Racist Barnes and Noble Display

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

My little dachshund is a dachshund-ist. When he's around other dachshunds he's like . But, when he's around other dog breeds he's like .

<random post to add to this mix>

What an evil little dog. Dachshundism must be stopped. Do not ignore this any longer. Take a picture and create an email forward campaign.

[SWTXBelle]

I think Camilla Parker-Bowles Windsor looks kinda horsey. And GW's ears make him look "monkeyish". My brain hurts trying to figure out what that means . . .

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

What an evil little dog. Dachshundism must be stopped. Do not ignore this any longer. Take a picture and create an email forward campaign.

Yes, you wouldn't believe how prejudiced dogs are. I once took my golden retriever puppy to the dog park and a woman's beagle snarled at her. She told me it was because, "Oh, she doesn't like puppies."

Anyway, deepimpact, your credibility, if you had any to start with, was lost with this thread. Your blind accusation that most of us think of the President as a monkey is absurd and very insulting. Many of us here voted for Obama, and for reasons having nothing to do with his skin color. That is more than we can say for you, apparently, since you cannot see past color to get the facts. YOU are the reason people do not want to talk about race issues in this country.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

What an evil little dog. Dachshundism must be stopped. Do not ignore this any longer. Take a picture and create an email forward campaign.

I WILL!!!!

[ASTalumna06]

deepimpact, we get that you're upset. Someone obviously did this intentionally, and it was wrong. I'm upset (probably in a minor way compared to you), but yes, it's still sad and it shouldn't be done.

However... no one knows who did this. If an employee was caught, whether it was a stupid 16-year-old high school kid or the owner of all of B&N, I would hope they would be reprimanded for it in some way. But the fact remains... it could have been a customer, it could have been one employee who was just stupid and ignorant, it could have been your mom, but you can't punish one of the largest national book stores for something that can't be directly linked to B&N, or anyone working for them.

Therefore, a discussion about whether B&N should do something about this is moot. It is still your right to be upset (in general), but you can't direct your anger toward anyone when you don't know who did it.

[DSTRen13]

I used to work in a bookstore (another national chain, not B&N). EVERY DAY, we moved porn from the kids section (and the bathroom, but let's not even go there ...). We were constantly moving the books on evolution out of the fiction section and back into science. Copies of conservative religious books would always "mysteriously" wind up in the gay and lesbian interest section.

The brick-and-mortar bookstore is a dying business, and they are all understaffed. Trust me, the employees try their hardest to keep the books where they belong and looking neat, at the same time as trying to help the customers (who are often completely insane). But it's essentially a losing game - you are talking about thousands of books in these stores, which all have a very precise correct placement. They can't all be right all the time.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I used to work in a bookstore (another national chain, not B&N). EVERY DAY, we moved porn from the kids section (and the bathroom, but let's not even go there ...). We were constantly moving the books on evolution out of the fiction section and back into science. Copies of conservative religious books would always "mysteriously" wind up in the gay and lesbian interest section.

The brick-and-mortar bookstore is a dying business, and they are all understaffed. Trust me, the employees try their hardest to keep the books where they belong and looking neat, at the same time as trying to help the customers (who are often completely insane). But it's essentially a losing game - you are talking about thousands of books in these stores, which all have a very precise correct placement. They can't all be right all the time.

That's been my experience as well - even at the national chains in Boston, it never seemed like there was enough staff to effectively police the store activity. Now, the stores had detectors and cameras to dissuade theft, but I'm surprised more garbage like this didn't happen (not necessarily just racially-motivated stuff, but vandalism in general).

[deepimpact2]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

That's been my experience as well - even at the national chains in Boston, it never seemed like there was enough staff to effectively police the store activity. Now, the stores had detectors and cameras to dissuade theft, but I'm surprised more garbage like this didn't happen (not necessarily just racially-motivated stuff, but vandalism in general).

