Our Commitment To The Black Lives Matter Movement

[cixelsyd]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

I wondered what happened as had a response. Just going to bring up personal feelings can also affect which businesses we patronize or refuse to go to. For me I refuse to spend a penny at ChicFilA because of owners gay opinions. He’s allowed to say what he wants and I’m allowed to make sure he doesn’t get any of my money. 
My feelings do not come from a high level. I just refuse to patronize the place of someone who doesn’t like my friends. Especially in PA where we have gay marriage but can get fired as that is not a protected group. And one of my friends is still in the closet to the outside world because of that

(Sorry for pulling the rug out from under you.  While I was writing my post, it appeared that other posts were veering toward drum corps discussion.  But that did not pan out.)

Anyway, one of the things I mentioned in that disappearing post was that boycotting a business over a business-wide practice (employee mistreatment, dangerous product, illegal activity) is sometimes appropriate.  In contrast, boycotting an entire 10,000-employee-plus business just to spite one person associated with it is like using a musket on a mosquito - inaccurate, out of proportion, and creates a lot of collateral damage.

[N.E. Brigand]

4 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Been leading up for a while IMO. Just too many places where a person can find extreme views or opinions of any type. Then they can point to that and say “see I’m right” and get even more convinced they are correct and others are wrong.... 

Yeah. This particular xkcd installment is probably more than 15 years old:

[JimF-LowBari]

20 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

(Sorry for pulling the rug out from under you.  While I was writing my post, it appeared that other posts were veering toward drum corps discussion.  But that did not pan out.)

Anyway, one of the things I mentioned in that disappearing post was that boycotting a business over a business-wide practice (employee mistreatment, dangerous product, illegal activity) is sometimes appropriate.  In contrast, boycotting an entire 10,000-employee-plus business just to spite one person associated with it is like using a musket on a mosquito - inaccurate, out of proportion, and creates a lot of collateral damage.

Not a problem we have the right to change our mind on what appears when we post. My problem was trying to make my point without sounding like I was arguing with what was there. Didn’t have any problem I was just adding another piece 

Edited June 14, 2020 by JimF-LowBari

[skevinp]

4 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

I had an experience also. The My Pillow guy ( lol ) sadly the product is great, BUT I heard him say several times a certain politician was actually sent by God. I wrote the company and actually got a response. They said they couldn't control the politics of the owner ( which I agree ) but my issue was he was the one who   brought politics into his business, so I had the right never to support it again.

People have the right to support whoever they want BUT when they themselves bring it into view as political well then they risk losing at least 1/2 of the business brought on by no one but themselves.

It’s a sad world we live in when someone makes an incredible sacrifice to help save lives during a difficult time and the only thing some people care about is that he doesn’t hate the same person they do.  

Thanks for reminding me, though.  I’ve been meaning to try out the product and I might have forgotten if it weren’t for your post.  

Edited June 14, 2020 by skevinp

[JimF-LowBari]

5 minutes ago, skevinp said:

It’s a sad world we live in when someone makes an incredible sacrifice to help save lives during a difficult and the only thing some people care about is that he doesn’t hate the same person they do.  

Thanks for reminding me, though.  I’ve been meaning to try out the product and I might have forgotten if it weren’t for your post.  

Pretty much what I got told by some when I refused to go to ChicFilA. How could I not go when the company gives so much to charity etc etc. I still stand by my friends and don’t go.

[N.E. Brigand]

22 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

This is a fair point, though I think there are more than two groups interacting, and I don't think that most of the protesters belong to any of them.

Lots of people support Black Lives Matter, but most of the people marching in support of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breona Taylor, or other apparent victims of police violence aren't members of the group itself. 

And sure, there have definitely been some opportunists taking advantage of the protests to spread chaos. And also some people who see the chaos as their only opportunity in life to take something from the people they view as their oppressors. (Which is sad.) And as skevinp notes, there are among the Black Lives Matter members, or other people who are clearly protesting for entirely altrustic reasons, those who have tried to calm protesters or prevent looting. Three videos that got a lot of attention were from the protests' early days. In one, a white guy carrying an umbrella uses a hammer to calmly break the windows of an Auto Zone store in Minnesota over the ojbections of black protesters, who then confront him. In another, a black woman in New York forcefully excoriates people breaking windows for the harm they're doing to her community. In the third, protesters grab a man who is hammering at the pavement, from which he means to break bricks that he can hurl at windows or the police; the protesters drag him over to the cops and turn him in.

