Althouse: "Williams-Sonoma Pulls Pressure Cookers Off Shelves 'Out of Respect.'"

April 25, 2013

"Williams-Sonoma Pulls Pressure Cookers Off Shelves 'Out of Respect.'"

This is like eschewing box-cutters after 9/11.

71 comments:

Known Unknown said...: Like terrorists buy their shit at Williams Sonoma.; 4/25/13, 9:08 AM
edutcher said...: Stupid is as stupid does.; 4/25/13, 9:10 AM
Matt Sablan said...: I somehow imagine for their target market though, this is the sort of gesture that will earn them goodwill.; 4/25/13, 9:13 AM
MadisonMan said...: I wonder if they also pulled the Pressure Cooker cookbook.

This is probably a company that would issue a non-apology apology is someone were offended about seeing Pressure Cookers.; 4/25/13, 9:15 AM
Sorun said...: Either out of respect, or people are fiddling with their display of pressure cookers out of curiosity but not buying them.; 4/25/13, 9:15 AM
Nonapod said...: Didn't they use parts salvaged from RC cars? When is Toys R Us gonna pull all its RC cars off the shelve? We need legislation!; 4/25/13, 9:17 AM
SteveR said...: And its also true there could be nothing else used instead.; 4/25/13, 9:18 AM
Tim said...: California liberals.

Stupid has hell, so no surprise.

Wave of the future, people, wave of the future.; 4/25/13, 9:19 AM
DADvocate said...: This is a start. We need background checks and a national registry for purchasing and owning pressure cookers. I own a pressure cooker. I keep it in a locked pressure cooker cabinet and teach my children the strict rules of its proper use - beef stew, pot roast and pork roast primarily.; 4/25/13, 9:19 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Marketing?; 4/25/13, 9:21 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: When I can't walk into a store at the mall and drop $300 on a pressure cooker I'll use exactly twice, the terrorists have won.; 4/25/13, 9:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Pressure cookers don't kill people, Islamist terrorists kill people.

We feel the pains of not-so-white Islamist terror welfare queens, we ban pressure cookers.; 4/25/13, 9:22 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: The terrorists hate us for our high-end cookware.; 4/25/13, 9:23 AM
tim maguire said...: Is there a spate of panic attacks at the sight of pressure cookers? Or is Williams-Sonoma calling its customers stupid?

Somebody's stupid, that much is clear. The next few months will reveal who. Williams-Sonoma or its customers.; 4/25/13, 9:25 AM
Rae said...: I love the last line:

"Williams-Sonoma says that the product will still be available online."

So Williams-Sonoma is having their cake, and eating it too. They get to look respectful for the PR value, but they still sell the product.

I support a ban on high-capacity pressure cookers.; 4/25/13, 9:25 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: Yeah. It's funny, right?

Or...not. We can't say the little bastards were islamic terrorists, we can't even have a reporter go to the right mosque (instead going to one they didn't go to, so the head muzzie can say "no, they didn't come here" and the reporter can look at the camera and say "see, they weren't muzzie extremists!")...but we can pull pressure cookers off the shelves.

Maybe in some way it'll help? I mean, a pot with a lid and a valve. Nothing. A plain object.

Like a .45.

In evil hands...deadly. In capable hands, delish!; 4/25/13, 9:26 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Williams-Sonoma is unwittingly creating a powerful incentive for some terrorist to commit an atrocity with a $200 All-Clad Belgian waffle iron.; 4/25/13, 9:26 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: My brother-in-law dropped $75 at Williams-Sonoma for a hollowed out rock to make guacamole.

Sometimes I think it'd be put to better use if I were to brain him with it.; 4/25/13, 9:30 AM
Rae said...: Williams-Sonoma is unwittingly creating a powerful incentive for some terrorist to commit an atrocity with a $200 All-Clad Belgian waffle iron.

They're take us down, one household product at a time.; 4/25/13, 9:30 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: Mitchell the Bat said...

My brother-in-law dropped $75 at Williams-Sonoma for a hollowed out rock to make guacamole.

I'm sorry, a what now?; 4/25/13, 9:34 AM
MadisonMan said...: My brother-in-law dropped $75 at Williams-Sonoma for a hollowed out rock to make guacamole.

