(no subject)

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know how "Kiss In" day at CFA went today? I'm really not seeing much coverage of it locally, and the one national story only mentioned a store outside Decatur, GA which had a "few dozen" people who showed up (complete with signs stating they weren't there to buy anything...but maybe they got some free water). I'd just like to know how it went in comparison to the "support" day, which apparently overflowed into Thursday locally.

Comments

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I was curious about this as well. I went to check it out in my city, but there was nothing. (At least, around 2PM when I was there.)

[kelincihutan.livejournal.com]

I went there for supper and didn't see anything remarkable enough to notice from the drive-through.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

The local news made a big honkin' deal of like 30 people who showed up at my closest CFA, which is in the middle of town. The restaurant provided them water and mints. When they did a live update at 7 p.m., it was a couple of teenage girls waving signs about inequality. That's it.

[mprice.livejournal.com]

I read a prediction that this would be as successful as the Occupy reboot this spring. When I mentioned that to my son, he replied, "What reboot?"

Exactly.

Even the Left's protests are suffering an enthusiasm gap. This November is going to be a bloodbath for the Dems.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

This November is going to be a bloodbath for the Dems.

I sure hope so. Figuratively/metaphorically speaking, of course. (Just in case any trolls are trolling.)

[kc-anathema.livejournal.com]

Some, but not much. There isn't much point in irritating people who just work there only to make a spectacle of oneself. There's better uses for that kind of energy.

*edit* Actually, I found some extra stuff after a few hours. Nashua Chick-fil-A owner backing gay pride festival (http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/969938-196/nashua-chick-fil-a-sponsors-gay-pride-festival-hundreds.html), which is only one franchise owner, but he apparently does this each year and it just happened to coincide with the whole kerfluffle, which makes me happier than if it was just a one-time event. More interesting to me were the allegations (http://www.salon.com/2012/08/03/chick_fil_a_too_sinful_to_fry_chicken/) that managers have wielded their authority over workers in ways that break the law: firing a Muslim for refusing to pray to Jesus; firing a manager so that she’d become a stay-at-home mom; and punishing workers for objecting to sexual harassment. Add in the allegations that the national headquarters abetted this behavior and this is an issue I'll be paying attention to for awhile to see what's true and what's not.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

I could at best see the Cathy family maybe not caring if such things happened, but they are well-known in Atlanta for being conscientious. Therefore I don't see national headquarters abetting the issues at all. I'll bet the majority of the allegations won't stand; those that do will be proven to be isolated incidents by an overzealous manager or franchise owner.

[kc-anathema.livejournal.com]

I'd rather wait and see before I come to a judgment on either side.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Certainly, but prior knowledge of the Cathy family influences me. Isolated incidents? Sure, happens at every company in some form or another. The Cathy family abetting it? I just...can't see it. Not so long as Truett is at the helm.

[kc-anathema.livejournal.com]

I think it's a mistake to conflate the upper echelons of the company with the family, where the franchises may do something and national management facilitates it, possibly in a corporate atmosphere that is hostile to what is considered immoral. In any case, regardless of my thoughts about the family's positions, it's something that was highlighted during this mess and involves several cases I want to keep my eye on in the future.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Certainly, but prior knowledge of the Cathy family influences me. Isolated incidents? Sure, happens at every company in some form or another. The Cathy family abetting it? I just...can't see it. Not so long as Truett is at the helm.


Also, even if the Cathy family was inclined to do stuff like that; they legally can't. Sure, there are ways to cover it up. But if they have an unofficial policy of encouraging this sort of thing, surely they would have been hit with some HUGE lawsuits by now. Especially since their company has been under the left's microscope long before this incident made the news.

[thekindone.livejournal.com]

There isn't much point in irritating people who just work there only to make a spectacle of oneself.

But making their lives a living hell of non-stop work for a day is preferred?

[thekindone.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the second comment, too quick on the post button.

...which makes me happier than if it was just a one-time event.

I'm don't understand what you mean by this, could you expand on it?

[kc-anathema.livejournal.com]

I certainly am not a fan of the 'day of appreciation' zerg rush that the ChickFilA supporters brought down on the employees. I also find annoying that if the gay protestors had been loudly flamboyant and arrived in droves, they would have been accused of harassment, but because it was low key (and because a lot of us don't feel like parading ourselves like that, I'd wager) it was instead ridiculed as having no support.

What I meant is that the franchise restaurant in question regularly takes part in their local Pride Fest, and that this one didn't just take part this year, but that it's a yearly thing. Not just a one time protest, but an ongoing expression of support.

