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Indie Bookstore Demonstrates How to Deal With the Alt-Right
No punching necessary—at least, not this time
Bluestockings is a feminist bookstore, cafe, and activist center in New York City—basically, a gathering place for progressive ideals. So it’s probably no surprise that it would be targeted by alt-right types. Fortunately, the vandalism was more ideological than physical: attempting to sneak copies of a white supremacist memoir onto the shelves.
As usual for a group whose main tenet is “everyone’s fucking me over but me,” the intentions of this…protest?…are a little muddy. Were they trying to impugn Bluestockings? To help Yiannopoulos’ real book sales match his fantasy ones? Eh, who literally ever knows. But in any event, Bluestockings’ response, both in the moment and on Facebook, is a model for how businesses and organizations can commit to dealing with people who espouse white supremacy in the name of (their understanding of) free speech.
It could even work for individuals. “Uncle George, Thanksgiving is open to people who ascribe to a range of ideologies; however, there is no room for alt-right propaganda or the endorsement of white supremacists’ views in our space.” It has a nice ring, don’t you think?