Saw those at CostCo last night. My reaction: How would you clean this?

I did find a nice bench scraper at W-S once -- after looking everywhere else in town to no avail. W-S stuff makes good wedding presents, maybe, if the couple cooks. Other than that? No.; 4/25/13, 9:35 AM
bagoh20 said...: What about nails? Stop using nails, America.

This reminds me of the movie "The Jerk" where when a sniper is shooting at him, but keeps missing and hitting oil cans behind him. He yells: "Watch out, they aiming at the cans!"

Watch out America; they are aiming at the sidewalks. Stay off the sidewalks.; 4/25/13, 9:40 AM
Tank said...: As long as WS is admitting culpability, why not indict the company as a co-conspirator?; 4/25/13, 9:41 AM
Known Unknown said...: Sigh. Toaster Oven bomb it is, then.; 4/25/13, 9:42 AM
virgil xenophon said...: This thread is hilarious!--but also a sad, sad, commentary on what our society has become and where we're headed..

I think a little mOar Barbancourt this am, thank you very much..; 4/25/13, 9:44 AM
Third Coast said...: Somehow, I just knew the CEO had to be a woman.

LAURA J. ALBER

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Laura Alber is Williams-Sonoma, Inc.'s President and Chief Executive Officer, and was elected to the Board effective May 2010....

...Ms. Alber received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.; 4/25/13, 9:46 AM
Mr. Colby said...: Seems a totally reasonable move to me.

Folks browsing through a Williams Sonoma, see a pressure cooker, a couple weeks ago that'd be fine. A few weeks/months from now, that'll, again, be fine. Today, those folks see the pressure cooker and think of people with their limbs blown off. Those folks don't want to have that image brought to mind. Williams Sonoma doesn't want their customers to have that image brought to mind (for reasons both humane and, of course, commercial). So they take the pressure cookers off the shelf for awhile.

WS would sounds kind of lame explaining it like that, so they go with the anodyne "out of respect" language. They might have been better off just doing this silently, without explanation at all, but maybe they couldn't get away with that.

Oh, and on the website no one's likely to just happen upon a pressure cooker unaware, so there's not the same reason to remove it from the e-commerce world.; 4/25/13, 9:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Pressure cookers are so last century, get this:

http://www.brilliantstore.com/kitchen_appliances_tiger_nfab600.html

Save time and energy. Much safer than a clogged pressure cooker. You don't need to keep your ears open while it cooks. It won't blow, it won't kill little kids and animals. It is terrorist-proof.; 4/25/13, 9:52 AM
bagoh20 said...: If I was a terrorist that supported these guys, I'd be laughing at what we are doing in reaction to this. It would be very motivating to think what hoops America could be made to jump through to avoid both doing nothing and not blaming us terrorists. I mean look at what has happened, how it affects our enemies, and what we have done in response. This has been the biggest success since 9/11, and not because of the the attack, but the response.

What should be happening is a focus on who helped to make this happen, foreign and domestic, and it was not the makers of a kitchen appliance.

If the company wants to do something they should announce that they will refuse to let these assholes take anything else away from us, including this product from our shelves, that's just furthers their success.

If they have to do something, they can donate to the victims, and/or redesign the cookers to be traceable, or to fail at pressures between common use and those of an internal explosion to reduce their effectiveness as a weapon.; 4/25/13, 9:52 AM
Jaq said...: I am actually planning on buying a pressure cooker this summer for canning. Probably get it from Wal Mart though. A high capacity pressure canner http://www.amazon.com/All-American-921-2-Quart-Pressure/dp/B00004S88Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366901627&sr=8-2&keywords=pressure+canner would be nice, but my garden will not be that big.; 4/25/13, 9:54 AM
carrie said...: I wonder if they found any pressure cookers in Iraq. They criticized Bush for not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but I bet there was at least one pressure cooker in Sadam's many kitchens.; 4/25/13, 9:54 AM
carrie said...: I wonder if they found any pressure cookers in Iraq. They criticized Bush for not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but I bet there was at least one pressure cooker in Sadam's many kitchens.; 4/25/13, 9:55 AM
Wince said...: Why is nobody looking into that rage-a-holic Meatloaf?

I mean, Paradise by the Dashboard Light?

