3 ms·

You can't claim that Mentos cure or treat cancer and market them. You could sell Mentos as a "dietary supplement" and even say that it "supports system health"

You can't claim that Mentos cure or treat cancer and market them. You could sell Mentos as a "dietary supplement" and even say that it "supports system health" if you have any data about it, no matter how bad. If you are a doctor, you can actually treat people with cancer using Mentos, but you can't market it without approval (good luck with those lawsuits, though!). Books don't cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat disease, so they aren't under the purview of the FDA. The real problem here is the dominant market position Amazon has. People figure if Amazon bans something, the book will be completely inaccessible. This is sometimes true. Nobody freaked out when their local indie bookstore didn't have "Mein Kampf" and "Middle Eastern Terrorist Bomb Designs" (it's real!) in stock because they figured they could just get it somewhere else if they really wanted to. Whatever you think about this, one company having over 60% market share in books (higher in some categories) is concerning. I have been using https://www.alibris.com https://www.alibris.com lately.

_cs2017_ 8y ago
Could you clarify your point a bit? When you (correctly) say that the books aren't under the purview of the FDA, do you imply that you would prefer if they remained available on Amazon? If so, how would you respond to the concern that such books cause a lot of suffering to a lot of people?
- identity-haver 8y ago
  The parent comment seems to believe that the FDA would have some jurisdiction over the content. It's not up to me what people read and write, or what Amazon puts on their website. Amazon has the right to choose what they sell, just as the author has the right to publish their book. In this particular case, besides Amazon's action, there could be civil suits against the author (look up Paladin Press), and even FTC actions depending on the exact claims made by the book. How would you respond to the concern that this is not the only book that people believe has caused suffering? For example, how about Aquinas, or Marx, or Hume, or Foucault, or the Anarchist Cookbook or hell, Hugh Hefner? Books don't leap off of shelves and hit people, causing them injuries. A person, subject to the law and with their pre-existing moral system, must, having read the contents of the book, perform some action to their self or others to cause suffering.

_cs2017_ 8y ago

Could you clarify your point a bit? When you (correctly) say that the books aren't under the purview of the FDA, do you imply that you would prefer if they remained available on Amazon? If so, how would you respond to the concern that such books cause a lot of suffering to a lot of people?

identity-haver 8y ago
The parent comment seems to believe that the FDA would have some jurisdiction over the content. It's not up to me what people read and write, or what Amazon puts on their website. Amazon has the right to choose what they sell, just as the author has the right to publish their book. In this particular case, besides Amazon's action, there could be civil suits against the author (look up Paladin Press), and even FTC actions depending on the exact claims made by the book. How would you respond to the concern that this is not the only book that people believe has caused suffering? For example, how about Aquinas, or Marx, or Hume, or Foucault, or the Anarchist Cookbook or hell, Hugh Hefner? Books don't leap off of shelves and hit people, causing them injuries. A person, subject to the law and with their pre-existing moral system, must, having read the contents of the book, perform some action to their self or others to cause suffering.