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| They just want to protect marriage. And waffle fries on the side. |
The first salvo has been fired in the great Chicken Sandwich
War of 2012. Generally I pay little attention to slacktivism. Every week it
seems there is a new cause to stand behind that is of the utmost importance and
can be solved with a few tweets, statuses, or article shares. Angry arguments
ensue with smarter people being quoted and misquoted constantly in a silly
attempt to sway the other side and make them realize they are godless heathens
for not agreeing with you. It’s a phenomenon of this generation and this highly
connected society that increases in visibility what it decreases in relevance. To
those of us that chose to think, read, and think again before replying to or
engaging in any of the causes of the month the debates that are created are
great, free entertainments.
Then there is this Chicken Sandwich War. A Christian
president of a company that is well-known and indeed famous for its adherence
to certain Christian principles (try getting a chicken sandwich on a Sunday)
makes a statement in a religious media outlet that he opposes same-sex marriage.
Such a predictable statement should have barely registered on the national news
radar. Boycotts from the gay community and friends had been called months ago.
I personally know many people who have not eaten there for a long time because
of the company’s stance on the issue. That is their right as is the company’s
to believe in any guiding principles they choose to for their enterprise. Well,
until it begins to infringe upon the rights of others, which in a legal sense
it has not yet done.
Unfortunately, shortly after the interview was widely
disseminated this country lost its sanity. Instead of thinking like rational
adults that hey a guy has a right to believe how he likes and I have a right to
choose not to buy his products we instead devolved into a rabble of
hate-spewing (often-entertaining) Neanderthals (no offense to any actual
Neanderthals reading this).
Sadly, this is nothing new either. Politics entered the
conversation and as it did the conversation changed tone. It became a battle of
ideologies and then even that transcended the political realm to touch on the
religious as well. Now to eat a chicken sandwich at this establishment was to
protect free speech and the traditional family. None of which were or are
actually in danger. Again, even at this point I was ready to watch and let the
situation and the heated diatribes from either side cool off as sanity slowly
returned. It always happened, that is the cycle of such things.
And then today. Chick-Fil-A appreciation day.
The response by those who ignorantly or willfully believe
that a restaurant has become a political and ideological standing ground have
turned it, in my mind, to the Fort Sumter of this insanity and in doing so have
made a madness-induced delusion into a reality. The line in the sand has been
drawn and slacktivism or not these people that supported Chick-Fil-A today have
lost the protection they had in my eyes of rational, thinking, feeling human
beings. To eat there because you had a craving is one thing. To eat there to
consciously support outdated and dangerous ideas about homosexuality is
completely another.
I was appalled as I saw many, many pictures of people posing
for pictures with huge smiles on their faces, holding up their Chick-Fil-A bag
and spewing some empty-headed nonsense about supporting “Christian values” or “protecting
freedom of speech.” These pictures are openly mocking and deeply hurtful. They
very nearly made me physically ill. Here it was no longer about a chicken
sandwich. It was no longer about protecting your own point of view. No, now it
was unmistakably about hate.
The first salvo has been fired. I suspect the other side
will be creative in its response. It is true that in the end no one wins, but
how can one remain silent? The “traditional family” is a nice sanitized myth,
but the persecution of homosexuals is a very true, very painful reality.
I was both surprised and dismayed to see the pure, unadulterated glee of the "supporters" of CFA on display.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that is what most struck me today. Honestly was not prepared to see that.
ReplyDeleteI ate pizza, because I support sewer mutants. I know what you may say, but I hold 1980s kitsch, music, and comic books as my religion of choice. That and a feeling of alienation that keeps me humble. I have always felt that while people of other religions and my own excluded others in their jingoist 'youth groups' I took on a certain alienated loneliness as my true religion that transcended any labels I put to my faith afterward. Today I practiced my religious speech by eating in a buffet by myself. I support cheap chicken sandwiches and family values but I draw the line when I see adults acting like the clique-ish youth groups of my middle school years spewing hate on 'outsiders'. The Other is an illusion. Everyone is One in the All and the only thing completely alien, completely indescribable is The All. Ultimately, we all have more in common than we have differences, namely we all like to slowly kill ourselves by shoving fast food into our holes. 'Merica! yeah!
ReplyDeleteI'm not understanding the Ft. Sumter reference. Before today there were already Boycotts against, already plenty of hate filled Anti-Chick-Fil-A pictures making the rounds, already politicians pledging that the business was not welcome in their jurisdiction (In my mind, the only truly unacceptable act that has occurred this far).