We're gonna go all the way tonight
We're gonna go all the way
tonight's tonight...

OK, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here

Coincidence?; 4/25/13, 9:55 AM
Wince said...: tim in vermont said...
I am actually planning on buying a pressure cooker this summer for canning. Probably get it from Wal Mart though.

I guess tim in vermont didn't get the memo on the Althouse portal.; 4/25/13, 9:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Soon, we'll all be reduced to using sporks made from recycled pulp paper.

If it can save just one life...; 4/25/13, 10:00 AM
cubanbob said...: Out of respect I won't be patronizing Williams-Sonoma any time soon. Out of respect we should all refrain from paying taxes lest we fund more terrorists.; 4/25/13, 10:03 AM
Anonymous said...: when they pass the ill-considered internet tax bill, we're all going to be in a pressure cooker of taxes with no relief valve of competition to stop the build-up; 4/25/13, 10:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Damn radio waves! Ban all civilian transmissions! Only government transmissions allowed.; 4/25/13, 10:10 AM
John henry said...: On the other hand I was in a Walmart Super Center Sunday.

They had a huge display, perhaps 100-150 pressure cookers stacked up on the floor in the middle of a wide aisle.

They were the super deadly 6 liter kind (you know, normal size) ones and they were fairly cheap.

Does this mean that Walmart supports terrorism?

Or just cooking?

John Henry; 4/25/13, 10:12 AM
McTriumph said...: Boston bomber, Tamerlan "Speed Bump" Tsarnaeva, "Never bring a wok to a pressure cooker fight".; 4/25/13, 10:16 AM
Anonymous said...: The Iranians thought of attacking us with Williams-Sonoma pressure-cooker bombs but decided that developing a nuclear program would be cheaper.; 4/25/13, 10:16 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: FBI still looking into those evil tea party tax payers.; 4/25/13, 10:17 AM
Chip S. said...: For Williams-Sonoma, being ridiculous appears to be the strategic plan.; 4/25/13, 10:19 AM
Mr. Colby said...: John: "Does this mean that Walmart supports terrorism?

Or just cooking?"

It means that the people who run Walmart have a different view of their customers' sensibilities than the people who run WS have of their's.; 4/25/13, 10:22 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: My brother-in-law dropped $75 at Williams-Sonoma for a hollowed out rock to make guacamole.

I'm sorry, a what now?

Mano y metate. Made of lava rock, porous and rough, makes the best guacamole.

I lost the little rocker/pressure thingy on my 23 quart pressure canner. I only used it for water bath canning last summer but this year I need to have the pressure option for low PH foods that I want to can.

Will I be on the FBI list if I do a google search or buy the replacement rocker?

Williams Sonoma is overpriced and too cutsie for my taste. Yuppiefied people in SF love it.; 4/25/13, 10:23 AM
viator said...: Institute background check for pressure cooker buyers. If it only saves one life.; 4/25/13, 10:47 AM
traditionalguy said...: Let us have a moment of silence for IED makers everywhere.

Is this like the longest continuing act of stupid BS in the Guiness Record Book?; 4/25/13, 10:49 AM
Roger J. said...: Time in Vermont--I used a high capacity pressure cooker (Presto I think)--had a pressure gauge on the lid--great device--also use a pressure cooker for things I used to braise in my cast iron dutch oven--much faster and more efficient. I made a passable boef bourginon in 45 minutes the other day. Versus 4 hous in a dutch oven. As DBQ noted above a pressure cooker is essential for canning low Ph items such as green beans.; 4/25/13, 11:08 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: All American pressure cooker parts.

Presto pressure cooker parts.; 4/25/13, 11:22 AM
n.n said...: What about trash cans? They provided convenient shrapnel to shred "blobs" of tissue.

I'll believe their convictions are genuine when they pull vacuums off their shelves. It's simply amazing how many dual-use items populate our retail stores.; 4/25/13, 11:28 AM
n.n said...: viator:

They should also probably ban high-capacity pressure cookers. At least those which they don't sell to arm criminal cartels, terrorists, and "rebels".; 4/25/13, 11:29 AM
Aridog said...: You have to love the Links at the bottom of both of Chip Ahoy's Amazon links.; 4/25/13, 11:35 AM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/13, 11:55 AM
Alex said...: Home Depot is literally filled with killing weapons, just close it down.; 4/25/13, 11:57 AM
Tibore said...: I think that's stupid. It makes it out as if there's something wrong with the tool used rather than the tool's user.

