Yep. Only in America does patronage of a god damn fast food restaurant pass for political activism. It's really funny how many people were patting themselves on the back for it. Yeah, way to sacrifice yourself for what you believe in.
I sacrifice with them on occasional fridays as well, eating seafood platters and shrimp poboys like a glutton. I struggle but I do show god Im doing my part.
Gay Marraige doesn't bother me. To me, why not call it something else, like "civil unions" and move on? The gets everyone equal rights and protections under the law and doesn't trample on the traditional definition of marraige. This is more about semantics than anything else. As far as chick-fil-a is concerned, it is a bad business practice to affiliate yourself publicly with one political agenda or another because you immediately alienate a large chunk of your customer base. I am very outspoken on this forum but in my personal and business life I make a special point to never tip my hat one way or another. People will not come and by mattresses from me because I share their political beliefs but they sure as hell will refuse to shop with me if they disagree. Right now chick-fil-a and Dan Cathy are feeling pretty good about themselves but in a week or two when all the hoop-la settles down they will settle into the knowledge that half of their customer base is gone and the ones who agree with them cannot eat fast food chicken forever. I do respect anyone who is willing to stand up for what they believe in, whether I agree or not, and especially when that person understands the consequences of that stand might mean a hit to their pocketbook. Dan Cathy is a smart man and he knew when he made the comments that it would likely cost him.
You cannot be this naive. The attention span of most people can only be measured in nano seconds. When this hoop-la dies everyone will go on living there lives. Most American consumers could care less about the political leanings of the places they patron. Others are smart enough to realize that any sort of economic participation will ultimately result in their dollars going to things they don't agree with, and that boycotts are stupid and ineffective. I don't support gay marriage, nor do I support gay civil unions. Mostly, because I see no strong arguments for it. I can't wrap my head around the civil rights arguments they present. First of all, the two types of relationships aren't equal. The two partners in a gay relationship are not biologically compatible their union presents no benefit to society. The heterosexual union does provide a valuable benefit to society, the ability to continue. Marriages have a cost for society, and I don't think it is discriminatory to give benefits to the unions return the favor. I would also argue gay people aren't denied any rights based on anything aside from lifestyle choices. If a gay man or lesbian really wants to file married filing jointly they can marry someone from the opposite sex. They might be miserable, but the option is there for them. I think the ultimate solution is not to allow gay marriage, but to discontinue civil marriage all together. Replace it with a civil unions that any two (hell, or more) consenting adults can enter into. I don't think a sexual relationship has to exist for two people to enter into a civil contract. If two straight yuppie dudes , or a brother and sister want to enter into a civil union they should be allowed. My solution should satisfy everybody, except for the idiots who care what their relationship is called on a piece of paper and the bigots who actually want to oppress gays.
its not gonna hurt the business at all. my new york friends have wives that are really proud of themselves for caring about gay rights and they have facebook statuses talking about how much they care and i hate them. my friends ask me why i am not married and i want to ask them why they married dumb bitches who care about bullshit. in new york among my friends there is a tremendous amount of "look at me i care about gay crap!". i dont get this from my baton rouge friends.
i mean, i can imagine i would go there and think about the fact that i dont care about gay rights, and be pleased with myself for not caring and just enjoying my chicken sandwich, still kinda supporting them in the sense that i dont hold their views against them. but on tv i saw really long lines out the door. thats crazy. on a related note crowds of any kind are terrible and waiting in line at any restaurant is a nightmare. also in new york they say "waiting on line" instead of "in line".
It is not naive at all to think that if you piss off roughly 20 million Americans (gays and those who love them) you will not suffer from it.