ReplyDeleteSo with boycotts, pictures, messages, and politicians hailing against Chick-Fil-A, plenty in hateful ways BEFORE today, how is anti-boycotts, pictures, messages, and politicians hailing for Chick-Fil-A, plenty in hateful ways the first salvo?
GOING to chick-fil-a NOT about chicken. Boycotting chick-fil-a...about chicken? I think you are confused about what came first.
i posted this as a comment on my friend's facebook status that basically said what you just said and i'll repost it here because it sums up how i see this whole controversy:
ReplyDelete"what really saddens me is that there are far more important things for americans to be making a ruckus over than a privately-owned company exercising their right to be bigoted fuckwads. how you spend your money is really the only form of democracy that matters anymore in this country yet these citizens can't seem to make the logical leap that buying more fast food perpetuates ridiculous farm subsidies, that all the money they spend at walmart ships more jobs overseas, and that their tax dollars are spent blowing up brown people or deposing a progressive government in the third world so that an american company can have a better third quarter statement"
The Ft. Sumter reference was just a formalizing of the struggle. That was all I meant. There had been many skirmishes prior to this past day's silliness. Boycotting was NOT about the chicken this is true, but it was a personal choice not done en masse. To keep with the Civil War references it was like Harper's Ferry the previous boycotts. Now the first official mobilizing salvo has been fired.
ReplyDeleteLet it be noted I'm not COMPLETELY comfortable using military references anymore. Violence ought not enter the forum.
I haven't been eating there for a long time for this reason. Years. That may be slacktivism at its finest, but I am voting with my dollars (Chipotle is probably very grateful for this). I'm not mad at the man for answering a question he was asked, and I'm not mad that he answered it honestly and publicly. Those are rights. The right for Mr. Cathy to give his opinion is not under attack here. He didn't come out in the public and denounce gay marriage -- he was asked an arguably loaded question and gave an answer that was already common knowledge and shouldn't have been a surprise to even a mildly educated public. I don't buy 'not-supporting-gay-marriage-isn't-attacking-it" for one second. If you look back at social norms over time, they seem just outright stupid the older they get. Women couldn't vote? It was a big deal that JFK was a Roman Catholic? Gay Marriage and this illusion that Muslims are awful and scary people, or that religion even carries weight (or should) in this country are just more things that our future population will look back on and mock us for being so primitive.
ReplyDeleteThere are more important things going on in our country, but I'll take slacktivism over inaction.
Dude, boycotting was just as organized. Everyone was calling for it, spreading the word, saying what they thought of people who weren't boycotting.
ReplyDeleteOh...and this entire movement to go to Chick-Fil-A and kiss someone of the same sex...planned before today's happening. With the kiss-in scheduled for tomorrow, Huckabee usurped them and planned the appreciation for today. Basically, again, I think it's clear what side demonstrated first.
But this is silly, and shouldn't be an issue at all.
To recap:
1.Chick Fil A and it's president can give money to whatever causes or charities they would like.
2.People have the right to respond by shopping there more or less for whatever reasons they like
3.If people would like to organize boycotts and say hateful things about Christians, that's their business.
4.If people would like to organize appreciation days and say hateful things about gay marriage that's their business.
5.The line is drawn when politicians start singling out businesses for having alternate political viewpoints. What's worse the line is drawn when a Chick Fil A has to close for a few hours due to bomb threats, as what happened today.
The fact that this has become an emotional issue for people is just...stunning. If you only ate at or shopped at places that agreed with you, you would be severely limited. If you only listened to music or watched entertainers with your viewpoint, you'd spend a lot of time in the dark.
Tolerance is recognizing that as misguided as you believe someone's opinion is, you recognize it's perfectly O.K. for them to have.
Opinions in and of themselves cannot hurt you unless you let them. If you let them, it's your own damn fault.
Jared, Slacktivism is doing nothing or doing little and acting like that will change everything. Remember the KONY campaign a bit ago? THAT is CLASSIC slacktivism. In this case you voted with your dollars. Good. So did I. I don't consider that slacktivism.
ReplyDeleteI agree this shouldn't be an issue. But it has become so. That is the reality, twisted as it is. I am prepared to live and let live, but this CFA seems to have attained symbolic status so now the issue is much more than it was before. Who was moving first is irrelevant considering who actually struck first. And even that is secondary to the fact that now people have, as a friend put it, started waving their battle standards.
