Longer than the extended version of Freebird?
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Well, thereâs not a lot of people killing each other under the Nazi flag these days, either. If you ask anyone from East Asia whoâs not Japanese, youâll find that they find the rising sun flag every bit as offensive as, say, Israelis would find the Nazi flag.
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Are you being intentionally obtuse? The Nazi flag is ABSOLUTELY still a popular symbol for racist, violent hate groups active in the U.S. and elsewhere.
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They should be, yes â at least insofar as it involves the free expression of their users and employees. I understand that theyâre not, and are not likely to become so in the future, but theyâd be âgood citizensâ if they did.
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So kind of like these guys?
With close ties to violent yakuza groups?
Who drive around in vans with bullhorns all the time haranguing the masses with tales of the glories of the Dai-Nippon Teikoku, and racist, xenophobic invective?
I was really just trying to point out the Eurocentricity of Amazonâs decisions about what not to sell, not to be obtuse.
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I generally agree, but as an employee or contractor you agree to a code of responsibilities and ethics that are much stricter. And it isnât just them, and honestly I agree with 99.9% of their policies.
But donât ever assume that amazon, eBay, kijijijijiji, craigslist, etc are open and free markets. Hell, even Silk Road wasnât.
Iâm not familiar enough with contemporary Japanese society to know if that flag has become a symbol of hate and violence akin to the Nazi flag but if there was a public outcry against it then sure, I wouldnât be upset in the least if Amazon stopped selling the thing.
As for how itâs used in the United States and Europe itâs clearly not occupying the same status as the Nazi flag.
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The issue is not so much Japan, as that literally everyone in East Asia who is not Japanese considers it a symbol of hate and violence on a par with how people in the west see the Nazi flag. This is not something thatâs that obscure, either. Ask any Korean or Chinese person (AKA 1/4 of the worldâs population) and theyâll be happy to tell you. There are regularly riots and demonstrations about it, and closely related relics of Japanâs past, in both countries.
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So what are you actually saying? That Amazon should stop selling it in the U.S. because of the problems it causes in other national contexts? As Brainspore already said, if they decide to stop selling it in those contexts in response to a large outcry, thatâs cool. But those are other national contexts.
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Fair enough.
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Here in the USA, I believe this would require a constitutional amendment. (at least, I certainly hope so).
Respectfully, this is nonsense. If Wal-Mart and Amazon decide to yield to one segment of public opinion by not selling the Confederate battle flag, and Buford Pusserâs Flag Emporium decides to yield to a somewhat smaller segment by selling that flag like crazy, this is in every way fine with me.
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I think you have it backward. The government shouldnât have a word to say about this (other than in their own role as managers of their own property such as the state capitol or state-run memorial in question in South Carolina), but if companies want to not allow this, I say âhurrah!â There should be no âdemocratic meansâ available to anyone to ban the sale of a flag.
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Iâd be surprised to learn that there are many (or any) authentic 1861-65 battle flags that have been sold on ebay.
Unlike run of the mill Civil War artifacts such as belt buckles and canteens, flags of both sides rarely show up on the market except at bricks & mortar auctions where they go for five or even six figures.
Iâd be more concerned about people who want to sell Civil War themed paintings, or books which have a stars and bars on the cover (I have at least a dozen such in my library). Any ban on the likes of that merchandise would be a sign of âconcernâ crossing the line into âimbecilityâ.
or you could say they have a shorter wavelength 
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Why use flag toilet paper when a lot of the original flags are made out silk?
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Hear! Hear! XD
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You can still get this:
Lol, you mind reader⌠Or⌠Could it be? That we have a common cultural framework, and people actually are able to use euphemism and innuendo to convey messages unambiguously? Maybe society does offer a common framework of assumptions? 
(I couldnât resist the opportunity, what with you expressing such bafflement at the common use of spatial directions to indicated abstract quantities.)
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Iâm against this sort of behavior and it saddens me. 
I certainly donât think the confederate flag should be flying out front of any public building, and Iâd never fly or own one myself because I personally disagree with what it represents. That being said, banning and censoring things you personally disagree with is a slippery slope and a very anti freedom perspective. Iâd rather speak up against the ideas behind such a symbol then see people banned from purchasing one. Freedom means freedom for other people to buy shit i think is stupid so long as they arenât infringing on the freedoms of others. Iâll fight for freedom all day long, even the freedoms of those i disagree with.
In some aspect these are PUBLIC marketplaces as well as private companies. What if they banned the sale of the Koran because of anti-islam sentiment in the USA or the CEO was christian or whatever? Or rainbow flags because they were anti-gay. Would that be different? Iâd sure as heck hope people would think so, because that would be really messed up. Slippery slope playing thought police and restricting freedom of unpopular sentiment, symbols, expressions, ideas, etc. Very anti the freedom the USA was supposedly built upon.
(god dammit, i cannot believe iâm actually having to defend the confederate flag in a forum as it is a symbol i personally disagree with. thanks a lot people. ~sighs~)
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It is tricky in this instance, because while yes these are companies, they are also public marketplaces, or at least the closest thing we have in the modern world.
Amazon especially, as they sell books, and if we start banning unpopular ideas/thoughts when it comes to books/music, that is a very scary precedent.
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