Wow. The world of 'Fahrenheit 451' looks a lot more of a possibility to me today. My ebay listing of 'Mein Kampf' was allowed to run three days then summarily withdrawn. I received the following mail:
Dear
We appreciate that you chose eBay to list your auction-style listing(s). However, we have removed your (s) because it breaches our Hateful or Discriminatory policy.
230370199110 - Mein Kampf: Adolph Hitler. Text in German
Why did we remove your listing?
In accordance with our User Agreement, items prohibited by law or by eBay policy are not allowed on eBay.
You're not allowed to list items that promote or glorify hatred, violence or racial intolerance, or items that promote organisations with such views on eBay.
I'm at a loss for words. Not so the Aussie who had put a bid on it: "So they won't let us study our history now?"
That particular work is freely available on many sites and has recently been re-printed. It's a socio-political source book and any attempt to bury it is IMO an attempt to re-write history from which we can learn - if it's presented in full and with with honesty. If I were selling fundamentalist religious tracts I might understand them prohibiting the sale but I'm a secondhand bookseller trying to earn a living. The other books I had listed at the same time were: 'Tanglewood Tales' by Nathaniel Hawthorne and illustrated by Edmund Dulac and a book on fencing (the type you dress up for not the erection of wooden posts..) A glimpse at my selling history would have reassured them I'm not the sort to start a revolution.
I've closed my ebay account. Much they'll care. Big machine, little brain.
If you hear of an auto-da-fé in Forres High Street you'll understand who is at the stake and what the fuel is.
2 comments:
It's available on Amazon, in many translations etc.
I guess they want to be careful but this is pathetic, suggest articles to newspapers.........bit of publicity?
Good thinking. Luckily it was there long enough to find a buyer so sucks boo to them. Still, the publicity would be good to shame ebay. Its ebay .com that's really doing the censoring I think. I made the mistake of opening the listing up to them and they are already in conflict over their policy for this book. I found an interesting article somewhere about it all.
Post a Comment