Blabbermouth.net is reporting that eBay is allegedly banning the sale of black/extreme metal on their site, claiming that it “promote[s] or glorif[ies] hatred, violence, or racial intolerance.”

It appears (again allegedly) to be due to complaints filed by some Christian groups. The funny thing about that is that though there are Satanic extreme metal bands (black metal), there are also Christian extreme metal bands (formed no doubt to oppose the evil black metalers and to battle for the souls of headbangers). And of course plenty of extreme metal has nothing to do with Satan or Christianity, so this is bullshit. Extreme metal doesn’t “promote or glorify hatred, violence, or racial intolerance” any more than any other genre of media–there’s angry lyrics, sure, but there’s plenty of violent movies out there; do they “promote or glorify” violence? Will those be banned too?

[Update: There’s an online petition here that you can sign to protest the banning.]