In Defense of Eating at Chick-fil-A

[Craig_Langford]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/in-defense-of-eating-at-chick-fil-a/260139/

But my bigger question is this: In a nation that's as divided as ours is, do we really want our commercial lives and our political lives to be so wholly intermeshed? And is this really the kind of culture we want to create? Culture war boycotts cut both ways and are much more likely to meet with success when prosecuted by large groups of people, such as Christian activists, who are more numerous than gays and lesbians and their more activist supporters.

Gay and lesbian groups were famously rankled when pro-family activists reacted against Kraft for posting a photo of an Oreo cookie with rainbow-hued filling last month in honor of Gay Pride Month, and also when similar groups protested JCPenney for announcing lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres would be its next spokesperson.

So should the 45 percent of Americans who oppose gay marriage opt for Chips Ahoy! instead of Oreos? Should they begin shopping at Belk instead of JC Penny? If they did, it wouldn't make any more sense than the endless failed calls for liberal consumers to boycott Urban Outfitters, because its owner is a conservative and Rick Santorum donor, or to not order from Domino's Pizza, because it was founded by a Catholic conservative who helped fund anti-abortion causes.

On both sides of our latest culture war divide, we must learn to have level-headed disagreements without resorting to accusations of hate speech and boycotts. As Josh Ozersky argued on TIME Thursday, "businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics."

[sadbear]

1. Regardless,

I personally feel better knowing that the money I spend on food won't be turned around and spent on anti-LGBQT bullshit.

[frogmarch]

34. +1

[Inspired]

51. Amen!

[limpyhobbler]

2. I confess to eating at Dominos Pizza. But then I always feel guilty after.

They are huge RWers I heard.

[Freddie]

45. Domino's Pizza sucks

I hear they are owned by a Fundie Catholic and donate heavily to anti-choice causes.
Plus their pizza is lousy.
I really don't want to patronize Chick-Fil-A but once in a whole my stomach wins over my conscience especially during Peach Shake season.

[ellenfl]

47. if they're made with real peaches, all the more reason to boycott. peaches are tops in

pesticide content. peach trees get systemic applications of pesticides so peaches don't just have surface exposure. caveat emptor.

ellen fl

[obamanut2012]

69. He hasn't owned it for quite a while

[Demonaut]

3. whatever......fuck chick-fil-a until they stop supporting bigotry

[MotorCityMan]

9. Exactly...

To each his own, but I will not patronize places that are going to use my money to try to deny me my rights.
There are none of those fast food restaurants in the Detroit area, but if there were, I'd stop going.
It's like years ago when I found out Cracker Barrel fired people for being gay. I REFUSE to go to that restaurant. I worked in restaurants for years, and there are always gay people working there (myself included). If they want to do that, fine, but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend my hard earned money there.

[Denninmi]

27. Actually, there is one, in the Oakland Center food court at Oakland University in Rochester.

And I find it quite disgusting that they allowed this hateful company to set up shop at an institution of higher learning. Shame on them.

[katsy]

4. No.

I spend my money as I wish at establishments who support my community and values.

MY $$$$ so I'll judge and boycott my little head off. It's MY business and my business alone.

What is this fool going to do about people like me? Tell our mommies? Give us fines for being mean and nasty to the poor waltons? Say prayers for our souls when we boycott chic full of hate?

[2ndAmForComputers]

59. Reading this post gave me a big smile.

I wish I had said what you said.

[katsy]

71. Thx

[JI7]

5. it should matter Why people are protesting , i prefer to protest against Bigotry

all these so called pro family hypocrites protest in support of bigotry.

it's not the same thing. at least make clear why people are protesting.

notice how they are so happy to take the money of these people they consider less than moral and deserving of fewer rights.

[obamanut2012]

17. +Your post a million

Excellent.

[Zorra]

6. "Gosh, I'm just a RW fundy bigot that hates gays, lesbians, transfolk,

and bisexuals, and I want to take away their rights, but you should buy my products anyway, it's just business."


Bigotry is not politics. Bigotry is ignorant hatred expressed by shitty people.

Just say no to the hateful bigots at Chik Fil A.

[progressivebydesign]

7. Eating at Chik-fil-A is no different than tithing to the Mormon church, at this point.

They both use your money to fight against rights for gay people. And I won't do either. I don't eat Dominos pizza or hot pockets, either.

[sadbear]

8. Hot Pockets?

What did I miss?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

30. I don't know but I don't like the sound of this...

[flvegan]

10. In Defense of Animal Cruelty in the name of...

Go ahead and defend it. "businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics"

Your quote. Go ahead, defend it. Defend Chick-fil-A, as stated. Defend those practices, please.

I'll wait. Good luck to you.

