Amazon and Ethical Shopping

Readers may remember the posting I did a few weeks ago called Child Abuse disguised as religion - To Train up a Child in which I briefly highlighted this book, which has been around since 1994 when it was first published.



If you have not read this post, please take a few minutes out to do so - amongst other items linked in this post is the book itself. If you haven't the time, you can read the book online here

As well as being a book full of such delightful ways to physically and mentally abuse your children into submission and obeying your every command, it has been linked to numerous deaths of young children. A quick Google search in the news will show some of the horrific stories, and whilst ultimately the responsibility of these murders lie with the parents, some also has to be directed at this vile book.

Since this posting, I have been trying to get answers (without a lot off success), from Amazon into why it is still promoting and condoning this "manual of abuse" on it's site, when other retail sites have realised the damaging impact that this book has and have withdrawn it. Obviously I realise that although there have been many public campaigns over the years, Amazon has so far refused to withdraw this book. More recently, MP Nadine Dorris has also called for Amazon to withdraw this book

I was quite surprised last night then, after countless e-mails and completing of forms on their site, to get a reply from Amazon as follows:

"I'm sorry to hear about this. I can understand your concerns.

In this case, I've escalated this issue to the appropriate department in our company and have requested to remove the item "To Train Up a Child: Turning the hearts of the fathers to the children" from the website as soon as possible. Thank you for your feedback.

I'm very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced in this case and I hope you'll give us another chance in the future."

Now, do I believe that this will happen?

As said before, there have been numerous, very public campaigns in the past to get this book banned, and to get Amazon to stop selling it, without success.

Not really sure if I believe they will, but by making part of the reply from Amazon in which they have stated "I've escalated this issue to the appropriate department in our company and have requested to remove the item "To Train Up a Child: Turning the hearts of the fathers to the children" from the website as soon as possible" public in this way, hopefully there will be a better chance of getting this book removed from Amazon for once and for all, or will they GO BACK ON THEIR WORD?. Naturally I have asked Amazon to send me confirmation when they have taken this book down, and in an ideal world it would be great to go on their site, search for this book, and have "no matches found".

I will add their response as a comment under this post if/when I receive it.

In the meantime, please share this - the more people that see the response from Amazon, the more pressure they will be under to remove it, and ultimately, to help prevent any more deaths of children in this way, that is the aim.

Child Abuse disguised as 'Religion' - "to train up a child".

Guilty of murder for parenting by "To Train Up a Child"

 

 

"Two parents in Washington state have been found guilty of murder after allegedly following the abusive parenting techniques advocated in the parenting book "To Train Up a Child" by Michael and Debi Pearl.
Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum prison sentences allowable under the law after being found guilty of beating and starving their adopted daughter Hana to death. The methods they used to "discipline" their daughter were advocated in the controversial Christian book.
Some of the discipline techniques the Pearls teach include:

• Using plastic tubing to beat children, since it is "too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone”
• Wearing the plastic tubing around the parent's neck as a constant reminder to obey
• "Swatting" babies as young as six months old with instruments such as "a 12-inch willowy branch," thinner plastic tubing or a wooden spoon
• "Blanket training" babies by hitting them with an instrument if they try to crawl off a blanket on the floor
• Beating older children with rulers, paddles, belts and larger tree branches
• "Training" children with pain before they even disobey, in order to teach total obedience
• Giving cold water baths, putting children outside in cold weather and withholding meals as discipline
• Hosing off children who have potty training accidents
• Inflicting punishment until a child is "without breath to complain"

 

Recently, this was brought up in the House of Commons by MP Nadine Dorries, who, amongst others, have urged Amazon to withdraw this book - so far to no avail (it still being available here.)

If you can stomach it, it can be read here To Train Up A Child,- not easy reading !!

Seriously, this book should be removed from all online retailers, especially one like Amazon. Quite a few have already removed this, but not Amazon. Is it morally or ethical right for Amazon to profit from child abuse in this way?

There are two existing petitions, one for the UK and one for the USA , and there is also a new ePetition asking the UK Government to ban the sale of this book. Please add your signatures to one or more of these, and get others to do the same. Tweet Amazon - e-mail them (cis@amazon.com ), do whatever you can and want. This book is nothing to do with "training children to all parents who love their children" as quoted, this is a book filled with various ways of physically abusing babies and children under the supposed "guise" of religion. This book has been the catalyst of a number of deaths of children, and it really should be banned. If you are in any doubt why, read the book itself, or the various news articles of Hanna Williams , Lydia Schatz and Sean Paddock. Thank you