Borders says NO to Danish cartoons

9 comments on “Borders says NO to Danish cartoons”

1. Pete says:
   March 31st, 2006 at 11:47 am

   Free speech guarantees the right to say pretty much whatever you want, including repeating what someone else said. But it also guarantees the right to not say anything, including not passing along what somebody else said, which is basically what Borders is doing by not selling that issue of Free Inquiry. We’re all within our rights in not spreading around somebody else’s stupidity.

2. Bort says:
   March 31st, 2006 at 12:34 pm

   Meh, when you are a giant corporate bookstore selling a billion magazines like Boarders I don’t think it is your place to censor an individual magazine issue.

   Yes, no one is forced to publish stuff under free speech, but that applies more to a site like Bookninja choosing what to link to that the above, in my mmind.

3. Steven says:
   March 31st, 2006 at 1:02 pm

   To the same extent that Free Inquiry has the right to republish the cartoon, I suppose Borders has the right not to stock the issue in its stores, the same way Indigo has the right to decide not to stock Hustler or Mein Kampf. Borders is not censoring anything; they’re not, for instance, saying that they will stock the issue but tear out the offending pages. And, to the extent that Free Inquiry is available elsewhere, I don’t necessarily have a problem with their justification for not carrying the issue. Does that sound equivocal enough?

4. George says:
   March 31st, 2006 at 1:27 pm

   I have no problem with anyone choosing what to sell or not sell, publish or not publish (though I do think the cartoon is already widely enough available that further publication of it is really only an effort to boost sales through controversy, disrespect for dollars), but I do have a problem with Borders’ baffling explanation. Passive aggressive and wishy-washy. Meet it head on. They don’t want protests outside their store cutting into business, and they don’t want to paint a big red and white target on their door, and they don’t want to alienate a segment of their potential customer base. They don’t want to get involved, but not carrying the issue is already getting involved. Just justify the decision instead of mewling like a puppy afraid of being slapped.

5. Barney says:
   March 31st, 2006 at 1:49 pm

   I’m not sure how Free Inquiry is “pissing on the faces of millions worldwide” by publishing the cartoons.

6. Elise Moser says:
   April 1st, 2006 at 6:50 pm

   I don’t find Borders’ explanation contradictory or problematic. On the contrary, I think they are doing their job as booksellers: making a choice among the millions of possible books and magazines , according to their view of what stock they want to offer their clientele. The distinction between Borders and the government is crucial here: if the government said no to Free Inquiry they would be banning it from a whole country, using the power of the state. Borders on the other hand has made a choice for itself only, and does not prevent anyone from sourcing that material elsewhere. I wish more booksellers were this clear the issue of freedom of speech, which is an issue of social responsibility on many levels. (God, I can’t believe I’m gushing like this over Borders…)

7. Bort says:
   April 2nd, 2006 at 12:33 pm

   But this isn’t about Boarders rejecting a magazine for various reasons, its about them rejecting an ISSUE for one reason.

   Yes, they are in their “right” to do so, but I still think it is childish and stupid.

8. Bort says:
   April 2nd, 2006 at 12:36 pm

   And the Boarders claim to support the rights of THEIR customers to buy whatever they want next to theri rufusing to let their customers buy this issue is quite obviously contradictory.

9. MEG says:
   April 2nd, 2006 at 6:06 pm

   To Borders Books and to all Americans who have not taken a stand against their terrorist empowering policies:

   Regarding Borders and Waldenbooks stores’ decision to not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains reprints of cartoons that have angered the terrorists. According to Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham. “For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority.”

   I will not do business with those who trade freedom for security.

   In 490 BC 11,000 Greeks fought back 200,000 Persian soldiers. They did not lose to the volume of their enemy. They stood up against an overwhelming oppressive force that would steal their freedoms. They won by the greater volume of their cause not by the volume of their army. Had they lost, an infant democracy, a great example of mans natural freedom, would have perished from the western world. Again and again, Spartans, Rhodians, Romans and our Minute Men, man by man, stood against the loud collective forces that hoped to darken liberty with fear.

   On September 11, 2001, I sat with my children in our living room and watched a new threat to liberty scream out. My daughter asked why the bad guys chose this instead of a war with soldiers. I told her they hoped to make us afraid not to listen to what they say, afraid to live our lives the way we want, and they hoped to frighten us into making the choices they want us to make. She said that we should call the news and tell the people not to be afraid; because if the people became afraid then the bad guys would win.

   Why did my five year old understand more about liberty and freedom than your corporate officers?

   Liberty still stands with her torch, a lamp by which to read the ideas of mankind. She does not judge the ideas her light shall expose. She illuminates our right to our own judgment of our fellow man’s ideas.

   Not even the ashes of the twin towers darkened her lamp.

   But you have.

   Do not say that you are protecting me. Do not say that you have my children’s welfare in mind as you cower in the shadows and hide from liberty.

   Like Rome, someday this great land may fall. But I say let her go fighting like the Spartans. Let her comb her hair in the face of her enemy. Please, do not lead her like a lamb to slaughter.

   In the words of Ronald Reagan,

   “There is only an up or down – up to man’s age old dream – the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order – or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. “

   I will not do business with those who trade freedom for security.

   If I cannot purchase the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine in your store then I will never do business with you again. I will not trade with traitors of the American dream.

   Sincerely,

   Mary Gourgeon

   One mind free to think and choose for myself.

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