Last month, I saw that some in the literary blogosphere are upset that Amazon.com donates more to Republicans than Democrats.
Dennis Loy Johnson of MobyLives.com says in an article on the subject, “For book lovers out there who are still stubbornly insisting that the rise of Christian fundamentalism homophobic right wing government is not necessarily a good thing, I bring glad tidings: You can do something about it,” namely stop buying from Amazon.com. “It will be interesting to see what happens if their clientele is reduced to the folks they’ve been donating money to–you know, the ones who only read that one book.”
The subject comes to the surface through the help of BuyBlue.org, a website which encourages liberals to vote their values with their wallets. The site says, “You may have voted blue, but every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest.”
I wonder if these Bluebuyers are worried about the publishing houses owned by Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. and the dreaded founder of Fox News. News Corp. owns HarperCollins and dozens of imprints. Doesn’t the corporate connection stain the books? The LA Times says, “Rupert Murdoch has been described as a power-mad mogul, debasing the public discourse with the cheapest forms of entertainment and using right-wing propaganda masquerading as journalism to advance his nefarious ends.” BuyBlue doesn’t list HarperCollins or News Corp., but the ideological link is clear enough. Why should value-buying liberals patronize their books?
I hope I don’t sound sarcastic about value-buying in this post. I think people should buy this way. The reason I avoided WaldenBooks and Barnes & Noble years ago was due to charges of distributing child pornography. I think they have been cleared of those charges, at least I think WaldenBooks stopped doing it, but I still tend to shop at other stores. No reason Bluebuyers shouldn’t do the same for their own reasons.
