Australia

I somewhat agree with the sentiments. There's a monoculture in Australian popular publishing that tends to be reluctant to acknowledge its own existence. Its preferences and peccadilloes are obvious to any switched-on reader. I'll continue to shop at Robinsons.

...there is no apology here. None.

Still posting on Twitter -> actual fascist pipeline

Looks like I'm not shopping there anymore.

This is extra funny considering I bought Piketty's Time For Socialism from a Robinson's.

Robinson’s must be jockeying to be first choice for rusted-on One Nation grandparents buying books for the grandkids their kids would rather they stay away from.

writes several paragraphs of white nationalist racism and bigotry totally unprompted across multiple tweets

gets called out for it

"It was taken out of context"

I don't think this person knows what the phrase "out of context" means, they are just parroting it.

We sincerely apologise to anyone who has been offended by online comments that are being edited by individuals and posted on social media about Robinsons

I don't even see how that could be called an apology. Just flat out denial of the truth.

Ask any former employee about just how much those comments were not out of context.

Horman’s been awful for years. She just decided to be publicly awful this time.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Victoria’s oldest independent bookshop has apologised after its owner called for more picture books with “just white kids on the cover” and claimed that the chain would stop stocking “woke agenda” content that divided people.

Susanne Horman, the owner of Robinsons Bookshop chain, posted a series of tweets in December where she called for an “substantial shift” in Australian publishing, arguing the focus should be in line with public opinion, requests for books and “for what is good”.

The posts – which were shared on an Instagram account – sparked backlash on social media, with some users saying they would boycott the stores.

In a Facebook post on Sunday night, Robinsons Bookshop said the comments had been “taken out of context” and “misrepresented the views” of the company.

“We clearly state, so there is no misunderstanding, that we fully support and encourage stories from diverse voices, minorities and we are most definitely stocking these important topics and the authors that write them.”

The bookstore said it would continue to advocate for “positive hope-filled stories that bring out the best in all our community and make all people feel supported and fulfilled.

The original article contains 363 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 47%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I love how the response to backlash against comments like this is almost always along the lines of 'sorry if you're offended' and 'the comments were taken out of context'.

These comments by Horman are very clear, they have plenty of context on their own, and they give me a pretty good picture of what kind of person the owner is. It's enough for me to make sure I don't set foot into their shops if I am ever in Melbourne.