Amazon Strikes Again
A couple of posts ago I wrote about reviewing Belly by Lisa Selin Davis. Belly is a character named William O’Leary, a 59 year old ex-con, denizen of Saratoga Springs, New York. What Belly does during his first week out of jail brings his outlook on life into sharp relief. He lands squarely on his daughters, their kids, husbands, the fabric of their lives, turning the simplest moments into confrontations with those around him, both living and dead.
A ‘reviewer’ on Amazon called the author a manhater and pretty well ripped her as a writer and teacher. His name is Tony C. Let’s just refer to him as The Asshole for the moment. How does this guy manage to level the emotional playing field with Davis? Amazon, man. I posted my CM review at the author’s request, but I didn’t want anything to do with Amazon and its fake name horseshit.
Amazon pimps for people like The Asshole. Amazon employs a lot of people, is a publicly traded company, and needs to grab itself by the throat and squeeze. Their setup encourages unsigned reviews, essentially providing equal weight to anything that appears on their pages. Too bad the SEC doesn’t have a Wells Notice for public companies that promote character assasination.