Bookstore Rubbish

While I was in Borders Friday night perusing the photography section after a nice meal with the wife (who was over in home decorating), I ran into an endcap of Michael Moore's screeds and others.

Actually, I ran into two whole endcaps.

There were a total (I counted) 23 titles that attacked the Bush administration--each one of them. These featured books were alike in their worldview: Bush et al are evil-but-fundamental-Christian-evangelist, scheming-yet-stupid oilmen who stole the election in Florida, conspired to bring down the World Trade Center and bumbled the war in Iraq for oil. . .backed by Jews and conspiring with the Sauds. We all know the various titles that are out there.

Odious in their obvious hatred, I chalked it up to free speech in action, if not the ability of any American to be profane, disrespectful and borderline libelous. Would Stalin, Fidel, or Saddam allow such things to be sold? Hardly. So, I suppose, this is a sign of a good thing. Doesn't mean that I have to buy it, or even respect it.

I looked around to find some titles that provided the alternate viewpoints, something positive about what's happening now and who's running the country.

I found two in an unrelated section.

Your opinions are being shaped not just by the choice of news that is brought by the media, but also in subtle ways as well. What I saw tonight is that subtlety in action. The books that are brought to publication are chosen by an elite few. The books that are published and that your local store ultimately carries are edited by the bookstore chain management. The books that your local store will feature are going to be chosen by the bookstore help.