Oh this should be good. The linked text started with:
While the New York Post denied that their cartoon of a chimpanzee being shot and the caption "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill" was a racist stab at President Barack Obama, Barnes & Noble is putting the blame on a customer.
This would be the emotional setup. Next:
:The Barnes & Noble bookstore's storefront in the Miracle Mile Mall in Coral Gables, Fla., featured several books about Obama and one about monkeys.
In a public statement, Barnes & Noble spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating said, "We believe that a customer played a cruel joke and placed an inappropriate title in the front window of our store. We are looking into it and are taking the steps necessary so that it does not happen again."
So a display about Obama is put up with a single Monkey picture in the middle. Odd. Very odd.
A photo of the display began circulating via e-mail by an unknown photographer and has sparked widespread criticism and the public apology from the U.S. bookseller. But is putting the blame on a customer really an apology?
So just to be clear, an unidentified man or woman took a picture of a display which they were offended by and RATHER than march into the store and demand an explanation and removal, they merely forwarded this message to whomever without attribute. OK so we expect first that the photographer ID him or herself then tell us why they didn't bring it up to the store manager immediately since they felt so inclined to defend the race.
Secondly though there is no direct evidence that the store in question is not telling the truth. Worse, the title implies that B&N as a corporate entity approved of such an action when we know that a B&N store is much more like a franchise.
On contrast the NY Post, owned by Newscorp has direct control over the content of the NY Post. No individual can sneak in a photo such as the offending one into the paper. There must be approval from the Editor in Chief to have such an item show in a paper. In fact it is common for so called "offensive" syndicated columns and cartoons to be rejected by a newspaper. Ask Aaron McGruder.
I'm not familiar with the store in Florida but I am familiar with two such stores here in Northern NJ where I as a customer could EASILY muck about with a window display or any other display in the store without much notice from anyone. Furthermore; it is entirely plausible that it was not a customer but an employee acting on his or her own behalf. In neither case would this be reflection on B&N the corporate entity unlike the situation with the NY Post where the very fact that the cartoon was approved up the chain reflected directly on the corporate entity.
So the comparison to the NY Post incident thus far is so far fetched that it would seem to me that Diversity Inc. is courting a libel suit by making such comparisons.
Anyway unless or until Diversity Inc. takes to actual reporting, like calling the store, tracking down the photographer or perhaps tracking down surveillance footage, their report ought to be taken with the same grain of salt used by the "know your 5 black presidents" poster they are selling.
on a side note though, I guess Flavor Flav doing his black face impression is OK by everyone
