MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Concerns About Sony's Religious Intolerance

msmith · 01-23-2009, 02:20 PM

Hello All! I am new to the forum and it really seems like a great community! The folks that run it have really done a wonderful job at putting it together.

I wanted to bring up a topic that doesn't seem to be addressed on the forum that I view as pretty important. I would welcome anyone's feedback.

I recently bought a new Sony 505, which is my first e-book reader. The reader came preloaded with numerous book excerpts, but one actually really surprised and disappointed me.

It was "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Now this book is not an unbiased or fair and balanced assessment of people of faith. It is an insulting, vitriolic and hateful attack upon them. People are free to choose whatever they wish to read and to purchase. But I am pretty outraged that of all the books they could have included excerpts of--this intolerant and disrespectful book was one of the few that was chosen.

IMO, this tells me a few things.

1. Sony does not care that (according to numerous polls) that 90% of Americans believe in God. They are clearly interested in promoting their own agenda, regardless of the fact that it may insult 90% of their customers.

2. The choice of including this book demonstrates a policy that they agree with the content of the book, to the point that it should be promoted to every single person who purchases their ebook reader.

3. Sony is committed to this type of religious intolerance because it apparently has also been included for free on the new 700 model.

There is nothing to indicate to people evaluating whether or not to buy Sony's reader, that this insulting book is one of the free offerings you receive. You find that out after the fact.

And for those that would say "just delete it" if it offends you, that's fine. But the point is that the company who I am financially supporting by purchasing their technology has no respect for my beliefs or the beliefs of billions of people worldwide, whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise. In fact, you are completely unaware of their disdain for your beliefs until you spend $300 to purchase their equipment.

If I had to do it over again, I would just purchase the Amazon Kindle, iRex, or other product that is more tolerant towards people of faith. And I think I will just stick to public domain works rather than giving Sony any additional money at their online ebook store. I don't need to be financially supporting intolerance and disrespect of my beliefs.

Does anyone else feel that it was disrespectful for Sony to do this?

01-23-2009, 02:20 PM	#1
msmith Member Posts: 14 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: 505 reader	Concerns About Sony's Religious Intolerance Hello All! I am new to the forum and it really seems like a great community! The folks that run it have really done a wonderful job at putting it together. I wanted to bring up a topic that doesn't seem to be addressed on the forum that I view as pretty important. I would welcome anyone's feedback. I recently bought a new Sony 505, which is my first e-book reader. The reader came preloaded with numerous book excerpts, but one actually really surprised and disappointed me. It was "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Now this book is not an unbiased or fair and balanced assessment of people of faith. It is an insulting, vitriolic and hateful attack upon them. People are free to choose whatever they wish to read and to purchase. But I am pretty outraged that of all the books they could have included excerpts of--this intolerant and disrespectful book was one of the few that was chosen. IMO, this tells me a few things. 1. Sony does not care that (according to numerous polls) that 90% of Americans believe in God. They are clearly interested in promoting their own agenda, regardless of the fact that it may insult 90% of their customers. 2. The choice of including this book demonstrates a policy that they agree with the content of the book, to the point that it should be promoted to every single person who purchases their ebook reader. 3. Sony is committed to this type of religious intolerance because it apparently has also been included for free on the new 700 model. There is nothing to indicate to people evaluating whether or not to buy Sony's reader, that this insulting book is one of the free offerings you receive. You find that out after the fact. And for those that would say "just delete it" if it offends you, that's fine. But the point is that the company who I am financially supporting by purchasing their technology has no respect for my beliefs or the beliefs of billions of people worldwide, whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise. In fact, you are completely unaware of their disdain for your beliefs until you spend $300 to purchase their equipment. If I had to do it over again, I would just purchase the Amazon Kindle, iRex, or other product that is more tolerant towards people of faith. And I think I will just stick to public domain works rather than giving Sony any additional money at their online ebook store. I don't need to be financially supporting intolerance and disrespect of my beliefs. Does anyone else feel that it was disrespectful for Sony to do this?