When I first heard about the “banning” of Julia Rose from performing at the Borders store in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I immediately switched into Full Outrage mode. “What kind of idiots are running that place?” I yelled. “Bookstores are the sanctuary of the First Amendment! Banning people for political criticismis further evidence of the rise of the American fascist state!”
Hesiod‘s been talking about this, as has The Voice Unheard, and plenty of other webloggers. It’s been picked up by The Washington Post, New York Newsday, and even The Anchorage Daily News. What an outrage! Organize a boycott! Must… do… something…
Then… I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and thought before I posted. Having worked in independent bookstores as well as chain bookstores over the years, it seemed highly unlikely that a bookstore would ban any kind of speech. I checked with people I know at the local Borders store to see what their spin on the story might be. From what they tell me, and from what Borders corporate HQ is telling customers who call to complain, this whole flap has nothing to do with banning political speech. (To read the full statement by Borders HQ, click on the “More…” link at the end of this story.)
See, Borders is in business to sell books. To make the bookselling environment more appealing, they have a café, comfy chairs, book signings, story hours and, occasionally, entertainment. But the focus is always on selling books. If the entertainment is not entertaining, if it makes customers get up and leave the store, if it’s bad enough to motivate customers to fill out comment cards with complaints…
Imagine you own a bar. You make money by selling drinks. You hire a band with a good reputation to bring people in, hoping that entertained customers will stay a while and buy drinks. Suppose the band you’ve booked not only doesn’t bring people in to your bar, but motivates people to leave. Would you book that band again?
I wouldn’t. And neither would Banzai! Terror, a weblogger who works at the Fredericksburg Borders and actually has some first-hand information on Ms. Rose’s performance. As he says:
Strange. We’re always going off on those “fair and balanced” news sources for their one-sided, non fact-based coverage of the issues. How many of the voices raised in anger at Borders took a second to ask for their side of the story?
(Credit where credit is due: Hesiod has posted Border’s response on his blog.)