[EgaLitE]

11. Um... no.

As far as I'm concerned if you're a christian and you eat at chick-fil-a you're just the same as a muslim who goes and eats at a business who openly donates money to al-qaeda or the muslim brotherhood.

This is not a question of business or freedom. It is a question of morality. It is immoral to support hate and bigotry and anyone who thinks it is "all right" to give money to anti-equality, anti-justice organizations is sorely mistaken.

I've boycotted businesses for less. For instance, I stopped going to the local McDonald's just up the block when I found out the manager was a republican. I don't want to be contributing to his salary. Also when I found out that a local italian. restaurant was owned by Republicans I stopped going even though they probably have the best food in the neighborhood. I like ethnic food but when I found out that the owner of the local korean grocery was donating to anti-choice hate groups, I stopped going there as well.

Like I said this is about our freedom not to give money to hateful bigots.

[Rowdyboy]

12. Never again....I confess to eating breakfast from there back in the 1990's but not since

I learned of the founders hateful ideology. I certainly have no intention of going back any more than I'll ever eat at Cracker Barrel againl. I don't have enough money or time to waste any of it patronizing bigots who hate me.

[johnnie]

13. It's nobody's business where I fucking eat

And why I choose to do so or not. Their food blows anyway.

[eliminerlesud]

14. Money and the withholding of or using is the only vote that matters now

I look at it this way…

If you support a Republican or anti-gay or racist or _____fill in the blank Business you are supporting the GOP and their policies.

Many Talk the Talk but Few Walk the Walk

If you claim you are a Dem but buy a non-union made car you are a phony poser.

If you support a business that makes it clear they do not like gays then you are in effect agree with that business when you hand them some money.

People can do what they want but the choices each of us make on a daily biases with our money can be loud and powerful if people are united in fighting back.

Does the chicken place give a shit if a few gays don’t eat there, nope not at all, they will get more business from the Christian Bigots because they are openly bigoted. If ALL liberals and progressives supported a boycott of the chicken place, then that will impact their bottom line and they will suffer for their bigotry.

Right now thanks to lack of solidarity they will PROFIT off of openly being bigots.

It works the same for cars, tires, grocery, etc…..

Your money your choice, do you talk the talk and walk the walk or are you a poser?

[handmade34]

15. good rant...

but oftentimes it is very difficult to walk the walk... I agree wholeheatedly with you but am also pragmatic enough to know as members of a dysfunctional society, some can be too poor to be principled...

I desperately needed paper for my printer the other day and all the store seemed to have was Georgia-Pacific... I refused to buy it and went elsewhere... I will always refuse to support Republican supporting businesses in favor of more liberal and always will buy local (and made in United States America) when possible...

[handmade34]

16. refuse to participate in "hate speech"

but I wholeheatedly support boycotts... we need to always support local and liberal

[obamanut2012]

18. Why do YOU or anyone else want to support homophobes and animal vcrulety supporters?

That is the better question, I think.

Hmmm?

[Warren Stupidity]

19. So the right wing Fucknutz are successful at this, best we not do it.

Might not work.

Fucking defeatist apologist bullshit.

[obamanut2012]

21. +1

[arely staircase]

70. best response to this so far nt

[obamanut2012]

20. So, as per this logic, it should be okay to eat at underground Whites Only places

"Businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics."

There's also a reason why I have a list of all Koch companies, and buy NOTHING from them.

OP FAIL.

[NJCher]

35. for others

I do the same. It's summer and I'm a teacher with no summer job, so I'm desperately short on funds. Regardless, I passed on the Angel Soft and the Brawny that was on sale and went with another brand--more money, but not that much more.

Here's the list, in case anyone wants to print out a copy for their wallet.


Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins
Georgia-Pacific paper products and envelopes
All Georgia-Pacific lumber and building products, including:
Dense Armor Drywall and Decking
ToughArmor Gypsum board
Georgia pacific Plytanium Plywood
Flexrock
Densglass sheathing
G/P Industrial plasters (some products used by a lot of crafters)
FibreStrong Rim board
G/P Lam board
Blue Ribbon OSB Rated Sheathing
Blue Ribbon Sub-floor
DryGuard Enhanced OSB
Nautilus Wall Sheathing
Thermostat OSB Radiant Barrier Sheathing
Broadspan Engineered Wood Products
XJ 85 I-Joists
FireDefender Banded Cores
FireDefender FS
FireDefender Mineral Core
Hardboard and Thin MDF including Auto Hardboard,
Perforated Hardboard and Thin MDF
Wood Fiberboard
Commercial Roof Fiberboard
Hushboard Sound Deadening Board
Regular Fiberboard Sheathing
Structural Fiberboard Sheathing

(INVISTA Products):
COMFOREL® fiberfill
COOLMAX® fabric
CORDURA® fabric
DACRON® fiber
POLYSHIELD® resin
SOLARMAX® fabric
SOMERELLE® bedding products
STAINMASTER® carpet
SUPPLEX® fabric
TACTEL® fiber
TACTESSE® carpet fiber
TERATE® polyols
TERATHANE® polyether glycol
THERMOLITE® fabric
PHENREZ® resin
POLARGUARD® fiber and
LYCRA® fiber


Cher

[obamanut2012]

42. I should have posted the list -- thanks

[Maeve]

49. Yeah, sometimes I feel odd passing up G-P products, but then...

it is my money and I'd rather it go to someone OTHER than the Koch Bros.