You raised a good point about stores and cameras. I'm sure that store has cameras. Why didn't they at least LOOK at the cameras to see what occurred?

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by deepimpact2

You raised a good point about stores and cameras. I'm sure that store has cameras. Why didn't they at least LOOK at the cameras to see what occurred?

Could be that the cameras weren't functioning, could be that it happened in some gap in time during the incident. Or it could be that they know the culprit, but aren't releasing the name for that person's safety (and the whole innocent until proven guilty thing).

Originally Posted by deepimpact2

It doesn't matter if they FEEL that way. What matters is when they start doing things to SHOW it. Blatantly associating the President with a monkey isn't something that should be tolerated. I don't know, but your attempt to make a point fails because you are talking about someone's THOUGHTS, not their actions.

At any rate, I shouldn't be surprised at some of the reactions. Even though you would never admit it, most of you probably share the same sentiment as the people who continuously compare the President of the United States to a monkey. I'm not saying definitively that this is the case, but based on previous comments around here, it's not unlikely.
ETA: I'm not angry. don't want anyone to think I'm sitting here with steam coming out of my ears. I'm just saddened and perplexed that people are so desensitized that things like this are tolerated and brushed off.

I'm not sure where you get this. Most of the people who have posted in this thread (heck, most of the people who post on the board) were/are supporters of President Obama. Out of the remainder, most of us haven't stated anything racist (either overt or subtle) that would allude to us comparing the President to a monkey. I think most of us have explained pretty well why we didn't vote for the current President, either because of issues with his foreign policy, his economic plan, etc.

What exactly is your basis for that statement?

[sjsoffer]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I used to work in a bookstore (another national chain, not B&N). EVERY DAY, we moved porn from the kids section (and the bathroom, but let's not even go there ...). We were constantly moving the books on evolution out of the fiction section and back into science. Copies of conservative religious books would always "mysteriously" wind up in the gay and lesbian interest section.
.

This is definitely true. I have a photo of '50 years of playboy' and such that were in the "bargain priced children's books"..and that was our B&N. This was in view of the front counters, but I highly doubt the employees did it.

[deepimpact2]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

deepimpact, we get that you're upset. Someone obviously did this intentionally, and it was wrong. I'm upset (probably in a minor way compared to you), but yes, it's still sad and it shouldn't be done.

However... no one knows who did this. If an employee was caught, whether it was a stupid 16-year-old high school kid or the owner of all of B&N, I would hope they would be reprimanded for it in some way. But the fact remains... it could have been a customer, it could have been one employee who was just stupid and ignorant, it could have been your mom, but you can't punish one of the largest national book stores for something that can't be directly linked to B&N, or anyone working for them.

Therefore, a discussion about whether B&N should do something about this is moot. It is still your right to be upset (in general), but you can't direct your anger toward anyone when you don't know who did it.

I'm puzzled as to why people think that if an employee had been caught doing this, that they would have punished. There have been numerous incidents that have been traced back to employees and nothing was ever really done. For example, I have done some research to find out what happened with that employee involved in that incident where the word "n*^&%#" was written on a customer's return receipt. From what I know, they found out who it was, but never fired that individual. They just waited for everything to die down, and business resumed as usual. That's typically what happens in there types of situations.

Also, I think based on the rep's attitude alone on the Joyner show, there is more to the story. I still don't understand why he wasn't more apologetic. He was VERY nasty when he was on there. He certainly was quick to pass the buck however. A little too quick. Like I said, he was counting on the notion that people don't know the layout of the store.

[srmom]

There are always people in a desperate search for a "cause" - always have been, always will be.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by srmom

There are always people in a desperate search for a "cause" - always have been, always will be.

True. So this will only blow up if those people aren't ignored.

[Elephant Walk]

DI, you're kind of dumb.

[agzg]

Most of the Barnes and Nobles I know have a display like that behind the cashier's counter and then another one like that on the other big window in the front of the store - on the opposite side of the entrance.