Further to that point, see the video at this link, from last night in Atlanta: "Look at the white girl trying to burn down a Wendy's." (I can't post the video directly becuase of language in the title.) I have to say, one of the weirdest things about that video and others from the same scene is that you can clearly hear a snare drum playing in the background.

And see also the clip below from a couple weeks ago. Now you might say: just because someone hands you a brick doesn't mean you have to throw it. But if you go to an emotionally charged situation and hand out weapons (and especially if you then you go back and sit in your car, some distance away), I think you're trying to make the situation worse.

However, in neither instance do I think there was some well-organized campaign: just random people who like to stir things up, even if some of the troublemakers might think of themselves as being part of Antifa. And I would caution that, as far as I know, none of the stories about people piling up bricks near hotspots in advance of the protests turned out to be true. Some commentators were claiming that Antifa was doing this. Other commentators were claiming that police were doing this. But when reporters looked into it, any actual apparently pre-set collection of bricks turned out to be part of a legitimate construction project.

 

[Cappybara]

6 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Pretty much what I got told by some when I refused to go to ChicFilA. How could I not go when the company gives so much to charity etc etc. I still stand by my friends and don’t go.

Same here. Yesterday was my sister’s high school graduation celebration (along with a couple other graduates in our neighborhood). I was able to convince the person organizing the catering to not get food catered from Chick Fil A which was originally their first choice. It may just be a drop in the bucket but it makes me feel good to do my part. 

[N.E. Brigand]

10 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Pretty much what I got told by some when I refused to go to ChicFilA. How could I not go when the company gives so much to charity etc etc. I still stand by my friends and don’t go.

I've never eaten at Chick-fil-A, but I've never eaten at Popeye's either, or at any number of other fast food restaurants. But this may be of interest:

"In an interview with Bisnow in 2019, Chick-fil-A President Tim Tassopoulos said the company will stop donating to charities with anti-LGBT views. The company will instead donate to charities focused on education, homelessness and hunger. These new organizations could include both faith-based and non-faith-based charities, but the company said none of the organizations have anti-LGBT positions." (Source)

I seem to remember that when Tassopoulos said this last year, a number of people who had praised Chick-fil-A for its previous stance (the one that you and I feel is bigoted), responded by saying that the company had betrayed them, and they would henceforth refuse to patronize it. 

[Cappybara]

1 minute ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I seem to remember that when Tassopoulos said this last year, a number of people who had praised Chick-fil-A for its previous stance (the one that you and I feel is bigoted), responded by saying that the company had betrayed them, and they would henceforth refuse to patronize it. 

And there is nothing wrong with that either. I encourage everyone to put their money where their mouth is. Whether it be company wide policy or just one guy leading the company, it is OKAY to take a stand and say “no, I am not going to support this.” It is okay to use social media as a platform to encourage others to do the same. If the grassroots movement becomes large enough, that’s when you start seeing change, which is what we’ve been seeing recently. And if it doesn’t become large enough, then oh well, you did your part and can have a clean conscience. 

[JimF-LowBari]

21 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I've never eaten at Chick-fil-A, but I've never eaten at Popeye's either, or at any number of other fast food restaurants. But this may be of interest:

"In an interview with Bisnow in 2019, Chick-fil-A President Tim Tassopoulos said the company will stop donating to charities with anti-LGBT views. The company will instead donate to charities focused on education, homelessness and hunger. These new organizations could include both faith-based and non-faith-based charities, but the company said none of the organizations have anti-LGBT positions." (Source)

I seem to remember that when Tassopoulos said this last year, a number of people who had praised Chick-fil-A for its previous stance (the one that you and I feel is bigoted), responded by saying that the company had betrayed them, and they would henceforth refuse to patronize it. 

I’ve read that CFA will donate to a children in need cause (homelessness) that is supported by LGBT groups. Note: the group is for all children not just LGBT. I’m a cynic so when I read 180 degree changes like this I always wonder how much is a personal change and how much is business driven. No idea just bringing it up.

No surprise CFA would lose previous customers. Some of the people I know who go there go because they claim it is a “faith based” fast food place. Closing on Sunday is an example they give. Would be ironic if anyone refusing to go CFA now, previously said boycotting it was wrong.

Getting a Popeyes near me sometime. Only ate there once while leaving Washington DC. Got my food, sat down... and realized I was the only white person in a crowded lunch time group. No problems, it was just an interesting surprise 😆

Edited June 14, 2020 by JimF-LowBari