In August 1969, followers of Charles Manson killed seven persons, including actress Sharon Tate, in two Los Angeles homes. Manson has been denied parole repeatedly and remains in prison for the gruesome murders that he and members of his cult committed. Now shops have begun selling a line of clothes depicting Manson, and the rock band Guns ‘N’ Roses has included a song written and sung by Manson in one of its albums.
Cesar Turner is in charge of ordering policies for Mammoth Records, a large national retail chain of stores selling compact discs, DVDs, and T-shirts. He has received a flood of letters and e-mails from angry parent groups, church leaders, politicians, and others demanding that Mammoth pull the Guns ‘N’ Roses CD and stop selling the Manson T-shirts. Turner knows that these are very popular items at the retail stores. If Mammoth stops selling them, its competitors will pick up the extra business, thereby reducing Mammoth’s profits. What should Turner do?
Mammoth has also come under fire from local right to- life groups because it sells directories of physicians and clinics that will perform abortions. Should Turner stop selling the directories? Does it matter whether Turner personally views abortion as legalized murder or as a choice every woman should have?
Finally, local police and Broad Based Apprehension Suppression Treatment and Alternatives (an antigang coalition) are pressuring record stores to stop carrying the CD “G.U.N. Generations of United Norteños . . . XIV Till Eternity,” which includes songs exhorting members of the Norteños (a Northern California gang) to kill members of the Southern California gang Sureños. Lyrics include the lines, “It’s up to Norteños to kill the beast. All Sureños must cease.” In what ways, if any, should Turner’s analysis of this request differ from his analysis of the controversies over the Guns ‘N’ Roses CD, the Manson T-shirts, and the abortion directories?