An insight into the heart of a publisher

[recluse]

You purchase a product which turns out to be defective. When you point it out to the company, you are told "So what?". That's not an acceptable response. You paid good money for an item in perfect condition. If it's not marked "Defective", that is what you get. If it's not perfect, the company makes it right with an apology and a smile.
Too many companies have thrown quality control and customer service out in search of higher profits. If you're okay with that, great. If your new microwave blows up in your face.......so what?

[Logseman]

Anyone who thinks a recipe that calls for grinding up and eating black people isn't offensive obviously thinks that singing 'Shoot the Boer' isn't offensive either and couldn't possibly cause any harm. What could be offensive about shooting goats?

Shoot the Boer: chant made by a youth wing of a political party. It is a "liberation song", aimed at offending a certain amount of people which are considered a good target for the offense.

ground people: typographical mistake made in a cookbook. It is a faulty writing and a lousy application of text processing software. No exploding ovens, no electricity-laden ebook readers. A faulty transcription of one recipe among more than 12 dozens.

The reaction of the publisher is indeed poor, granted, but... isn't the backlash excessive?

That of course leaving aside the matters of censorship...

[abookreader]

You know the point is ... am I offended by the typo? No and I truly believe it was a mere typo. I'm not offended at all because I think somebody was probably thinking one word and their fingers acted on their own and put down something else. It happens all the time to me.

But then, I don't live the life of the lady who I was talking to last week who got shoved off the sidewalk and told "Get out of my way you >>>blankety nasty word that begins with n and ends with r and then another nasty word that starts with b and ends with ch>>> as she was walking to her job.

I also live in a very racially tense area. Over the years I've kind of learned that the only way to move past things like this is simply to accept and acknowledge that two people can view the exact same set of facts in completely different ways and feel totally different about them. Neither one is necessarily right or wrong, but both points of view probably deserve the respect of being treated as valid.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

For example, I'm offended by your suggestion that I should think that the CEO was being offensive as to me, it suggests you think I've got no sense of proportion...

I didn't suggest that the CEO was being offensive to you, nor that you should think that he was. If you weren't offended that's just hunky dory.

I am not criticizing anyone who wasn't offended.

Some people were offended, and there seems to be an element of this discussion which is seeking to belittle and ridicule that response. This seems to be what the CEO was doing as well. That's offensive.

But apparently not as offensive as using the word "penis" in a post

[lente]

I thought it was pretty funny, but of course people get offended. I'm offended by people being offended, do they need to apologize to me now or would that be silly?

Besides bad publicity is publicity too, this being "big" news is probably good for the book sales and the CEO is going to get a big bonus.

Anyway, people are stupid, so all of this isn't really newsworthy.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by m-reader

It was a typo. All books withdrawn (where possible) and replaced at a "huge" cost of AUD 20,000. Whoever wants a replacement of the book can get one for free from the publisher. Apologies, etc. etc.
Please read the whole article, not just quote one sentence.

I did read the ENTIRE article. I also read for content unlike other people. obviously

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I did read the ENTIRE article. I also read for content unlike other people. obviously

I do apologise. The sentence you picked to quote seemed so obviously taken out of context that I had to asume that you hadn't read the whole article. Either that, or you read the Fox News one.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by TGS

I am not criticizing anyone who wasn't offended.

Well, apart from the CEO, it appears?

Originally Posted by TGS

Some people were offended, and there seems to be an element of this discussion which is seeking to belittle and ridicule that response. This seems to be what the CEO was doing as well. That's offensive.

Well, the problem is that there's no absolute criteria to determine if it is actually offensive - if you'd have finished by saying "... to kindlekitten and I, at least", then fine, but you didn't. Personally, I don't think that he was being offensive, which is not to say that some people won't take offense, but I do believe that most people coming into contact with the actual mistake (rather that the reporting of it, as that exposes it to people coming from quite different cultural backgrounds) won't view it as offensive.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by m-reader

I do apologise. The sentence you picked to quote seemed so obviously take out of context that I had to asume that you hadn't read the whole article. Either that, or you read the Fox News one.

I just grabbed a sentence to illuminate the publisher's jerkishness

[LDBoblo]

I believe being an high-level executive at a large corporation qualifies you for jerk status, regardless of how politically correct you try to be. It's just the way of things.

I don't think he was callous enough.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

if you'd have finished by saying "... to kindlekitten and I, at least", then fine, but you didn't.

And I never would - though I might say "...to kindlekitten and me, at least"

But of course what this is about, and what nobody is saying, is race, and the impact of a white CEO trying to justify the mistaken inclusion in a book a phrase that is quite upsetting - if one is black.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Logseman

The reaction of the publisher is indeed poor, granted, but... isn't the backlash excessive?

The backlash is against the publisher's response, not the typo.

The *correct* response would've been something like,

"That's an awful typo, and we're very sorry it slipped through our proofreading process. We apologize to anyone who was offended; certainly, no decent cookbook should make anyone even *think* of cannibalism. We'll be reprinting the book with the typo fixed (after a new, extensive proofreading to make sure we didn't miss anything else), and offer refunds to anyone who'd prefer that."

The response of "why would anyone be offended by that?" implies that:
--of course, nobody would *first* think of murder--a very disturbing thought when looking over ideas for a nice meal--when they saw a mention of "freshly ground black people;"
--of course, black people would not react more strongly than white people to the notion that they exist to as ingredients rather than human beings;
--of course, nobody who buys this book has had any *actual* encounters with cannibalism, or traumatic abuse that comes close.

By claiming there was no reason to be offended, he comes across as callous and indifferent to real suffering, and unaware of the history of racial oppression and discrimination. And, of course, oblivious to the concept that, when you're pondering what dessert to make for the birthday party, you probably don't want a quick mental flash of dead bodies.

And it's not like it's hard to have a policy that says, "if you screwed up, say you're sorry; don't say that you think the people who noticed it are silly for being bothered." The publisher doesn't need to be on the cutting edge of social awareness or race politics to have a standard PR practice of "apologize without blaming the whistle-blowers."

[TGS]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I don't think he was callous enough.

What does that mean?

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by TGS

What does that mean?

It means I think he was too sympathetic in his responses. He didn't use a single direct insult or sarcastic comment. Those who are endeavoring to find offense will do so without fail, and he didn't even manage to be a smartass while letting those people get offended. For what I suspect his salary is, I'd have expected a better show.

[LDBoblo]

Perhaps something like this would make everyone happy...

We were shocked, appalled, and extremely disturbed to learn of this apparent mistake in our printing. We would like everyone to know we are taking this matter very seriously and will launch a thorough investigation as to the causes of this unfortunate occurrence. We at Penguin are strong advocates of human rights around the world for people of all colors, and are currently replacing our current inventory with a corrected reprint. All customers are welcome to request a replacement copy at no charge. Further, customers who have already purchased this book should be informed that cannibalism of any race is strictly prohibited by law, and those who have already followed the recipe in question to the letter are advised to turn themselves in to their local authorities. Once again, we sincerely apologize for any confusion or offense, and we assure everyone that this tragedy will not be repeated.