The thought police
My friends on the far left are wringing their hands over the way people in the country are supporting Dan Cathy's homophobia, thinking that it is all latent homophobia rearing its ugly head. I'm sure there is some of that, but there's something else going on here that I don't think is getting addressed.
Cathy is a fundamentalist Christian who has made that a core attribute of the way he does business. He always has. There are signs on his counters saying he is therefore closed on the Sabbath. Personally, I'm not surprised to find that he is against gay marriage as that seems consistent with his culture and religion.
Nor would I be surprised to find that a fundamentalist Muslim would be in favor of Sharia courts ruling on matters of Islamic social laws. Nor a Jew wishing to circumsize their son.
The first amendment isn't all about free speech, it's also about freedom of religion. People are allowed to believe any old stupid thing they want. Wrong things. Damaging things. Things you don't agree with. They even get to VOTE for that, which is where their vision of how society should be conducted gets molded into public policy as opposed to private religion (and a great many people end up voting for things in private that their religion doesn't publicly espouse.)
I am entirely in favor of a kiss-in at his stores. Return hate and ignorant intolerance with love and exposure to the inexperienced. That makes perfect sense to me.
Boycott it if you prefer to do business with people who won't send their profits to things you dislike, I understand that at a personal level. But there's a line in there someplace: are we REALLY okay with a policy that says we will only do business with people who share our religious and political views? That's what we WANT? Be very careful here. As a Jewish women business owner this strikes a seriously wrong chord in me.
Cathy is a fundamentalist Christian who has made that a core attribute of the way he does business. He always has. There are signs on his counters saying he is therefore closed on the Sabbath. Personally, I'm not surprised to find that he is against gay marriage as that seems consistent with his culture and religion.
Nor would I be surprised to find that a fundamentalist Muslim would be in favor of Sharia courts ruling on matters of Islamic social laws. Nor a Jew wishing to circumsize their son.
The first amendment isn't all about free speech, it's also about freedom of religion. People are allowed to believe any old stupid thing they want. Wrong things. Damaging things. Things you don't agree with. They even get to VOTE for that, which is where their vision of how society should be conducted gets molded into public policy as opposed to private religion (and a great many people end up voting for things in private that their religion doesn't publicly espouse.)
I am entirely in favor of a kiss-in at his stores. Return hate and ignorant intolerance with love and exposure to the inexperienced. That makes perfect sense to me.
Boycott it if you prefer to do business with people who won't send their profits to things you dislike, I understand that at a personal level. But there's a line in there someplace: are we REALLY okay with a policy that says we will only do business with people who share our religious and political views? That's what we WANT? Be very careful here. As a Jewish women business owner this strikes a seriously wrong chord in me.