InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Are you trying to Scully me?"

Puel, Wrongsexual (puella_nerdii) wrote,
@ 2009-04-13 21:48:00

Current mood:	infuriated
Entry tags:	rant

AmazonFail, and why it's important.
By now, I think everyone's heard of Amazon's rather spectacular fail.

My initial anger has subsided somewhat. Somewhat. I am calm enough to actually make this post instead of sitting in front of my computer sputtering in outrage. Do I think there's a culture of homophobia at Amazon? Not necessarily. Dear Author offers a plausible hypothesis, as does Making Light, though I have a caveat about their post -- they are correct in that Amazon likely did not intend to alienate a significant portion of their customer base with this policy (though they certainly have by now), and that they likely initiated it in an attempt not to offend anyone -- but their definition of offensive ended up reflecting some really ugly truths about the way our culture sees things. Intentional? Maybe not, but they fucked up bigtime, and I want to see big old apology before I'm liable to give them any kind of benefit of the doubt here. (Also, this quote: "“GAY CONTENT IS ADULT??!! RAPE SURVIVOR CONTENT IS ADULT?!!?? HOW DARE YOU AMAZON RARARGH INTERNET RAGE!” responded the masses. " Yeah. Way to portray this as some kind of herdlike mass hysteria. Way to de-legitimize the hurt and anger people are feeling here. Seriously, did Making Light learn nothing from Racefail?)

Do I think this is yet another fucking example of a culture of homophobia at work in the larger sphere, in which I and others who identify as queer constantly find ourselves relegated to the periphery and told that our experiences and voices aren't relevant to the culture as a whole?

Hell fucking yes.

So no, I won't be buying from Amazon for a good long while. As a consumer, I have the right to buy from a company who fucking respects me.

Thus: Amazon Rank. Because making a big fuss about this is how we expose the deep and persistent ugliness at the heart of Amazonfail, something that goes beyond one company's policy.

I was going to tack a meme or something onto the end of this post, but no, I'm letting it stand as it is.

(Post a new comment)

shellydkitty
2009-04-13 09:40 pm UTC (link)

Thank you for this. I haven't been able to articulate my anger because I'm just furious and their "explanation email" sent back to me did nothing to calm me. (Also, they failed to close my account. Which pisses me off to no end, because I wanted that damn thing closed and I told them exactly why to which they basically replied that I was wrong, and I guess they're keeping my account open because my reasons for closing weren't good enough or something. GRRRR)

Seriously, did Making Light learn nothing from Racefail?
This is why I don't read Making Light anymore.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

puella_nerdii
2009-04-13 09:46 pm UTC (link)

You're welcome; I'm glad I could help. And that's utterly fucking ridiculous -- you're their customer, you should have the right to close your own account! Especially when their own business practices drove you away.

I don't know if I'm going to continue reading them or not. I mean, they have a number of witty and insightful threads...and then there's stuff like this. *sigh*

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	dragovianknight 2009-04-13 10:02 pm UTC (link)
	Seriously, did Making Light learn nothing from Racefail? They learned that we are a bunch of mean poopieheads. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	puella_nerdii 2009-04-13 10:45 pm UTC (link)
	Well gee golly gosh, isn't it just terrible of us to spoil their fun. D: (Reply to this) (Parent)