Two days later, the online retailer explains that it was an accident caused by a glitch starting in France and is working to correct the problem. But it was two days too late. Bloggers and authors came out swinging—“Amazon is selling discrimination,” screams one headline. Petitions were started, Twitter feeds created .
The New York Times sums up the outrage: “Most of the company’s online critics complained that the problem appeared to have a disproportionate effect on gay and lesbian themed books, leading to cries of censorship.”
Bingo. The problem “appeared” to be “disproportionate.” The moral of the story? If an action—even an accidental one—can be interpreted as discrimination, it most certainly will be .
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