Going to eat at Chick Fil A today page 11

[noodletoy]

have never eaten in a chick-a-whatsis and only recently saw on the news that there are any in my state. why mouth off about boycotting a place i have never been, nor will ever go? i do try to speak with my wallet and spend my dollars locally. i shop in the local markets, we don't go to wal-mart and we frequent locally-owned places for food and entertainment. i realize that is easier in my area than in some others.

the mucky-mucks of any company are as entitled to freedom of speech as those of us here. that being said, this company actively donates many millions of company dollars to anti-gay groups. some businesses may donate $$$ to both republicrats and demicans to grease both sides of the wheel, i don't see the chicken peeps writing checks like that.

i live in the first state to allow gay marriage. the horsemen of the apocalypse have not yet galloped through the commonwealth nor has it rained locusts. hetero-marriages aren't collapsing. BUT hundreds of millions of dollars have been pumped into the economy through this new sector of people in love who hope to be together forever.

a few weekends ago, i attended the wedding of some lesbian friends. another guest and i were actually crying over the fact that we all are lucky enough to live someplace where that day could come to pass.

[Blackcatbone]

But is it not Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to support organizations that want to lobby congress for religious laws? You can't have it both ways if your going to arbitrarily throw everything under the sun into a generic pile of rights and freedoms. It seems to me that you would also like to restrict Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to engage in this activity, because of a political opinion.

CFA absolutely has a right to support whatever they want. They DON'T have a right to do so without people calling them on it.

As for the petroleum/gas comment, you have the obvious point that avoiding such products is difficult in today's society. But it still boils down to the root point, convenience over conviction. It's easy for you (or any hypothetical person) to boycott Chick-fil-A because there are a myriad of fast food joints to choose from. The gasoline example, while extreme, was meant to make a much simpler point; that one can boycott a shitty fast food restaurant, self-righteously pat themselves on the back and then declare themselves a civil rights leader. But oops, nothing was really accomplished.

Still a ridiculous position. Basically you're saying that no one should boycott anything unless they boycott everything. This strikes me as self-righteous apathy.

[onalark]

But is it not Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to support organizations that want to lobby congress for religious laws? You can't have it both ways if your going to arbitrarily throw everything under the sun into a generic pile of rights and freedoms. It seems to me that you would also like to restrict Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to engage in this activity, because of a political opinion.

You're erecting a strawman. No one in this thread has said they don't have the right to say or donate where they want to. We're just saying we don't have to support their bigoted, wrong-headed, hateful behavior.

[Uncephalized]

But is it not Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to support organizations that want to lobby congress for religious laws? You can't have it both ways if your going to arbitrarily throw everything under the sun into a generic pile of rights and freedoms. It seems to me that you would also like to restrict Chick-fil-A's "freedom" to engage in this activity, because of a political opinion.

Not once have I expressed the opinion that I don't think CFA should be allowed to use their money in any way they see fit, nor have I suggested or insinuated that I think any legal action should be taken against the corporation or any of its employees, owners or executives. I said exactly the opposite, in fact, so I have no idea where this came from. Not giving them my money and encouraging others not to give them theirs is not restricting their freedom of expression in any way.

As for the petroleum/gas comment, you have the obvious point that avoiding such products is difficult in today's society. But it still boils down to the root point, convenience over conviction. It's easy for you (or any hypothetical person) to boycott Chick-fil-A because there are a myriad of fast food joints to choose from. The gasoline example, while extreme, was meant to make a much simpler point; that one can boycott a shitty fast food restaurant, self-righteously pat themselves on the back and then declare themselves a civil rights leader. But oops, nothing was really accomplished.

No one is declaring themselves anything. Boycotting a restaurant is not a radical political move, it's a simple, small decision that makes a correspondingly small difference. I was arguing that it is unreasonable to hold people to standards of consistency that would require them to give up their livelihoods; to normal human beings putting food on the table, etc. is more important than ideological purity, especially where there are responsibilities to dependents and/or a real lack of viable alternatives. You want to fault people for not being moralistic robots disinterested in the personal consequences of their decisions, and I don't.

