers, along with things like the fossil fuel industry, finance, weapons+defense, etc. [/quote]

Republicans don't believe in controlling how companies operate. [/quote]

Either do Democrats.  We just like sensible anti-trust regulations.[/quote]

Ebay doesn't have a monopoly. Plenty of options for buying and selling used goods online. Got any other ideas?[/quote]
It's got a semi-monopoly, like other tech giants.  Not control, but if the big guys don't carry it, it's harder to find.  And socially, that's exactly what many people want[b], so Ebay is favoring the view that these books shojld be hard to find[/b].[/quote]

So Ebay doesn't have a monopoly.
And most people don't want to buy the book.
So what is the problem? [b]That a small number of people want to buy the book and can't?[/b]

There are lots of things that I want to buy that are no longer available for purchase. I wish I could buy a tee shirt like the Gap used to make in the early 2000s. And A particular work blouse that I loved, loved, loved and is no longer made or on Ebay. That isn't censorship.[/quote]
I buy and sell specialty books on Ebay.  Ebay and Amazon are the main markets for this.  You can in fact find very old rare books on ebay,  people do want them, and if you follow the market, you can figure out a good price easily.   For many things, if it isn't on Ebay, it either doesn't exist at all, or the handful of people who might have it aren't selling.  Or you've got   to hunt specialty markets, like the pre-internet days.  For people who want these things, like me, Ebay is the greatest thing in the world.  What they allow or don't allow does effect me.  People like me should have a voice in how society (through Ebay and other outlets) controls this corner of our lives.  I don't see why that's such strange thing to want, even of I cab't have that right now.  I really believe that some day we will have better answers that make everybody happier.  I
These sorts of controversies have happened before.  We figured it out then.  We'll figure it now.

Free markets never really existed anyway.  Always been controlled one or another, often informally.  Free speech also has informal controls.  Publisher controlling what they print based on social considerations of racism is a type of informal control, whether you recognize it or not.  In fact, informal controls are often difficult to recognize and "subjective."  But they are still a type of control if it's harder for me to get a book and even harder to talk about it.[/quote]

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