There's the old tale of the boy walking along the beach, tossing starfish back in the water after a storm had washed them ashore. "But you can't begin to toss them all back," someone said. "What makes you think it matters?" And as the boy tossed another into the waves he said "It matters to that one."

[Warren Stupidity]

22. And of course a jury voted to allow this crap to stand.

[MattBaggins]

24. Jury System is a joke

[dsc]

50. of course it should have been let stand

While I disagree with the OP it is nothing short of absurd to argue that it is somehow beyond the pale to post this. Many people feel boycotts are a bad idea either because they don't work or because they feel boycotts are problematic on their own.

[MattBaggins]

23. Your OP is nice and touchy feely but wrong

Chick-shit-la actively gives money to suppress the rights of others, makes it "mandatory" for employees to go to christian camps if they want to get ahead, and won't let anyone in management or owners who are not Christians.

They are bigots and discriminate against others. I will not give them my money. Are you suggesting that I be forced to do so, because short of that it is impossible to stop me and others from expressing our displeasure with this company?

By your own statement I AM JUDGING THEM BY THEIR PRACTICES.

[lonestarnot]

25. Hmmmf. You eat it; I won't.

[Lex]

26. "businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics"

BULL shit.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. Thank Citizens United. If corporations can affect politics then the door's gonna swing both ways.

Don't you just love this guy's attitude? Let corporations do politically what ever they want to us and we should just suck it up and not vote with out pocketbooks? Really?
There are much more important things in life than a FUCKING CHICKEN SANDWICH, jackass.

[Gormy Cuss]

32. +1

[DainBramaged]

29. If I choose not to spend my money where they discriminate, It's my choice

These is NO defense fighting against the rights of GLBT members of our society in 2012, none. I will not return to the middle ages as some of the fucking nutcases around me want to.


Defend the right to be anything you want or go live where people have no rights. Then you all shall be happy.


PS: the Reich-wing was against interracial marriage too, or did any of you nut jobs forget?

[Earth_First]

31. Sure, if we support a few more Wal Mart corps...

How much worse could the anti-union atmosphere possibly get...?

[pink-o]

33. Oh, so here we go again with the false equivalency!

"Their side" does it, but "Our side" does it too. Oh, puleeeze! I'm so sick of playing that game, especially when the RW whack jobs are reacting from their own fears and the wish to repress human progress. Those idiots boycott Penneys and Nabisco because they're narrow minded bigots. We boycott Chic Fil A because guess why??? They're narrow minded bigots.

See the diff???

[sadbear]

37. "Those idiots boycott Penneys and Nabisco because they're narrow minded bigots."

I think I know what you're talking about, but who in the above sentence are the narrow minded bigots?

[pink-o]

48. Hah! And I'm an obsessive Grammarian, I Shudda caught that.

Please forgive, and allow me to rephrase:

Those idiots who boycott Penney's and Nabisco are narrow-minded bigots.

All better now, I hope

[grantcart]

36. Only go to Chick full of it on Sundays

Problem solved

[Iggo]

38. Fuck Chick-fil-a.

"...businesses should be judged by their...practices..."

And when they practice politics, they takes their chances.

I say again: FUCK chick-fil-a.

[GoCubsGo]

39. I refuse to eat there for other reasons.

The south side of my town is a big, giant clusterfuck caused by rampant, unregulated development. The traffic is horrible as a result. And, when Chick-Fil-A moved from the mall to their current location, they made the traffic problems ten times worse. Placing that store where it is now is the pinnacle of stupidity. The same goes for the Crackhead Barrel that's across the road from it. I refuse to patronize either of them for that reason alone.

[WhollyHeretic]

40. People who push false equivalency on issues of equality show their own bigotry

Fuck the bigots even the one who like to pretend they're not

[ohheckyeah]

41. How I choose to judge a business

is MY business. It's my money, my decision and anyone who thinks they have the right to tell me how to judge a business can piss off.

In a nation that's as divided as ours is, do we really want our commercial lives and our political lives to be so wholly intermeshed?

How deliciously ironic. Businesses are the ones that enmeshed politics into business. Since corporations are now people, I think judging them the way I do people is perfectly reasonable. I don't hang out with bigots, racists, sexists and homophobes so why would I knowingly do business with them?

