Are The Amazon Bullies Eternal?

I think I just had an epiphany. A recent comment made by "Deltaforce 12" on STGRB has hit me like a ton bricks dropped from a passing aircraft overhead.

The comment deals with why these Amazon trolls are doing what they're doing on the Amazon Forum Boards and Goodreads. I have to confess, while I may have heard this said before, never did it strike me in the manner of which "Deltaforce 12" has explained it. The way "Delta" puts it, is that basically, the trolls and bullies are eternal. Their activities will NEVER stop. No matter what we say, or what we do, or how many people get involved in the fight against these bullies, the war will never end. And why will it never end? Well, read the comment yourself and let's see if you can see what I saw.

Did you see it?

According to this comment by "Deltaforce 12", the reason this bullying, and attacking of authors is going on is because Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is allowing it to go on with his permission. In fact, according to "Deltaforce", Jeff Bezos is the true ring-leader. 

If what "Deltaforce" says is true, and I have no reason to doubt it as it makes perfect sense, then what does this mean about the efforts of so many who are trying to end this kind of behavior or practice? I mean, if it's really all in the hands of Jeff Bezos, then this means he would be the only one who could stop it. Period!

And while Anne Rice has gotten involved to help spread the word, my question is, what if the word is already spread?

It seems to me that the word is already out there. I believe many more people are aware of what is going on by now than what we might think. If this is the case, then why won't this bullying just stop already? 

I'm already at the point where I believe a majority of book readers are already aware, to some degree, about the bullies. Those outside the book reading community may or may not be aware as much. Maybe because they probably don't care. They're not readers. They're not writers. It's like, do I care about the bullying going on in the online gaming community? I mean, I have a friend in real life who is a die hard gamer, and he is all the time telling me about the bullying going on in that community, but I just grin and shake my head. In truth, I'm not in that community so to be brutally honest, I don't care. 

But we are talking about the book community here. 

Then "Johnny" from STGRB leaves a pretty good response for "Deltaforce".

He brings up a good point here. It's not just indie authors getting trashed by the bullies. Well known, well established authors are getting targeted too. So this is kind of like a monkey wrench in the machine. 

Still, I can't discount "Delta's" explanation. Seeing how I think we have reached about as many people as we can, and the fact that now Anne Rice is involved, maybe there is no more people to reach. Maybe this is as far as we are going to go with it. And as we stand at the end of the road, we see a sign that reads, "Bullies are eternal". 

Maybe the best we can do is the place where we are right now. An email I recently received from Anne Rice also assisted me in getting to this epiphany. Or at the very least, supported the epiphany that "Delta's" comments led me to. 

The epiphany is this: Internet bullying is never going to stop. At least, maybe not in my lifetime. Our lifetime. Maybe not until the world finds a way to eliminate the dreaded "anon". Perhaps only when we reach the point where technology allows us / forces us to sign in under our true identities, will cyber bullying ever stop. Even then, I believe there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't mind using their real identities to bully someone. Probably because, if we listen to the bullies themselves when they say, what they are doing isn't bullying, then reason suggests that ultimately, it never will truly stop. There will always be those who will go to their death beds claiming that what they are doing is not bullying. The reason for this is; they actually have convinced themselves that they have every right to attack authors on a personal basis. That posting fake ratings / carpet bombing, or writing fake reviews of books they never read or attacking authors is actually legitimate. That lying is some kind of constitutional right they were born with. And until these people face the truth about the shame of lying, they will never have / feel any such shame in their actions. None! And that to me is a mental / emotional issue that if goes untreated, can never be cured. 

So no matter what we do now, no matter how many more people we spread the word to, no matter how many Anne Rice's of the world join in to try and help, the bottom line remains the same, that Jeff Bezos is the only one who can probably truly stop this kind of bad behavior on Amazon. 

This leads me to think that perhaps only after Jeff Bezos passes away, and somebody else takes over Amazon and changes it, that these bullies will continue with their horrid activities. There will always be a new young and up and coming bully to take the place of a previous old timer bully. It's just the circle of life. 

"Deltaforce" concludes with this comment. 

The dreaded "bottom" line. 

If Jeff Bezos is benefiting financially from allowing this bad behavior to take place on the Amazon Forum Boards, then it never will stop. And if Jeff's successor continues to benefit financially from it, they won't lift a finger to stop it either. The only chance outside of Bezos and or his successor is if the government steps in and passes laws that eventually puts an end to this adolescent behavior by the bullies.

This is disturbing. 

So this is where we are. This is the end of the road. And this is me standing before the sign that reads, "Bullies are eternal". I stand there dumbfounded and scratching my head. I take a look around at the nothingness surrounding me. I breathe in a heavy sigh of frustration. 

"Son of a bitch!"

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.