[Newspoetry] good time to start boycotting amazon.com

[David Young]

On Fri, Dec 31, 1999 at 12:15:20AM -0800, Sam Markewich 2 wrote:
> Given that the first amendment is the main stay of the libertarian party, the
> KKK, the pornography industry and many other conservative, often overtly
> violent, parties, organizations and ideologies, it might not be such a bad
> idea to consider giving up the first amendment, at least as it has become
> situated within liberal/conservative ideology and legal practice.  It would be
> worth doing to come up with a revised freedom of expression amendment that
> proctected the public from companies like amazon that seem to enhance freedom
> of expression while in fact seriously diminishing it ...

Interesting proposition. A few questions:

Are you being facetious? (Sorry, if you knew the people I know, you
couldn't tell, either.)

What is it about the Libertarian Party, the Klan, and Larry Flynt enjoying
the freedom of expression under the First Amendment "as it has become
situated" that recommends scrapping that amendment? Is there a general
principle under which they would not enjoy the freedom of expression but
the Greens, Socialists, anarchists, Planned Parenthood, and AFL/CIO could,
for very long?  How would an alternative amendment read?

By putting local booksellers out of business, does Amazon truly diminish
the freedom of expression, or is it truer to say that they reduce the
number of channels for free speech, like telecom mergers? In other words,
does Amazon's squeezing out competitors involve the right to free speech
or a right to be heard? Is there a right to be heard?

Is Amazon actually putting local booksellers out of business?

Is Amazon doing something malicious or unfair ("insensitive," even) to put
local bookstores out of business, or does it have a model of bookselling
(one-click shopping, etc.) that is more appealing to the lazy shopper
than the alternatives?  (Perhaps one-click shopping is so pernicious,
and consumers so unaware, that there should be a Surgeon General's
warning, or even a ban!) Do we need to reign in Amazon with The Law,
or will it work to inform its customers what shopping at Amazon is doing?

Is there anything, short of a Constitutional amendment, that will save
local booksellers? (Here's a relatively mundane suggestion: Put local
booksellers on the Web in a big way. Even the ones that sell porn,
The Turner Diaries, and---oh, horrors!---books by libertarians, on the
theory that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.)

Ok, so that wasn't a few questions. =)

Dave