“Pedophilia: People with pedophilia have fantasies, urges or behaviors that involve illegal sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger). Pedophilic behavior includes undressing the child, encouraging the child to watch the abuser masturbate, touching or fondling the child’s genitals and forcefully performing sexual acts on the child.” (Medicinenet.com)

   Let’s see now.  If I wrote a serious book on how to murder your wife, on how to construct and plant pipe bombs, on how to hijack commercial aircraft, on how to assassinate President Obama, on how to burglarize for fun and profit, would Amazon.com market it? 

Sure thing, that is until thousands of outraged citizens objected and suggested their website be boycotted just as the Christmas shopping season was beginning and its profit margin would be severely compromised. 

Those good folks at Amazon.com saw fit to peddle as a digital book a self-published tome on how to properly, (and legally?), enjoy the hell out of molesting children, The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct by Phillip Greaves. 

Initially refusing to pull the book from its listings, they offered this lame rationale: “Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.”

That was until they realized Amazon’s bottom line would take a hit.  Then, literally within hours of that defense of free speech and reading and without further comment or reference to the inundation of protest emails, the e-book was removed from its inventory.  Apparently, individual purchasing decisions weren’t all that important, after all. 

However, pedophiles should not despair.  Author Greaves, who sincerely believes, “True pedophiles love children and would never hurt them [although] Penetration is out.  You can’t do that with a child, but kissing and fondling I don’t think is that big of a problem:” http://tiny.cc/ndeas, and he promises Amazon will soon re-stock his guide. 

   Greaves, a 47 year old retired nurse’s aide living in Pueblo, Colorado, says Amazon is”reviewing” its decision and that his book has already sold 300 Kindle “copies” at $4.79.  He further states that his book doesn’t promote pedophilia but that the subject “is something that I have sympathy for because of my own childhood.” 

Sympathy?  Who cares, Mr. Greaves!  That’s as absurd as thinking that “true pedophiles love children and would never hurt them” or that fondling children isn’t “that big of a problem.”  Greaves should peruse the introductory definition of pedophilia by Medicinenet.com. 

It must all depend on one’s perspective. 

Meanwhile, Amazon’s bigwigs aren’t saying anything about reviewing or about anything else as its accountants calculate the damage already done to the online giant’s reputation and credibility, not to mention its corporate sense of responsibility. 

One also has to wonder if Greaves’ handy guide, which had been billed as an effort ”to make “pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them,” http://tiny.cc/6cii1, would still be gracing Amazon’s shelves if not for the massive negative upheaval.  My guess is that The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct would still be offered and that Greaves would be touted as one of Amazon’s top new authors.  

Pueblo police should look into Greaves’ career as a nurse’s aide and his interactions with his patients, especially the young ones.  Someone should also look into the people at Amazon who decided to market his trash.