Those who complain of censorship who don't seem to know what it means probably don't read Glenn Greenwald, or, if they do, they don't read him very well. For instance, they should know that true assaults upon our freedoms can come from either the left or the right but that they most often come from our elected officials, such as the current untrustworthy bastards complicit in the current FISA capitulation. Plaints about evils of the PC left have little value coming from those who give a complete pass to "leaders" who give cool speeches but then do a 180 on the very promises the gave in the primary. With such foxes in the henhouse, the little bottom line capitulations of Amazon have little import.

Dear Nanny,

Ever here of Free Speech ?

ted

I am actually surprised they pulled this shirt

Bottom line - the complaints must have far outweighed the sales.

It isn't an issue of censorship, Amazon can refuse to sell whatever they want. They sell lots of distasteful crap, I am actually surprised they pulled this shirt, but - no one has a "right" to sell any given thing on any company's site.

Those who complain about censorship often don't seem to have a firm grasp on what the term actually means.

Actually...lots of us have a sense of humour...anyway....

I found the shirt wonderfully sarcastic and sickly funny. I'd actually buy it and wear it. It's fun to be a snotty bugger facing down the anti-abortion twits. I'd also get the "Staff" shirt.

Indeed, it's also fun to mock all those silly children who think we aging hippie feminists have no sense of humour. Kids, your time will come when the younger generation things you are a bunch of out of touch fossils. I hope you remember your snotty comments when you get old.

They refused to pull magazines that teach folks how to set up, breed, perform the 'sports' of dog and cock fighting, even though they are both illegal by federal law. I'm surprised at their concern, but again, they won't sell any of those pesky child porn mags either...

Yeah that'll get women to give you their phone number.

The dumbass probably thought he was peacocking.

Not to say I don't find this shirt tasteless, but in a way, it's probably good thing that such shirts are out there to be worn sincerely by people who might not get the irony, if indeed that's what this is supposed to be. It's a clear sign to women to stay away from the neanderthals who would drape themselves in this. I was recently approached by a man in a bar wearing a shirt that said "hump 'er and dump 'er" with a picture of a man throwing a woman in the trash. If his behavior had left any doubt in my mind that he wasn't for me, the shirt would have been the clincher.

Oh well. Sometimes it's just too tempting.

Actually, I really wanted to know in what city the Marilyn Manson concert was cancelled and how long he has been brooding about it. My daughter has been brooding about it for nine years. I thought he might be a guy who used to date her.

The real irony is that since then, my daughter has seen Marilyn Manson about seven times. Opportunities are lost and opportunities arise. I have no doubt that those folks will market their t-shirt somewhere else. Whether or not it actually sells is another thing altogether. Slogans one has to think too long about generally don't fly.

But honestly, as far as that particular slogan goes, I have seen some sexist trolls here at Broadsheet who would probably argue both of those sentiments: "Your honor, it wasn't really rape because she got drunk in the first place and what is a guy to do when a bitch is unconscious, but now that she is pregnant with my child, I not only want her to have to carry the pregnancy to term but I want that assumed joint custody and I want her to pay me child support. I also want her to promise to babysit on Saturday night because I don't want to interrupt my routine of snorting coke and visiting strip clubs. Please, your honor, I want this cunt I didn't really rape to be my baby mama."

This T-shirt should have a byline: Courtesy of the Republican Party. It's just sooo "them."

Gosh, you people are irony impaired. While it's not the smoothest of protest/satire t-shirts, you don't have to be a brainiac to "get it."

Amazon removing a shirt that they deem offensive is not censorship. Amazon is a retailer - every single thing retailers do is directed at selling products their customers want. When they found out that a significant portion of their customers were offended by this, they took it down. It's called the free market system, not censorship. Amazon did not have to remove the t-shirt. I'm sure there's plenty of products people have complained about that they haven't removed.

You people getting all up in arms about how the world is too PC are naively off base. This is how every retailer operates every day and always has. Anyone else can sell that t-shirt, there's no law against it. Now if the government got involved and said it was too offensive to sell, that would be censorship and then you'd have an argument. Right now, all you have to complain about is that Amazon is too sensitive to it's customers.

Would you guys really prefer a world where the a huge corporation like Amazon could do whatever the hell they wanted and customer opinions were not allowed?

… can I maybe send some of you folk a T-shirt that reads "Anti-censorship, but pro-muzzling unapologetic satire"? If this had read "Anti-abortion but pro-capital punishment", would more of us have caught the joke and realised who the actual target was? Sheesh…

But before I get to that: Did somebody write something about soldiers defending our freedoms? Do you really believe that's what this, or any war since the war of 1812, is really about? Wars are fought for the profits of the ruling class.

***

It's only technically legal censorship when the government does it. Don't cry "First Amendment" when it involves private entities. Agree or disagree, it's not applicable.

With that said, AKA Smith, you were indeed snarky and condescending.