February 21st, 2008 9:59am
Who is sneaking into Bookhampton and committing political sabotage?
While browsing the current paperback non-fiction offerings at Bookhampton in Southampton this past weekend, we couldn’t help but notice the sign taped above the table of books: “Please do not rearrange the books to suit your political beliefs,” it read in part. Apparently, not content to vote or wave signs in support of their preferred candidate, people had been rearranging the books in the store in an attempt to influence the upcoming election.
The sign went on for a number of sentences, admonishing would be political operatives that their acts were ineffectual, petty and merely a nuisance to the store’s employees who had to vigilantly undo whatever mess these saboteurs had wreaked. “It was a big problem during the last election,” explained Jane, the store’s manager. “This year, it hasn’t been so bad, though someone did flip over all the Clinton and Obama books the other day. And, even more disturbingly, someone was turning around all the books about the Holocaust recently.”
We have to say, we are outraged. We expect our bookstores in the Hamptons to be bastions of order, or at least safe havens where ideas are not suppressed—and certainly not places on the frontlines of the battle for the White House. To these saboteurs, we can only say, Shame. Shame in the gravest of terms. Shame for infecting us with your petty bickering. Grow up—or take note that the "Children's Books" section is in the back of the store.
