Monday, July 30, 2012

Chick-Fil-A?

[The Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, an author of Proposition 8]

The homosexuals and their partisans have good reason to be wroth with Chick-Fil-A, a chain of fried chicken fastfood-eries.  The CEO of the company is a hard-core religious zealot opponent of homosexual marriage and presumably of other forms of acceptance of homosexuals as full members of society, such as holding office, serving in the military, and so on.


There have been declarations of boycott, picketing, and anathema, usually reserved for only the most defiant of political enemies.


There was a similar but more muted reaction to the Mormon Church for its sponsorship and funding of Proposition 8, in which California voters declared that only heterosexual marriages were valid.  


Considering that Chick-Fil-A is a moderate-sized fast food corporation whereas the Mormon Church is a colossus by comparison, the relative silence about the homophobia of the Church of Latter Day Saints seems odd.


Even odder is the deafening silence about the identical condemnation of homosexual marriage by the local Catholic Church.  The Bishop of Oakland, Salvatore Cordileone, was recently promoted to Archbishop of San Francisco.  


The new Archbishop of San Francisco is not just a supporter of Proposition 8, he was one of its principal authors.  He said at a recent press conference, "Marriage can only come about through the embrace of a man and a woman coming together," he said. "I don't see how that is discriminatory against anyone."


Compare the fulminations, boycott, and picketing against Chick-Fil-A with the pro forma denunciations but nothing else against the Catholic Church in San Francisco.


The nearest Chick-Fil-A restaurant is in Santa Rosa, 56 miles away.  On the other hand, more than half the population of San Francisco identify as Roman Catholic.  


Could it be that the leaders of the homosexual marriage movement are more willing to vilify homophobes with little or no power and less willing to confront those with lots of power?  It would seem so.


The national and congressional elections have shown us time and again that people involved in national politics are shameless self-serving weasels.  The near-passes given to the San Francisco Archdiocese and the Mormon Church as compared to the rabid attacks on Chick-Fil-A, tells us that local progressive politicians are no better.  


It is hard not to find the disparity of treatment in the difference between the power of the antagonists.  Chick-Fil-A is a modest-sized corporation with no stores in San Francisco.  The Roman Catholic Church has 400,000 adherents in San Francisco.  


I believe the practice of beating up someone small and weak, while avoiding someone big and powerful pretty much defines the bully and coward, no?






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5 comments:

  1. Jack, Jack, Jack,

    There is a big difference between the Catholic Church and Chick-Fil-A. The Church is in the morality business, it has a long history in its set of beliefs, no one is surprised by their stand on gay marriage. Policy is set in Rome, protesting against them is futile. Chick-Fil-A on the other hand is in the chicken business. IF they support measures against gay and Lesbian issues they support them with money. If enough people put pressure on them,they will do what is good for business and get out of the morality business and stick to chicken. And the pressure must be working. The head of PR at chick-fil-a just died suddenly of a heart attack. Save your protest for where it will do some good. The Catholic Church? No way. Chick-Fil-A? You might just make a difference.

    By the way, Chick-Fil-A is might tasty, but not as good a Bake Shop Betty's.

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  2. They only use lily white, deep Christian chickens boiled in holy water for their sandwiches.

    Enjoy.

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  3. Tactics vs. strategy? But is that really the difference? The majority of California voters voted for Proposition 8, which means that the same attitudes as those of the CEO of Chick-Fil-A are everywhere in the state, more than half as common as people. Most of the people in California are common indeed and there are a lot of them as well. So why not go after everyone in the state?

    The difference is only that Chick-Fil-A outed themselves about their homophobia. If the homosexuals succeed in their campaign against Chick-Fil-A for outing themselves, the state will be divided between closet homosexuals and closet homophobes. Which would actually be pretty funny if it did not involve people's actual lives.

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  4. And must I mention that a) Betty's is on 4th Street and therefore elitist by definition, and b) that pointing out that homosexuals prefer better food, more tastefully prepared, than heterosexual people feeds directly into a stereotype, and that that stereotype is c) true?

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  5. Betty's Ocean View Cafe is on 4th Street. Bake Shop Betty's is on Telegraph across from Genova. They mainly sell chicken sandwiches. You eat on the street on ironing boards. The food and experience is amazing. Try it, it is not elitist.

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