ReplyDeleteThis is all remarkable and sad and i want it to go away, but I don't see it without some nastiness ahead. I condone none of it, but it almost seems inevitable no?
My contention was that you seemed to say only one side was guilty of attacking and hate thus far. Clearly this has not been limited to one side.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, nastiness isn't inevitable. This will die down. Likely, quickly. My God, the Aurora shootings are almost out of the public consciousness already. Justin Bieber will get a hair cut, and all of this will go away. Supporters won't be able to keep up a 7 day a week ChickFilA diet, and detractors won't be able to avoid the nuggets forever. Likely the bottom line won't change. In fact, I hope it doesn't.
But ultimately what we are talking about are two sides taking an opinion way too seriously. Two sides both acting intolerant, and screaming that intolerance is actually from the other. Two sides that simply cannot recognize that they really shouldn't be trying to control the others' lives. That what this is all about isn't it? I disagree with you so YOU should be made to change.
It's silly; it's overemotional; it's foolish; and letting it "hurt" or allowing it to be an issue only exists because people let it. I mean tonight I read someone who attacked supporters for smiling. SMILING. For posing with bags of food. For espousing their freedom of religion and speech. And because they weren't agreed with, the author was actually HURT by this. Sickened even. The author allowed smiling people with bags of chicken and viewpoints he found silly to actually impact him physically In fact here is the quote:
"I was appalled as I saw many, many pictures of people posing for pictures with huge smiles on their faces, holding up their Chick-Fil-A bag and spewing some empty-headed nonsense about supporting “Christian values” or “protecting freedom of speech.” These pictures are openly mocking and deeply hurtful. "
Seems silly no?
in a vacuum it absolutely is. However I don't operate in a vacuum, none of us do. Typically I would let them have their silliness and let it be. It bothers me little. But here those smiles, those bags were openly mocking something that is very painful. Maintaining the status quo for them changes nothing. Maintaining the status quo for the other side means a life as a second-class citizen. It seems the struggle then is a bit unbalanced. And the smiling pictures would have even been tolerable without all the mocking captions. Thats what tipped me. The mocking of the dreams of an entire population.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you feel the same way about pro-choice people who have the advantage in the status quo while others' watch what they perceive as the killing of innocent babies...
ReplyDeleteThe problem here is simple: you have a bias. And when you came to write about it you didn't and the idiocy of your side to your list of complaints. To you, because you agree with them, their actions are justified. The opponents however did not show up to celebrate their beliefs and ideals...they did it to mock and to scorn.
Bless the occupiers. The tea partiers are all racists. Yeah, I get it.
I like you Gus, seriously, I've thought about approaching you about jobs. But you lack perspective here, and I feel that it's because you are surrounded by like minded individuals, all whom probably do not explore issues as deeply as you do to begin with, so they aren't about to offer a counter point.
And Bodack, who looks adorable in his tin foil hat.
I'm not saying not to support gay marriage. Personally I DON'T in the sense that I don't support ANY government marriage. Frankly, none of this would be an issue if government wasn't in the picture at all.
But if marriage is in the picture, then yes, gays can get married too. I am also fine with polygamists. Heck, you can marry your sister. Or a cow. I really don't care what you do with your private life as long as you aren't harming anyone else.
And smiling with bags of chicken isn't harming anyone else. No matter how pointed the caption might be. You don't have to look.
And boycotting a fast food chain isn't harming anyone else, at least not to the point where it supersedes one's privileges as a consumer. Businesses and their employees might be harmed, but businesses all succeed and fail for various reasons, and you choose where you work, so boycott on. There is nothing wrong with that.
But you are reaching here. You are looking for ways to justify your own bias, your own intolerance. And I don't think you'll have anyone around you to point it out. You're welcome ;-)
But until you are able to gain the realization that your bias is causing you to change reality and until you are able to step back and offer a true and fair opinion on these matters, you will continue to only preach to the choir.
(As far as I've heard) there have only been a few limited actual wrong doings in the entire Chick-Fil-A case. Government coercion and intimidation against a private business, and a bomb threat. These are not going to help sway independent thinkers. These are going to be harmful to the cause of same sex marriage. These are setting back a cause you strongly believe in.
THAT's what should be offending you. THAT's what you should be writing about.