back to article eBay bans CD sales of metal band Burzum, citing offensive material

eBay has banned auctions of CDs and merchandise by Norwegian musician Varg Vikernes, on grounds that Vikernes holds views that the company deems offensive. Heavy metal fan site MetalSucks.net was the first to report on the ban, after an anonymous reader said that when he tried to list two CDs by Vikernes' one-man band Burzum …

  1. Ole Juul

    Ebay

    Ebay may well be doing the right thing in this case. It's hard to tell from here. However, many sellers on Ebay are discriminatory and offensive for various reasons. Actually, Ebay itself can be pretty offensive.

    1. Goldmember

      Re: Ebay

      I'm not sure ebay is doing the right thing here. This guy sounds like an incredibly awful bastard and I'd never buy any of his records on the basis of his views. But works of art such as recorded albums should be judged on their individual merit and content, and a blanket ban should not be placed on an artist based on anything else they may have said, written or otherwise published. If indeed his records are all about fantasy and escapism and do not violate the "offensive materials" policy as individual works, they should be allowed through. Especially if it's a case of one rule for one, another for the rest.

      But at the end of the day, it's ebay's "house", so to speak, and therefore its rules. Its policy has always been to only give a shit when someone complains. Ebay makes money from every sale, so even ignores copyright infringement etc. until someone kicks off about it.

      1. John Tserkezis

        Re: Ebay

        "Its policy has always been to only give a shit when someone complains."

        The complaint has to be supplied in a very specific manner, otherwise they'll ignore you...

        And even then, they only loosely adhere to the giving a shit policy.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ebay

          Linux people dropped ReiserFS because the author is a murderer, even though the filesystem itself doesn't promote murder.

          Same thing.

          1. Ben Tasker

            Re: Ebay

            The publicly stated reason was poor coding standards in Reiser4. Whether that's the truth or not may be in question, but it's definitely not the same thing - if the kernel devs are lying, then it's different because Ebay are being honest. If it truly is the coding, then it's different because Ebay haven't blocked sales because his music is shit.

            Definitely not the same thing....

          2. Oninoshiko

            Re: Ebay

            Umm, no. Linux dropped ReiserFS because without Hans working on it (you know, because he's in jail), it wasn't getting development done on it and it was bitrotting.

            While I may disagree with the linux guys on a number of things, code that's not getting maintain should be tossed. It was completely the correct decision.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

    It it important to understand that Hitler had clearly stated what he was planning to do before he did it, and people supported him anyway.

    1. John Bailey

      Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

      "It it important to understand that Hitler had clearly stated what he was planning to do before he did it, and people supported him anyway."

      And it's even more important to understand that a statement of intent is of no consequence when nobody listens to it.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Don Jefe

      Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

      You haven't read Mein Kampf have you? There's about as much forewarning in there as there is in a box of Alpha-Bits breakfast cereal. Sure, all the letters are there, but it's nothing more than the nonsensical whinging of anyone who felt they had been wronged but lacked either the ability, or willingness, to objectively self-evaluate.

      During the time he was 'struggling' away to write his book he didn't even know who he was really going to pin all his troubles on. It's teen-angst with a super inflated ego and a really mediocre grasp of the written language. He was just pissed off, at everything. The 'who' would come later as soon as an opportunity presented itself, because that's what he was, an opportunist.

      Hitler was many, many things, but unsatisfied dreamer, probably sums him up better than anything else (some people like to append some manner of psychological diagnosis to that). He was also not a lot of things, and strategic visionary was most assuredly one of the things he wasn't. If you step back and look at the things (strategy, '1000 Year Plan', equipment, etc...) he thought up it's virtually indistinguishable from what a 12 year old would come up with.

      Great leader and motivator, undoubtedly. Great strategist and visionary, no. None of that is to take away from what he 'accomplished', but to retroactively apply traits and abilities to him that he did not possess is to willfully ignore history to the point of negligence. People spend their time looking for 'the next Hitler', which is a woeful waste of time. As a People we have to be vigilant in identifying the circumstances and events which lead to a man like Hitler being able to win control of a Nation. Looking at the man is useless.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Big Brother

        Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

        Just download from the Internets and read ahead.

        > People spend their time looking for 'the next Hitler', which is a woeful waste of time.

        Freedumb politicians identify a new one EVERY FSCKING MONTH. It's a national sport, which is never a waste of time.

      3. John Savard

        Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

        It is indeed true that there are lots of people out there who are childish and immature, filled with frustrations, and heedless of the sufferings of others - so what counts is not preventing the existence of such people, but making sure they cannot take the helm of a whole country, and lead it into aggression.

        Now, we have Vladimir Putin and Russia to study, in addition to Hitler and Germany. Lenin and Mao, on the other hand, gained control of their respective countries in rather simple and obvious ways.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf @John Savard

          >Now, we have...

          And Blair and Bush Jr. but you're less likely to get to the truth behind those two.

          I don't understand all this hatred towards Russia. Don't forget that during WWII they fought against Hitler, came to the battle six months before the Americans and actually did some fighting.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf @John Savard

            Russia did fight against Hitler. But they had been in allied to him for nearly 2 years before that, and they signed a pact which allowed them to take over Moldova, half of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and a chunk of Finland. And they went to war with Finland on the back of that pact.

