Friday, August 3, 2012

I think I'll stick to beef and pork the next few days

I'm a bit burned out on the Chick-Fil-A controversy right now, to the point where I'm not sure I want to see any chicken regardless of where it comes from right now.  To be honest, there's a part of me that's frustrated that August 1 is now two days in the past and the Facebook posts, tweets, and blog posts[1] seem to be going ahead full steam.

Yep, this is looking
real good right now.
I'm also frustrated by the ignorance displayed by some of the people still talking about controversy.  People are still pushing the meme that this is about free speech and Dan Cathy's right to say he's opposed to marriage equality.  This just demonstrates that they've been listening to the soundbites a lot of people have been spreading around and haven't dug[2] more deeply into the issue to learn about the kind of organizations Cathy funnels corporate money into or the kinds of things those organizations do to actively hurt a dehumanize LGBT people.  You know, if people choose to still patronize Chick-Fil-A, I find that hurtful.  I'll get over it, though.  The fact that they haven't taken the time to learn why LGBT people are upset and have simply bought into the "freedom of speech" meme that's floating around hurts much worse and is going to take a lot longer to get over.

I think what really hurt the most is when a friend -- a friend who is very much pro-equality, no less -- offered her opinion on the subject on Facebook.  It was clear that she had bought into the "freedom of speech" meme.  That hurt the most.  Strangers who don't bother to figure out why I might be upset with a company is bad enough.  Friends who don't bother to ask me why I'm upset about something and just listen to what they happen to overhear on social media sites...Well, I'm working on forgiving her....

So yeah, I'm just sad and burned out.

Comment Moderation Note:  This is not an invitation to debate the politics or ethics of this boycott or supporting Chick-Fil-A.  Comments that do so will be deleted.  Commenters who attempt to do so more than once shall find themselves in Tartarus (i.e. banned).  Feel free to talk about how this controversy has affected you on a personal level, but try to keep the focus there.  There are plenty of other places you can argue over whether boycotts are effective, whether LGBT people should be boycotting other companies, or even whether a person can still eat at Chick-Fil-A without being "a hater."  If that's what you want to talk about, please go to one of those other places.  I will not be offended.  I will be grateful.  And you won't find yourself in danger of going to Tartarus.



[1]Okay, I'm a little more tolerant of the blog posts, as some of them are really good in that they are nuanced and tend to explore the subject in interesting ways rather than simply being brief moments of outrage and indicative that the speaker is pretty much ignorant of the details of the controversy.

[2]And before anyone asks, I'm not going to explain those things to you.  Nor am I going to provide links.  Quite frankly, there are plenty of LGBT bloggers -- and bloggers who are allies -- who have posted everything I could possibly say on the subject and have done a better job of it than I can.  If you really want to know "what all the fuss is about," Google is your friend.

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