Dox47 wrote:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/should-businesses-that-quietly-oppose-gay-marriage-be-destroyed/389489/
Quote:
What do white evangelicals, Muslims, Mormons, blacks, conservative Republicans, and immigrants from Africa, South America, and Central America all have in common? They're less likely to support gay marriage than the average Californian. Over the years, I've patronized restaurants owned by members of all those groups. Today, if I went out into Greater Los Angeles and chatted up owners of mom-and-pop restaurants, I'd sooner or later find one who would decline to cater a gay wedding. The owners might be members of Rick Warren's church in Orange County. Or a family of immigrants in Little Ethiopia or on Olvera Street. Or a single black man or woman in Carson or Inglewood or El Segundo.
Should we destroy their livelihoods?
If I recorded audio proving their intent to discriminate against a hypothetical catering client and I gave the audio to you, would you post it on the Internet and encourage the general public to boycott, write nasty reviews, and drive them out of business, causing them to lay off their staff, lose their life savings, and hope for other work? If that fate befell a Mormon father with five kids or a childless Persian couple in their fifties or a Hispanic woman who sunk her nest egg into a pupusa truck, should that, do you think, be considered a victory for the gay-rights movement?
But they are the ones who started by saying they would refuse business to gay people. Then other people refuse to do business with them. When your business is reliant on customers it is part of your job not to alienate potential customers and make sure you have a decent public image.
Around here there is a store that decided to stop selling products from Israel, so they were boycotted by the pro-Israel crowd and maybe got a few more customers from the pro-Palestine crowd. It's a business decision. I personally prefer to buy stuff based on product and price regardless of who made it, but not everyone is a capitalist.
And another thing: the business that would've gone to the bigoted people in that article isn't gone, the money went to someone who was better able to have a decent public image (a non-bigot, or a bigot that keeps it to himself for business reasons).
05 Apr 2015, 8:06 am