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

Well, technically if they were not paying customers they literally had no business being there at all; their actions with the signs, boomboxes, and large numbers of people could easily disrupt business and disturb current customers while deterring others and thus be considered harassment. At least with the "support day" the people coming onto the property intended to do business there rather than simply loiter. If the support is there, the supporters could easily have hung out across the street or whatever to show their "numbers." I think people saw the writing on the wall and recognized that the "support day" was less about supporting Chick Fil A or a specific viewpoint and more about supporting the First Amendment, so by contrast it made the event on Friday seem much more out of the mainstream.

I think this thing probably would've blown-over quickly had the politicians not involved themselves. Those mayors "speaking out" (I really hate that phrase) to say that a business that didn't gel with their political opinions isn't welcome in "their" cities amounted to gasoline on what had been a small fire.

[kc-anathema.livejournal.com]

Loitering is not the same as protesting, and given the largely uneventful nature of what little protesting did occur, with one restaurant even providing free refreshments to the kiss-in, I wouldn't characterize it as harassment at all, and my original point still stands. Had there been a massive outpouring, the kissers would have been vilified. It was a lose/lose scenario, and those who came up with this protest should have put more thought into it.

[kelincihutan.livejournal.com]

I agree that the politicians really blew this up (so, situation: normal, really). The whole "boycott Chick-fil-A!" thing has been ongoing for a while now. At least a year, I think. And people have known. It's not as if it was a secret or anything. And nobody's said anything about it because boycotting is a totally legit form of protest. Yay, capitalism, blah, blah, blah. It was only when the city mayors decided to try and use political muscle in an arena where political muscle is verbotten that things went bananas.

[danamulder.livejournal.com]

Well, these reports were about what I expected.

For too long, the right has either been too lazy or too complacent to be the squeaky wheel, letting the leftist nuts get all the attention. So I was happy to see on Wednesday that they were finally pulling together. Even if it was just to eat a chicken sandwich. I honestly believe as far as marriage and free speech go, there are more of us than there are of them. They've just been screaming so much louder all along, trying to trick people into thinking the opposite. We showed them with the silly fast food, now let's get serious at the polls this fall.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Stood by with bail money in case any friends of mine needed it. They didn't. *shrugs* Seemed peaceful enough.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I don't see why anyone would need bail money. The protestors were planning to make out; not have public orgies.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

It's just Atlanta cops. They're pretty corrupt, no matter what county you're in. You get all sorts of shenanigans.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I live in California and there's a CFA a few blocks from my workplace. I didn't see any signs of a protest going on there.

Honestly, I want to believe that most of the lefties who are hating on CFA have the compassion to realize that the employees toiling for minimum wage don't deserve to be bothered at work because of their boss' views. ESPECIALLY after this guy (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/totally-heterosexual-anti-chick-fil-a-tough-guy-fired-for-bullying-drive-thru-girl/) gained internet infamy for berating a teenage girl working the CFA drive-thru.

[dustybinx.livejournal.com]

What an ass.

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this was in Tucson (even Arizona has its "liberal island city" and Tucson is it) but the guy was basically insta-fired by his company for doing this to the poor girl, so there was "justice" so to speak.

[ladylynx.livejournal.com]

People like him turn liberals into conservatives.

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

It totally flopped, from what I've read, seen, and heard. Nothing happened in my city - no news reports or anything.

[lilliew.livejournal.com]

Per a Hot Air post, I think this sums it up:

"However, for the Kiss-In protest organizers, this is a humiliating defeat. They should have shelved this idea after seeing the overwhelming turnout on Wednesday, knowing that they could never hope to approach that level of support. The juxtaposition of these two protests made very clear which view is mainstream, and which view is fringe — another lesson that Menino and Emanuel should heed."

I think many people missed the fact that this was about more about freedom of speech and supporting traditional marriage, not "anti" anything. .

And it's a stark contrast between peaceful patient people standing in lines for hours to support a business on Appreciation Day versus the exhibitionism of the Kiss In Day that no one really cared about and then the vandalism and hate toward Chickfila. We all know who won this battle and it was Chick-Fila, who will no doubt get ongoing great business and support out of this.

And the liberals and Democrats should be very afraid if the same amount of support shows up to vote in November for Republicans.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest news about the Kiss-In was that one of the Chick-Fila's had to call cops on... media! Apparently reporters were interrupting workers from doing their job with all the stupid questions :D

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

And that's funny! So amused.

[kelincihutan.livejournal.com]

Best ever. I love it.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Now THAT'S funny!