Stocking Shelves that Fight Censorship
Censorship goes beyond banning our favorite books, movies, albums and games. The ALA’s list of frequently challenged books is astounding. Hearing that classic movies such as Gone With the Wind have been deemed unsuitable for public audiences makes us shake our heads. Even so, we are aware that one of the biggest boogeyman restricting your intellectual freedom is your supplier. You deserve retail stores as far thinking as you are, so we commit to stocking shelves that fight censorship.
Everyday men, women, boys and girls are held to social expectations. Some of those expectations are for the better. You leash your pets when you bring them to Bookmans. You wear appropriate clothing when in public (usually) and greet others with a smile (if you feel like it). Before we go too dangerously into the world of molding ourselves for the benefit of the people around us, Bookmans has to acknowledge that this pressure to fit in marks the territory of themes that often crop up in challenged media. With body shaming, bullying, teasing and ridicule, people get caught up in blending in. It’s easy to forget our responsibility to intellectual freedom. You have the same right to be proud of your individual expression as we have to fight censorship by championing all sorts of “questionable” materials like Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret with space on our orange shelves.
Bookmans takes pride in selling the odd, quirky and unusual in entertainment. You won’t find these items at GenerAmerica where they sell things vetted by a suit in an office building the next state over. You aren’t a mathematical formula! You like what you like. Whether it’s a book, movie, album or game, we place the uncommon next to the popular on our orange shelves with no hesitation. Not only do we take pride in what we sell, we take pride in the variety of individuals who trade or shop with us and those who work for us. There’s no doubt we have the best customers and employees. If it weren’t for the unique traits in every single one of you, our days would be ticky tacky.
Relish your individuality. Enjoy your cheesy cult classics, your quirky romances or your gory video games. Our month highlighting efforts to fight censorship may be coming to a close, but every day at Bookmans we provide the opportunity to take pride in yourself and your interests. We don’t censor our products or our people. We fight for you all.