Borders Buckles

Borders Books succumbs to Mohhamadness:

Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.

"For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.

The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.

Islamic tradition bars depiction of Muhammad to prevent idol worship, which is strictly prohibited.

Except for the numerous other depictions through the years, that is. This is a tough one for me because I shop at Borders. I supported them when they carried books I thought they shouldn't have and now they adopt the policy of dhimmitude. As Tim Blair points out, this was not always their policy.

You can contact Borders here to express your displeasure. They write of their "positioning":

Borders celebrates the individual. It is a place to indulge tastes and needs, to explore and discover. It is not only what we offer—it is what we make possible.

Well if I "explore" and attempt to "discover" the next copy of Free Inquiry magazine, I won't be able to "indulge" my "tastes and needs" by reading it in your store let alone "celebrate the individual" artists who drew said pictures.

Borders also makes a promise:

To uniquely know, connect, and relate to our customers and fulfill their needs.

Well, I expect Borders to "relate" to me and "fulfill my need" to read Free Inquiry at their store.

Update: Robert Bidinotto takes Borders to task and here's other thoughts from Bill Quick.