There's sensitivity, and there's stupidity. It's possible to abhor and condemn an act without denigrating irrelevant parts of it. The brothers could've just as easily been using pipes or some other type of container; the pressure cooker is simply what they chose. It's not a symbol of the tragedy.

I really hate how people refuse to confront acts of evil done by people by concentrating on other things. The bombing was traumatic and awful because of the choices the brothers made to detonate explosives in a crowd. Not because they chose a damn kitchen appliance to do so.; 4/25/13, 12:05 PM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/13, 12:28 PM
Unknown said...: Did anyone else notice the "bakelite wingnut" offered for sale in Chip's link to the all american pressure cooker parts?

Clearly a subliminal signal to the Tea Party.; 4/25/13, 12:48 PM
Peter said...: A pressure cooker bomb is essentially just a type of pipe bomb. And pipe bombs have been around forever.

Perhaps we need to criminalize the sale and possession of galvanized threaded pipe.

The bonus: a huge government program to retrofit all the old buildings that contain galvanized pipe.

(But please, don't even talk about car bombs as there are already plenty who would use any excuse to ban automobiles.); 4/25/13, 12:53 PM
Sam L. said...: So long as nobody has a "blow-out sale".; 4/25/13, 1:03 PM
n.n said...: Peter:

Good point. A pressure cooker is simply a pipe bomb with an integrated timer. Any reinforced enclosure will serve the same purpose.

Our modern structures and vehicles are literally pipe bombs with conveniently distributed fuels (e.g. natural gas).; 4/25/13, 1:16 PM
Brennan said...: Aspiring french chefs revolt.

Time to take this protest to the faux marble streets of the nearest mall. Who's in?; 4/25/13, 1:26 PM
Aridog said...: Sam L. said...

So long as nobody has a "blow-out sale".

I guess nobody but me noticed the Amazon sponsored advertiser Link to a pressure cooker with a box of nails and box of ball bearings....that I cited earlier here.; 4/25/13, 1:41 PM
ken in tx said...: I read that they also used Casio watches as timers. Are they still for sale?

When I was growing up, pressure cooker meant spare ribs so tender the meat fell right off the bone, also that hissing sound and great smells in the kitchen.; 4/25/13, 1:43 PM
Jim said...: Won't the liberals want to put an excise tax on pressure cookers similar to the one they want for guns and ammunition? I paid $100 for my pressure cooker and it paid for itself the first month I owned it in lunch savings. If pressure cookers were taxed to cover the cost of the Boston bombing, then I imagine they would cost at least twice that and possibly much more.; 4/25/13, 1:44 PM
furious_a said...: Good thing the Bros. Tsarnaev didn't resort to car bombs.; 4/25/13, 1:44 PM
Aridog said...: Aridog said ...

... the Amazon sponsored advertiser Link to a pressure cooker with a box of nails and box of ball bearings...

Apparently somebody noticed and advised amazon through the complaint link ... it is gone now as a sponsored link, but not from Google, where it is cached.; 4/25/13, 2:07 PM
ampersand said...: Good news for Kermit Gosnell and Kate Michelman ,W/S still stocks Kitchen Shears; 4/25/13, 2:13 PM
jr565 said...: Supposedly they set off the bomb with a cell phone. Will the cell phone company pull its product off the market too?; 4/25/13, 3:11 PM
Paul said...: So if the bombers wrapped their bombs in Obama campaign paraphilia does that mean people would ignore Obama out of respect of those fallen?

Well one could wish, right?

But really this is the most stupid thing. Say they used nails and ball bearings in the bombs, right? So who made the nails and ball bearings? Do they take them off the shelves to? And the bag used to carry the bombs. Who made them?

See how stupid the whole thing is?; 4/25/13, 3:42 PM
Indigo Red said...: I keep my boxcutters in my pressure cooker.; 4/25/13, 6:48 PM
HA said...: I wish someone would pull those stupid Coexist bumper stickers off the shelves too.; 4/26/13, 5:54 AM