I recently heard a conservative radio commentator criticizing the left for their treatment of Chick-fil-a, that we were filled with hate and were persecuting the owner of the company simply because he believes “the Biblical principle that marriage should only be between a man and a woman”, he added that Chick-fil-a hires and serves homosexuals.
I would have loved to speak with this guy and point out that Chick-fil-a hires and serves homosexuals because if they didn’t there would be hell to pay in the roughly half of US states that have laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination, and that if Chick-fil-a’s founder believes in the Bible so thoroughly then logically he would also prefer that gays be stoned to death, and that homosexuality was outlawed (like it was decades a go).
If that’s the yardstick, every large corporation is contributing to the average person’s erosion of rights because they want more power. Sure, some of them may not give specifically to orgs who discriminate again people, but they are contributing the power structure that keeps them poor and in check. They are manipulating laws to give workers less rights, less safety oversight, lower wages, etc etc etc.
I guess the the takeaway is “buy local” and hope they aren’t assholes too?
That’s what sucks about Chick-fil-A. They serve up the tastiest, sweetest, cleanest hate that money can buy. But we have an out: Raising Cane’s chicken fingers are BETTER and so is their sauce. Their focus is SPCA type animal charity.
Monopolies make going elsewhere impossible at times, or just being able to go elsewhere may be impractical even if the choice is there. But taking the dismissive attitude of “what i’m doing is business and isn’t affecting others” is something i take issue with, it does matter and letting things slide without being vocal about it allows people like CFA to continue without worries.
Our culture can be a bit weird at times. I remember when the first In N Out opened in the Bay Area when I was still living there and people swarmed en masse to eat there. Same with Krispy Kreme.
I was like you - It’s just a burger and it’s just a donut. I don’t wait more than 5 minutes for either thing.
A couple weeks ago, I bought an iphone 11. My wife had to go to the mall to return something or whatever so I figured I would go to the Apple Store to buy one as I was ready to upgrade my 7.
There was a line outside the store like a ride at Disneyland and I asked what it was - to buy the 11. Even though it had been out for a while.
I went home, ordered my phone online and some guy dropped it off at my house the next day.
People are weird.
Popeye had a bit of a dark side, and was pretty misogynistic with Olive Oyl. I don’t think that I can give any money to a restaurant founded by someone like that.
Still waiting for a world where condoning and supporting bigotry is an instant, irrevocable death knell for a business. They should no longer exist, and I’ll continue to act as if they don’t.
No. It’s because brains are seriously fucking weird. Your hungry brain makes different decisions than your high brain, or your horny brain or your happy brain.
This is off topic, but people trust their brains way more than the should, considering that those fuckers lie to us all the time (look up saccades, sometime. Our entire perception of reality is based on a lie). It has nothing to do with good or evil. It has to do with the fact that there is no plan or design… evolutionary/natural selection is less “this is optimal” and more “whatever works”.
TL/DR: the reason you can’t trust your brain isn’t due to you being evil. You can’t trust it because it’s a brain.
You don’t get it. Literally every decision is supposed to be divinely inspired in that atmosphere. You can’t fall in love with someone without having the approval of your god (often voiced by your pastor) and your parents etc. The whole thing is about control of your mind in order to benefit the cult.
I am aware of cognitive biases. This is about taking advantage of children’s trust and filling their heads with the idea that anything that feels good independent of the church is actually demons trying to drag you to a hell that they preach in vivid and excruciating detail from a young age.
Two of the three Chick-Fil-A’s I go to most often pay their employees $15/hr. The third pays their employees $17/hr. Almost every other fast food restaurant in the area pays minimum wage, $12/hr.
To me, underpaying employees by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year is far more worthy of a boycott than sending hundreds of dollars a year to problematic charities. (The $1.6M that went to FCA and SA works out to about $750 per franchise.)
Now that they’re stopping the problematic donations, the ethical balance seems even more heavily in Chick-Fil-A’s favor. I’m unsurprised but disappointed that most people I know are still vowing never to eat there.
They’re real heroes for being a big corporation that after years of backlash for their Anti LGBTQ monetary support have finally realized they’re finally losing profits due to it.
Big fucking heroes.
Just like how a mass murder who dives off a bridge is also a hero.
I am not talking about bias. I am saying they accidentally stumbled on a truth, while blaming all the wrong things.
I have spent the bulk of my life being told how lazy, useless and horrible I am, and that all my choices are wrong. I have my brain lie to me about reality on a daily basis. Not cognitive biases, lies. What I have learned is that the biggest difference between me and most people who accuse me of all of the above is that I am aware of what’s going on, and how little in control any of us are.
I grew up exposed to that bullshit, too. As a kid Iwas terrified I was going to Hell, because I clearly wasn’t good enough for Heaven. Because I didn’t feel the comfort that everybody else felt, so I had obviously done something wrong. Because I never had the certainty that others spoke of, how they understood God’s message for them. But the years I spent thinking that it was 100% wrong, and that I was in control weren’t any better.
Learning and recognizing that I am not in control of even my own mind has let me be able to deal with it. Recognizing that it’s not demons, but that there’s still something lying to me is a lot better than believing that it is my fault for being too lazy or careless.
Essentially, like a lot of fundamentalists/cults, they found a core truth and bound it up in layers upon layers of stifling garbage. But that core truth is why it works so well. Otherwise, it’d be a lot easier to reject.
What’s the point of a boycott? Is it to change a company’s behavior, or is it to get vengeance? If vengeance, sure, keep on at it. But if it’s to get them to stop doing bad things, then it’s a bit perverse to apply economic pressure towards that end, then declare that it doesn’t count because they only did it because of economic pressure.
