Censorship in the workplace?

Question

we are having a relay for life booksale at work...and someone brought a book on assistetd suicide in today's society....it was written by an m.d......well as a supervisoir was going thru the books she noticed this and made a big show of throwing it away...then when i went ot retrieve it from her garabage can.....she snatched it and said that she bought that book and chose to throw it away.....now i see from thier persceptive that a book like that can force the company to be liable if someone read it after buying the book here....but then i believe that it is the ultimate sin is to burn a written piece of literatrue.....i believe that this is censorship...they had no specifications on what kind of books we could bring (other then porn).....what are your thoughts....covering their backs or censorship?

okay update...i went a break and talked to thier supervisor...and she is totally pi#@ed off...she is "fixing the problem in a timely manner"....she makes me happy...lol...but still do you think that what they did originally was wrong

Answer 1

The argument for throwing it away would have to be pretty much bogus. If they are discarding that one book because it clashes with their corporate ethics, does that mean the company is completely behind every other book in the book sale? Of course they aren't - who even knows exactly what's in all the other books? They'll probably just put up some kind of disclaimer to the extent that they do not necessarily endorse any viewpoint contained in any book they sell (I see those kinds of disclaimers all the time).

So a certain extent it even might be considered fraudulent - the company claimed they would seel books for charity, but instead they are throwing them away. People donated those books in good faith and the company is breaking that faith.

Answer 2

Please don't consider this a "wise guy" answer, but even YOU found some level of cesorship acceptable. You didn't seem to question the fact that pornogaphy would not be accepted.

I UNDERSTAND that position on porn, but what kind of book is porn. Adults having sex? Probably no question about THAT, but what if it were some kind of legitimate marriage manual? Is it still porn? Perhaps not, but would that book be suitable for that booksale? Are photos of naked women porn? Some would say "yes," some would say "no," others would say "it depends." How about charcoal drawings of nude women? How about a textbook on how to do figure drawing?

How would you classify erotic literature?

Everyone has their own definition of what they find offensive. Just recap, in your mind, the discussion on abortion. For some, the concept of assisted suicide is EQUALLY repellant. Your supervisor, there, may have been such a person. She made a decision, based on her authority as a supervisor that this volume was not suitable for your tables. The fact that you didn't agree was not a real good reason for you to go over her head.

You found a sympathetic ear in the supervisor you did reach, but what would you have done if this supervisor also thought the book inappropriate? Keep going until you found someone who agrees with you?

Don't get me wrong. I'm on your side on this issue. That book, in particular, as sensitive as the material may be, might have found an appropriate buyer, such as some one doing research, or preparing educated arguments for debate, or whatever.

It's just that YOU may be over sensitive about selective censorship. Maybe your supervisor is the one that is over sensitive. But, she was the one in authority to make that kind of decision. Perhaps you should have respected that. I hope you haven't burned any bridges by going over her head.

By the way. Don't you find it ironic that a "Relay for Life" booksale would have a volume on assisted suicide? And, in that context, do you still think that supervisor was out of line?

Answer 3

Even trash on business property is still business property. Try to take trash from a business dumpster and get caught, you'll see what I mean.

As for your boss's actions and decisions - you as employee are only entitled to employee rights.., not the right to dictate your superior's actions or your own ideas..., which is reverse censorship.., nor do employees have right to claim business trash, no more than the average citizen does.

Censorship works both ways. Your superior feels she has the right to make certain decisions.., and thats no doubt because she does have that right.

I am not dumping on you (pardon the pun) but pointing out something that has escaped you. I did not say you had to like what was going on at work - but thats just the way things are.

HOWEVER - once the trash leaves Business property and before the city picks it up - you can have all that trash your heart desires.

Answer 4

WOW, that would make me burning mad!!! Definitely a form of censorship but I don't know that there is any action you can take other than try to retrieve the book from the trash when the B**** isn't looking.

Answer 5

Hi, you can use contentwatch to protect your PC from porn site.

ContentProtect Internet Filtering Software provides top rated internet filtering and protection for homes & businesses. Find out why thousands of parents and businesses including Disney have chosen ContentProtect as their Internet Filter of choice.

you can get more information about ContentWatch.

http://network.sitesled.com/contentwatch.html

Good Luck && Best Wishes!

Answer 6

Political correctness gone mad ! People should take full responsibility for their own actions and not seek to find any license from others to excuse or condone those actions. You are not your brother's keeper and neither should your employer accept that role on your behalf! Way out of order!

Answer 7

She has bigger problems than trying to control other people's thoughts.

As soon as she throws the book away, she relinquishes any and all property rights to the book. Thus, when she snatched it away, she was stealing your property.

Answer 8

don't matter which one. why would someone spend time and money to make a book like that? How many pages long was it..1? Who needs assistance on suicide? If you wanna do it ...do it! Maybe your supervisor thinks like me and threw it away cause it was such a dumb book!!

Answer 9

I remember years ago I was trying to sell my Greaseman album at a garage sale. My mother in law looked at it and took a hammer to it. I said, "What the heck"....Why did you do that?