Re: [UUPoly-L] Anti-gay discrimination on Amazon.com -- or just aBantown troll?

"Catherine Deville" <CatDeville@cox.net> · Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:54:55 -0000

Hmmm... I don't know about that.  I don't know what you got on your search, or if what I got just now has  changed *because* of this
debacle, but here's what I got when I did a search on just the word "Homosexuality": 

1.A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi (Paperback - Oct 2002)
2.Homosexuality 
	Homosexuality
	    * Fiction
	    * Nonfiction
3. You Don't Have to Be Gay: Hope and Freedom for Males Struggling With Homosexuality or for Those Who Know of Someone Who Is by
Jeff Konrad (Paperback - Nov 1, 1987)
4. For The Bible Tells Me So ~ Gene Robinson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Imogene Robinson (DVD - Feb 19, 2008)
5. Can Homosexuality Be Healed? by Francis MacNutt (Paperback - Jul 1, 2006)
6. King & King & Family by Linda De Haan, Stern Mijland, and Stern Nijland (Hardcover - Mar 2004)
7. Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality, Revised and Expanded Edition: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church by Jack Rogers 
8. The Different Dragon by Jennifer Bryan, Bobbie Combs, and Danamarie Hosler (Paperback - Sep 15, 2006)
9. Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen (Hardcover - Mar 27, 2008)
10. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (Hardcover - April 26, 2005)
11. Hero by Perry Moore (Paperback - May 5, 2009)
12. Heather Has Two Mommies: 10th Anniversary Edition (Alyson Wonderland) by Leslea Newman and Diana Souza 
13. Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality of Cities by Julie Abraham (Hardcover - Jan 30, 2009)
14. The Arthur Dong Collection - Stories from the War on Homosexuality (Coming Out Under Fire / Licensed to Kill / Family 
15. What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak (Paperback - April 2000)
16. 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality by Mike Haley (Kindle Edition - Jun 1, 2004) - Kindle Book

Now, on the first page of that search, there seems to be a pretty even balance of "pro-gay" and "anti-gay" stuff.  Yes, the first
few items on the list *seem* to be "anti-gay"... although it's good to note that the 2nd item on the list is a category redirect to
books on homosexuality, both fiction and non-fiction, which feeds the individual through to the Teens>Social Issues>Homosexuality
category.  This may be new.  

But the rest of the list, past item 5, is largely "pro-gay", including several children's books aimed at children in gay families,
one JA book (#11) and books like #7 which are generally categorized as "pro-gay Christianity/spirituality" books or #15 which
appears to be anti-anti-gay Christian apologetics.

So, it's possible that this resulted from the attack, but that list doesn't look to be intentionally discriminatory to me.  Looking
past the first page also looked pretty balanced to me (gee... item #34 on my list is actually a "subliminal CD" to end homophobia
and overcome fear of homosexuality"... something I've never seen before and didn't know was out there. 

So it doesn't look like anti-gay discrimination to me.  But that's just my opinion.  The problem does seem to be the fact that GLBT
books are generally considered "adult" unless they specifically are not (specifically Non-fiction, children's books and JA books),
and that adult books are automatically excluded from a search.  I'm of the opinion that I should have the choice of turning that
off.

Of course, if you really want to fight "fire with fire", you can try the same "bantown" tactics and tag some of the anti-gay stuff
with your own tags... the 19 tags that show up under item #16 above (a pro-Christian/"anti-gay" book) are: 
gay porn (36)  homophobic (11)  delusional (9) hate (9) bigotry (8) stupid (5) sick (4) gay ministry (2) homosexuality (2) truth
(2)  biblical sex (1) fail (1) gay interest (1) inhuman (1) not the truth (1) offensive (1) sexuality (1) sexuality apologetics (1) 
traditional marriage (1)

So, looks like some folks are applying similar tactics when tagging the "anti-gay" books, just as much as they might be the
"pro-gay" books. 

NT, 
Cat
-----Original Message-----
From: uupoly-l-bounces+catdeville=cox.net@uupa.org [mailto:uupoly-l-bounces+catdeville=cox.net@uupa.org] On Behalf Of Michael Rios
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 11:12 AM
To: uupoly-l@uupa.org
Subject: Re: [UUPoly-L] Anti-gay discrimination on Amazon.com -- or just aBantown troll?

I don't know how Amazon cannot be involved to some degree.

If you do a search on "homosexuality", the vast majority of the titles that
show up first are ones on how to "cure" homosexuality, or why God hates you
for it...

Michael Rios

> -----Original Message-----
> From: uupoly-l-bounces+earthfather=cfnc.us@uupa.org 
> [mailto:uupoly-l-bounces+earthfather=cfnc.us@uupa.org] On 
> Behalf Of Alan alan7388
> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 1:08 PM
> To: uupoly-l@uupa.org
> Subject: Re: [UUPoly-L] Anti-gay discrimination on Amazon.com 
> -- or just aBantown troll?
> 
> This may not be Amazon's doing at all. It could just be a 
> bantown meta-troll at work, which Amazon will have to 
> scramble to undo. More
> information:
> http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.html