[ via Boing Boing ] v-2 had a great retort to those who beat up on Ikea and Starbucks: in a global economy someone was going to find a way to mass market the Scandinavian furniture and coffee drinks that you thought you had a hipster monopoly on.
I’ve heard the same complaints about Amazon and Borders. I know a few people who write for a living, and they love Amazon and Borders. Because in rural East Texas there is only one place to shop: WalMart. And the only book you will find at WalMart is something on the order of Bill O’Reilly inciting the mob to throw non-Republicans in the furnaces. And before that, well, maybe your little hamlet had a library.
But even in the sticks, people have Internet access, and while Jeff Bezos will sell you Ann Coulter’s Kill All the F*ck*ng Liberals, he’ll also sell you The Left Hand of Darkness and other fine books.
I’m lucky and have an independent bookstore two blocks from my place. If you live in the ‘burbs, then if you’re lucky you will have a Borders. However, the Indie bookstore with the Booksense 76 shelf also features the same, nasty Right Winger books you’ll find at WalMart and Borders, because they sell, and the bookseller would like to stay in business.
