I was early for dinner with friends, so I check out the Chapters next to restaurant to kill some time. In the front of store, there is the magazine rack. Chapters carries over 500 magazine titles, including magazine for any obscure topics you can think of. I always wonder who would have time to read all those magazines. Every week, millions of words are written in all those magazine. The articles are consumed by the readers and then forgotten. Who would care about an interview of a not so famous player of a niche sport 10 years from now? On the second thought, I consume many useless information myself too. Most people won’t be interested about the news I read on anime, toys or religions, just like I am not interested in sports. I guess we modern man like to consume junk information as we do for junk food, taste good but low on nutrition value.

Over of all those 500 magazines, out of my surprise, I couldn’t find any magazine on firearms. There is exactly one hunting magazine remotely talk about firearm, but only on rifle, not handgun. Although shooting is not a very popular sport, there are still a sizable number of gun lovers to sustain a market for gun magazines. Moreover, most of magazines are published by US, a gun loving nation, which should have lots of gun related magazine ready to import. I don’t think it is not a business decision not carrying gun magazine in Chapters. I think the executives in Chapters are trying to make moral judgment for us, censor us from receiving information that they think is wrong. It is just an example of how powerful private business erode the liberty of the society.