Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about the decision by Amazon to no longer provide the book by Dr. Ryan Anderson on transgenderism. Ironically, Anderson didn’t even know his book was pulled until a reader told him. He logged onto Amazon and was greeted with a message that it was not a functioning page. That’s because free speech isn’t a functioning principle at that e-commerce company.

Did Amazon and Jeff Bezos merely give into the woke mob? That is hard to imagine. Two years ago, when the National Enquirer attempted to blackmail him, he resisted them and went public. As one of the richest men in the world, he can afford to stand up to those calling for a virtual book-burning. Besides, he didn’t have to stand up to the mob. He was content to go along with it.

Does Amazon have the right to exclude books from its online service? It does. But it is interesting to see what books aren’t banned from Amazon. Rod Dreher noted that “Jeff Bezos will sell you Hitler’s autobiography, because he correctly trusts readers” but “will not sell you a book by the head of a major American think tank.”

Will more Amazon censorship take place? That is certain. Two congressional Democrats wrote a stern letter to Jeff Bezos that was demanding more censorship. They lament that the “country’s public discourse is plagued by misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies.” A good way to counteract some of that would be to have more quality books, like the one written by Ryan Anderson that just was censored.

They weren’t finished. They also demanded to know why Amazon Fire TV carries conservative programs. They also sent similar letters to a dozen cable CEOs and tech CEOs pressing them to drop contracts with right-of-center outlets like Fox News.

All of this suggests that we will see more censorship in the future.