Pottersville Mailbag

...this one from wifey:

Dear barbara,

Thank you for contacting CafePress.com!

On November 20, 2009 we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.

The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we’ve received and weighed the nature of the calls we’ve received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement – this merchandise is not appropriate.

Thank you all for your input.

http://blog.cafepress.com/

Your ticket code is LTK419086350596X. Please use this code in any further communication.

Best Regards,

Margene H.
Content Usage Associate
(650) 655-3104 (O)
(650) 240-0260 (F)
www.cafepress.com

Originally, they'd sent her a noncommittal boilerplate letter in response to her writing them, in no uncertain terms, she'd never buy their products ever again. They never even mentioned the Psalm 109:8 flap.

This letter explains why, since they wanted to see how the debate would shake out and what the consensus would be.

But since when does everything need a consensus? What Cafepress is saying here is the same thing we hear from politicians every election year: We'll pretend you're in charge of the issues and we'll do what the demographic of the day demands.

Some things are self-evident and aren't subject to "broader interpretations." Psalm 109:8 is a pretty, pardon the phrase, black and white imprecation, a curse. It doesn't just call for removal from office, it calls for his wife to be a widow. And they mentioned President Obama by name.

Cafepress dropped the ball on this one and I say fuck 'em. I have never bought anything from them and I certainly don't plan on it now, whether or not they pulled the offensive merchandise. It directly and specifically threatened the life of the President of the United States and cursed the First Family and Cafepress tried to (and did) make a buck off it.