Businesses owners want it both ways - they want to use their platform to express their political and religious beliefs but don't want me to judge their political and religious beliefs. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. If they don't want to be judged for political beliefs then they should keep it to themselves and donate their money elsewhere.

[lunasun]

67. +100

[toddwv]

43. Everytime that you eat there means more money goes to them

to promote their hate.

No thank you.

[hobbit709]

44. Personally, I thought they sucked long before I found out about their political leanings.

Same as Domino's-their pizza sucked 30 years ago.

[HillWilliam]

46. Injury was when Chick-Fil-A donated large sums of money

to strip me and mine of basic human dignity and rights.

Insult and salt in that wound was when they proudly crowed they were http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-chick-fil-a-gay-20120718,0,3020372.story" target="_blank">guilty as charged. That's some mighty tall chutzpah.

May they be screwed by an elephant and may that be followed by a barb-wire douche.

Nary a thin dime from me. Their recipe is out there. I'll make my own sandwiches. (Their waffle fries suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!)

[Warpy]

52. There are certain places I just won't go.

I have to go to Wally's for one prescription twice a year. That's it. I've never eaten a Domino's Pizza or Chick-fil-A. I don't wipe my butt with a Georgia Pacific product but I did buy Sparkle paper towels once when I was too broke to afford Scott.

I don't make the rules for anybody else, and that's really the difference.

[Bluenorthwest]

53. They are being judged by their practices. They practice bigoted political activism.

I personally have never even seen one of these places, much less been in one. Never will either. Not only are their practices vile, I assume their food is unhealthy and factory made, so fuck them, fuck those who promote them.

[Major Nikon]

54. I don't give money to people with minds that hate

It's a simple concept really.

[emsimon33]

55. Disagree--the only power left is our buying power, and

I don't want company profits supporting candidates and issues that destroy the country.

[wickerwoman]

56. There's never been a defense for eating at Chick-fil-A.

They make KFC look like Le Bernadin.

To answer seriously, most of us don't have much political power compared to commercial entities. We vote every 2-6 years and they contribute gobs of money so that politicians do whatever they want. It's not consumers that have blurred the lines between politics and commerce- it's businesses. The only other tiny amount of power we have comes from where we choose to spend our money. Some people (right or left) choose to be thoughtful about how they use that power and some people don't.

[Blue_In_AK]

57. I don't think we have one of those here,

but even if we did, I wouldn't eat there. We only eat at locally owned restaurants, except for an occasional Subway or Quizno.

[riderinthestorm]

58. Gee so putting my money where my mouth is, is somehow problematic?

Didn't that used to be part and parcel of "put up or shut up?" and other code phrases for "standing up for what you believe"?

Personal boycotts are an excellent way to let others know of troublesome policies - its an easy conversational opener. I'm out and about with someone and they say, "let's stop at Walmart and pick up some snacks for the trip". I get to respond, "I'm boycotting Walmart because they are discriminatory to against women and unions. Besides they have fucked up small family businesses for too long without repercussions".

Double shot! I get that opening to make my point. (Same with Chick Fil A, or Walgreens, or the local rabid fundy Rethug candidate's ice cream parlour Oberweis Dairy, etc. etc.)

[liberalmuse]

60. Food, goods and services should be made with love, not hate.

Yeah, it's hokey, but it's just something I believe. Why would I want my hard-earned money to end up in bigot coffiers? That's my only real power in our corporate-bought-and-paid-for society. It's not much, but it's something.

[msanthrope]

61. My money, my choice. nt

[muntrv]

62. I stopped buying domino's pizza years ago because of fundy Tom Monahan

and his pro-fetus fanaticism.

ON EDIT: I also don't care for cardboard pizza.

[Solly Mack]

63. Horseshit.

[indepat]

64. Bidnesses should be judged not only by their products and their practices, but also

by their politics imho. Why should we, who oppose the Koch brothers' politics, including funding of their causes, contribute indirectly to funding causes antithetical to our sense of what America should be about?

[CBGLuthier]

65. I would rather swallow one of their dry nasty ass sandwiches than this line of bullshit.

[DirkGently]

66. Disagree completely. MONEY is now both speech & the VOTE.

That's the whole idea behind transparency. We should know who's doing what to influence our culture and laws and respond accordingly. It's very nice that someone makes a decent chicken sandwich, but if they're going to take their success in that enterprise and turn into a WEAPON to punish other Americans, why should we help?

OUR money provides THEIR power. It's only in the interest of those in power to pretend those things are wholly separate.

[arely staircase]

68. money is the only thing they care about so large swaths of people

not buying their products is the only thing that might get their attention. And even if it doesn't refusing to do business with people who want and work for your oppression is only natural.

[mmonk]

72. Would you eat there if they supported taking away or denying rights

of other Americans than gay and lesbian couples?