During the four years I lived in Ann Arbor, I spent a good many hours wandering aimlessly through Borders flagship store. Just as I do now, I found browsing at bookstores to be a terrific source of relaxation. I departed college with the erroneous impression that even if Borders was not an independent bookstore, at least it was one of the good guys. So wrong. But let's chalk it up to my fondness for the old college town and move on.
Once I stepped out in the real world my attachment to Borders quickly expired. McBookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble, while pretty neat for an American suburbia once void of books (of course I exaggerate) are an endangering force on intimate bookshops personality, meticulously selected stock, and local roots. And not just in America, they're taking the scorched earth policy worldwide. Eff a Borders.
But you already know all that. So to the point already: How better to deliver the final nail in the coffin and bury forever my Borders allegiance than with the recent announcement that Borders "bookstores" are adding 37-inch flat-screen televisions that will barrage patrons with original programs and advertising. *Shudders* So much for that relaxation... to say nothing of the very real possibility that potential advertisers on these television sets could belong to the same parent company of certain publishers whose books Borders could, say, go out of their way to display prominently. I'm just sayin'.
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