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Is there a limit for free speech?
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JNUPSxbJL._SL500_AA272_PIkin3,BottomRight,28,7_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
There's a book selling online on Amazon.com that is creating a lot of polemic. "Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure" have already got over 600 one-star reviews. The book does exactly what you think it does. Teaches pedophiles how to love children and avoid getting caught.
Amazon was already noticed and refuses to censor the book, and quotes free speech as it's official statement to defend it:
Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.
While the majority seem to agree the book should be removed. Many have argued that free speech is universal. And that it's no different to censor a book aiding pedophiles than it is to censor Darwin's On The Origin of the Species. Or that a book cannot be attributed human characteristics such as moral or immoral.
Is the author just exercising his free speech and doing nothing negative to our society? Is there a limit for free speech? Are we supposed to pick what should be censor? Or would censorship cause more problem than this book?
Edit: Samples from the book:
From the book's free sample:
+ Show Spoiler +
Edit2: Amazon removed the book. It now gives you a 404 error.
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From the author's description:
"This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter sentences should they ever be caught. "
Yes, he wrote "liter sentences". Is this guy fucking serious?
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Of course there is a limit to free speech. You don't see pro holocaust books on amazon do you? (at least I hope you don't...lol)
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This review is from: The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure (Kindle Edition)
"This is an ABSOLUTE must read for me. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for this and was about to give up hope... So many times have I just felt ashamed because of the lack of attraction that often occurs when I'm hanging out with some of the kiddies for the first time. I recommend this book to EVERYONE and will share it with my friends at the day care I used to work at. THANKS AGAIN!"
I gotta say, it's pretty funny. However i don't feel it should be removed.
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In previous threads I've spent alot of time defending free speech. However, in this case it's pretty inexcusable. Pedophilia is a crime in western society, and a book on how to execute it no more should be legal than a book on how to make a very nice nail bomb.
The book shouldn't be banned because of it's offensive content, Lolita is a perfectly fine novel. However, if the book does directly instruct people in how to commit a crime, then it should be banned.
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WTF, you don't have to sell a book. Amazon has the right to pick what they want to sell or don't, those bastards are supporting pedophiles. fuck them!
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There's always a limit to what people can and CANNOT do in society. I say this book disappears. Quietly. Yet we censor against books on homosexuality (non-offensive, and in my humble opinion if it's love, why not?). This THING however, is a criminal act and is "teaching" people how to assault young children. This guy needs to be monitored. People have a really twisted sense of right and wrong.
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There is always a limit to freedom of speech. For (drastic) example, threatening to assassinate the president is illegal. However, I believe that censorship is up to Congress to make something illegal, not Amazon to play hero and remove the book from their website.
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Free speech, take the good with the bad.
That said, prosecute the shit out of pedophiles.
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On November 11 2010 07:39 DoubleZee wrote:
Of course there is a limit to free speech. You don't see pro holocaust books on amazon do you? (at least I hope you don't...lol)
Well there are holocaust denial books on amazon, along with Ann Coulter material that is just as offensive.
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United Kingdom16710 Posts
I wonder if Amazon would take a similar stand for books about murder, rape, fraud, drug distributing...etc. Sometimes people take this 'freedom of speach' argument too far.
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What has this world come to?
99% of the time I'm against censorship in any form. But this... this is just plain wrong. A guide to romanticize pedophillia? Why not make a book about 'loving rape'?
Fucking sickening.
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This is most likely a strategic decision on the part of Amazon. If there's ever pressure for them to pull other books in the future, and there will be, they can point to this one and say, "Hey, we refused to ban this, you can't possibly expect us to ban the book you want us too."
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On November 11 2010 07:41 kataa wrote:
In previous threads I've spent alot of time defending free speech. However, in this case it's pretty inexcusable. Pedophilia is a crime in western society, and a book on how to execute it no more should be legal than a book on how to make a very nice nail bomb.
The book shouldn't be banned because of it's offensive content, Lolita is a perfectly fine novel. However, if the book does directly instruct people in how to commit a crime, then it should be banned.
I know what you mean, and I'm almost inclined to agree with you....but your comparison is off. Making a bomb requires pretty specific technical knowledge...having sex with kids doesn't. I would have to read it to make a proper judgement on whether it should be removed (and I'd rather not), but I'd usually stick to the "if you don't like it, don't buy it" rule.
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If you try to protect free speech, you have to protect all of it. It definitely makes shit like this disgusting, but I can't be mad at Amazon for sticking to its guns. I can, however, be mad at the author and people who purchase the book.
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"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
I'm pretty sure you could apply that quote to this, pedophilia is against the law because it is deemed that the younger kids are not mature enough to engage in such acts with someone older than them. So you could construe this as a way of harming the person if not physically. IE freedom of speech about teaching people to do this does not apply.
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On the comparison to bombs: Anarchist's cookbook is still available and in print.
but that's another can of worms entirely
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If it was called "A Serial Killer's guide on Death and Anarchy" and tells Serial Killers how to kill people and avoid getting caught, it would be pulled off the shelf.
I don't understand how Amazon can defend a book that promotes illegal acts and how to avoid getting caught for performing them
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I think there's a pretty clear difference between this book and Darwin's. A better comparison would be Amazon refusing to sell The Anarchist Cookbook -- which they do sell, despite posting a prominent note from the author begging people not to buy it.
Amazon is within their rights here, but I don't agree with their decision as it's entirely their discretion what to publish. They deserve whatever boycott campaigns come their way.
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Osaka27179 Posts
Since they already publish the names, photos, and addresses of convicted sex offenders, just extend that to publish the names and places of people who buy this book.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/am1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/am2.jpg)