            Then, after the war, they kept a tight hold on all the land they'd conquered. And then they murdered lots of people, of course.

            They're just as bastardy as the Nazis.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf @John Savard

              >Then, after the war, they kept a tight hold on all the land they'd conquered

              Ah, empire building, something we've all done quite well. Oh, wait a minute, the Americans have failed miserably at this particular skill, I don't think Israel counts as an empire. Still, keep bombing away and one day they might annexe a bit of sand in the middle east they can call home.

      4. Volker Hett

        Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

        My Grandfather went to jail for calling Hitler "größtes Arschloch aller Zeiten" (biggest arsehole of ll times) instead of the then preferred GröFaZ - Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten (biggest general of all times). Luckily he was "kriegswichtig" at Messerschmidt and thus not sent to Stalingrad.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

        As a People we have to be vigilant in identifying the circumstances and events which lead to a man like Hitler being able to win control of a Nation. Looking at the man is useless.

        Don, could you just pop that round to the NSA on a postcard, please?

      6. Rottenham

        Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

        We are ripe for "the next Hitler" right now. The Bill of Rights has been circumvented. The "Reichstag Fire" has taken place. The police have been militarized. All we need now is a charismatic political extremist. It's when, not if.

        1. Robert Ramsay

          Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

          Hasn't Boris Johnson said he might be standing again? Just saying.

    4. ShrNfr

      Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

      Actually, I bought my first edition, first issue copy of that book from a antiquarian seller that I had known for years off of eBay. Frankly, I stole it from him given what I paid for it.

    5. Jim 59

      Re: I don't get the complaints about Mien Kampf

      Not read the book, but I don't agree that Hitler stated what he was planning to do from the start. The "final solution" was only decided in a meeting of the German high command in 1942.

  3. Tom 35

    Can I complain?

    I find Justin Bieber to be offensive, can you block all his stuff? He promotes the hatred of Canada all around the world. His loaded diaper pants are offensive to babies everywhere.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Can I complain?

      It only took one complaint to get "Money for Nothing" by the notorious hard core band Dire Straits banned from Canada' airwaves

      1. Truth4u

        Re: Can I complain?

        Yeah that song is so offensive, I play it all the time.

  4. Old Handle
    Trollface

    So more bibles on eBay then?

  5. Cipher
    Joke

    eBay in cohoots with Burzum? Diabolical Plot?

    For a cut of the profits. Tell someone they can't have something, what's the first thing they do?

    They go out and get it!

    Clever lads...

  6. Truth4u

    Someone complained?

    What if someone complains about rap artists inciting hatred against basically everyone? Will they instaban everything they sell? No because of the money.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Remember, remember

    This is ebay we're talking about. They never, ever, allow common sense, logic, understanding or fairness to interfere with the creation and application of their "rules".

  8. ShrNfr

    eBay is terminally stupid at times. They ban valid religious items such as Buddhist kapalas, etc. that are made of human bone, but then allow the sale of human bones that don't have a religious connotation. We all know how evil, violent and satanic those Buddhist rituals are, don't we? In other news, Mein Kampf is the highest selling book on the iTunes store. Go figure.

  9. John Savard

    Language

    Given the language in which Burzum means "darkness", clearly eBay was worried about being sued by the Tolkien estate!

  10. Tim Roberts 1

    ebay - I use as little as I can

    Sorry but ebay has lost the plot here in oz. I wanted to sell some furniture for my sister in law and posted it to ebay. in my description I said that it would be cash only on pickup - This was not good enough for flea-bay. No, they wanted an online alternative for purchasers, and cancelled my ad. Well Fuck you ebay and Fuck you paypal! If I want to sell furniture from my garage the people who come to buy will pay cash!

  11. Vociferous

    Complete raving lunatic. And very very dangerous.

    Check out his Wikipedia page. This guy is pretty much the definition of "criminally insane".

    I could have agreed with the ban on sale of his music on the grounds that he's profiting from his crimes, but not on the grounds that the music itself offensive. That's not for ebay to decide.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Complete raving lunatic. And very very dangerous.

      Yeah used to be all musicians would do cool stuff like that, now it's just the "criminally insane" ones.

      well I'll take my insane music over radio1

  12. spiny norman

    Brown Sugar

    There's plenty of people who think "Brown Sugar" is racist and mysogynistic. We're lucky we can still buy "Sticky Fingers".

  13. Rottenham

    Why Stop Now?

    The Entertainment Industry has been handing out racist, sexist material that celebrates violence since 1990, and claiming it is "art." KIds love it. Why change?

    1. Oninoshiko

      Re: Why Stop Now?

      since 1990? you're going to have to go a bit farther then that... probably before recorded history.

  14. joeW

    items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance

    So that's pretty much every gangsta rap album ever then. Assuming they're banned from eBay too?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Re: items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance

      Yeah but pigs,bitches and ho's are endearing terms,innit, like you get me?

  15. Tannin

    The next Hitler is alive and well and pretending to be Prime Minister of Australia.

    1. DocJames
      Stop

      Tannin

      I think you mean "is the Prime Minister of Australia."

      Democratically elected. And I think you should be careful; you might somehow fall victim to Godwin's law.

      DOI: not in Oz; wouldn't have voted for him if I was.

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