[Nicator]

Back when I was a teenager growing up in Virginia in the 80s, a few of us got together and started a gay youth group. We first started meeting in what was essentially an abandoned building because no one else would have us. The local gay paper gave us a small ad each month and I volunteered to put my phone number for a contact number in it. I wasn't prepared for it. Not at all. One of the phone calls a 17yo was calling telling me that his dad, who was "general patton", saw something on the news about "those gays" and said that he would wish his son was dead than one of "them". As he was talking I heard this faint metallic sound and I finally figured it out and just yelled at him to put the revolver down. Kinda startled him cause he did. He's still around, started coming to meetings, but there was another one that called me I didn't manage to talk off the ledge. When reading about it in the paper, I was the only person that knew why he shot himself with a shotgun. I was the only person he ever told. Still haunts me to this day.

So yeah dude, oh really. In my own lifetime, in my own experience, someone I knew picked up a shotgun and shot himself in the face because he couldn't handle all the homophobic BS handed out to him over and over and over from folks like the ones you see queued up to get their frakkin chicken.

For y'all, it's just your opinion. In this day and age, just one more thing to argue about on the internet pretending you have any bloody clue what you are talking about with your fine talking points or your political arguments hashed out yet again. To the kid growing up back where I come from, watching TV with his family, watching the bigots queue up to get their chicken to make a point about their bigotry pretending it's about "Freedom" and hearing his dad say "if it was my son..." I'm telling you it's yes really a matter of life and death.

I survived, but I paid a price. When I appeared in a newspaper my family tossed me out and I had to make it on my own as a teen instead of going to college. I had to wait until I was past the age they had to count my father's income before I could get any sort of financial aid because my father refused to fill out the paperwork. Or answer the phone. Or letters. Or Christmas cards. Or even come to my college graduation. I've given up.

So go queue up for your chicken and pretend you are doing it for "freedom". One friend from those youth group days posted today "I don't think you're a bigot because you eat at Chick-fil-A. I think you're an asshole because you're bragging about it." and that's how I started off when I saw that thread. But no, I'm just gonna say that if you actually got into your car and queued up for your chicken just to make a point, then yeah, wear that bigot badge proudly. Just remember: when some get gets bullied, beaten up or kills himself, you helped make that happen.

The fellow that I quoted equivocated participating in a democracy with murdering people. I take no joy in your life's difficulties, but if you, too, feel that someone who uses the political system to opposes same-sex marriage is a murderer, you too are full of shit.

[kiran trivedi]

My simple rule of thumb for 25+ years: if there are more than three restaurants in a given chain, you can bet donuts to dollars that they are selling you the most compromised (cheapest) food they can get away with legally. IOW, if it's a franchise, don't eat there.

Safe stance but there are some exceptions, you still have to watch what you get as sides are usually the worst part. I do love me some culvers cheese curds though.

[kenn]

My simple rule of thumb for 25+ years: if there are more than three restaurants in a given chain, you can bet donuts to dollars that they are selling you the most compromised (cheapest) food they can get away with legally. IOW, if it's a franchise, don't eat there.

In & out?

[Uncephalized]

In & out?

In n Out actually isn't a franchise, all the locations are directly owned by the family that started the restaurant. That's partly why they are expanding so slowly out of the CA area.

[Freshy]

The fellow that I quoted equivocated participating in a democracy with murdering people. I take no joy in your life's difficulties, but if you, too, feel that someone who uses the political system to opposes same-sex marriage is a murderer, you too are full of shit.

No he didn't. He simply stated that promoting a discriminatory act leads to bad things happening to people. Cars lined up around the corner to eat at CFL makes it a heck of a lot easier for asshats to beat/shun/ridicule with a clear conscious other human beings just because of who they chose to love. Are you denying this to be true? What exactly is the good that your "Democratic" opposition to SSM is bringing the World by the way?

[kenn]

In n Out actually isn't a franchise, all the locations are directly owned by the family that started the restaurant. That's partly why they are expanding so slowly out of the CA area.

I know it's fast food, I wasn't aware of their ownership methods. I used to eat there quite a bit. They have an unwritten rule if you don't have money they'll feed you for free/