Well, The World Polarizes Just A Bit More
In my mailbox today is a press release some firm in town called Spectrum Experience. This press release begins:
The Tempe-based communications firm, Spectrum Experience, released an email statement yesterday informing clients the firm will no longer work with companies, candidates or causes that are unwilling to publicly state: Black lives matter. Spectrum works with dozens of political candidates and legislators in Arizona, as well as nonprofits and corporations throughout the US; the firm said it does not wish to provide communications support to these clients if they shield White supremacy.
Hmm. I am pretty sure that the specific phrase "Black lives matter" has become loaded with a lot of political baggage such that failing to entirely endorse it is not the same as shielding white supremacy. Sort of like refusing to say "I'm with Her" is not really the same as shielding misogyny. But I will say that this is beautifully representative of the flavor of politics today. One wonders how a company that claims on its website to "craft innovative strategies for companies, causes, and campaigns dedicated to changing the world" does so while refusing to engage with anyone who disagrees with them.
My take on BLM is here, which is critical of it as I share many of their goals but think their tactics have devolved into unproductive virtue-signaling at the expense of actual progress (sort of exactly like this email).
Mercury:
What if a gay couple, who is unwilling to publicly state the BLM oath of allegiance, wants to hire Spectrum Experience to handle communications services and logistics for their big, gay wedding?
Does the gay couple or the communications firm occupy the moral high ground here? What if there is a wedding cake involved? Does that change any of the above calculations?
August 15, 2017, 10:23 amThe_Big_W:
The more damning part of the signaling that SJW's and its affiliated groups are demanding, it that neither individualism, nor the treatment of human beings as individuals will be allowed. That is to be treated as a completely unacceptable evil.
I believe that is the root of some of the new attacks on libertarians by the left. Those libertarians stand in the way of bucketing all people into groups to be judged on the base most general stereotypes of those groups.
Make no mistake this is divide and conquer, people like this company, BLM and heck the whole of the new post Hillary Democrat party, want nothing less than to purge from society those who do not spout exactly the groupthink that is demanded.....
August 15, 2017, 11:56 amThe_Big_W:
That ones easy. The gay couple who won't support BLM are both Uncle Tom's betraying their movement and are to be excommunicated from the SJWs.
August 15, 2017, 11:58 amjimc5499:
You are not too far off. Several years ago, a company that I worked for sent me to school for engineering. One of our engineers was assigned to me as a mentor. Roger was about 10 years younger than me and was one of the smartest people that i have ever met. Roger was also Black. He was married and had two children. His parents lived in the neighborhood where he grew up. He would not take his children to visit his parents, he would bring his parents to see his children. The reason that he did this is because his old neighborhood considered him a sell out for making a success of himself. He was actually afraid that people in his old neighborhood would do something to his children.
August 15, 2017, 12:25 pmprincewally:
Small world. I used to date one of the proprietors.
This statement won't cut into their business in any way. They work with firmly left-of-center clients only.
August 15, 2017, 3:25 pmbobby_b:
So how do we find a client list and inform those listed that we will do no business with anyone that hires SE?
August 15, 2017, 5:30 pmjohnmoore:
It's ironic - the left is building walls.
August 15, 2017, 8:21 pmJTW:
Even better, what if they order a homosexual wedding cake from them and they refuse?
August 15, 2017, 9:43 pmNever mind that they're not a bakery, refusing to provide a homosexual wedding cake on demand is a thought crime...
JTW:
yup, calling him a "betrayer" for "working for the white man".
August 15, 2017, 9:46 pmIt's sick, but that's sadly all too common among black and muslim communities. Of course for muslims it's actually against their religion to associate with any unbeliever except as a means of deceipt in order to undermine the enemy.
MSO:
In Gunsmoke, Matt Dillion would guard the jail against these lynch mobs.
August 15, 2017, 11:18 pmNehemiah:
I wonder if they came up with that catchy slogan for BLM, "Pigs in a blanket, Fry em like bacon."
August 16, 2017, 6:16 amcc:
What is particularly worrisome is the recent announcement that web hosting services are refusing to host white supremacist sites. Of course they will host BLM sites that say white people and cops should be killed, or communist sites, or antifa organizing sites aimed at shutting down all rallies of Trump etc. Business should strictly keep to business. I would actually cut spectrum experience some slack since they are acting as a voice for political groups. But Google? No. hands off. Youtube and Twitter have been canceling accounts. Facebook monitors politics. This gets really bad because antifa in Portland declared that a parade including Republicans (nazis) could not go on without disruption and no MAGA hats allowed. So these people seriously want to censor the majority party in the country and prevent rallies for the president.
August 16, 2017, 7:56 amFrognot:
I suppose the following would fail their exacting standards:
August 16, 2017, 11:28 pmBlack lives matter,
Purple lives matter,
Red lives matter,
Yellow lives matters,
Robot lives matter,
Hell, even white lives /might/ matter...