Lynch mob.

ShHHHhhh you'll make Blabby cry.

"Here's your organic kale, thanks for stopping by, not becoming a pedophile, are you?"

What could be more relaxing than shopping someplace like that?

There is no place like that, except Strawman's Emporium of Strawman Arguments. It's on McLoughlin.

I was conceived at a motel on McLoughlin. Maybe it was the Strawman Motel, gotta ask mom.

Money talks, bullshit shops at New Seasons.

We abhor your intolerance of our tolerance of intolerance! Cease your intolerant tolerance immediately!

We're tolerant except for the parts of us that are intolerant, and we just wish we were free to be intolerant all the time instead of just being intolerant after business hours--not that we would _be_ intolerant all the time, we just want to be _able to be_ intolerant, and we want our intolerant friends to be freely intolerant as much as they can tolerate being intolerant.

So please stop not tolerating us! We're starting to think our investors will stop tolerating us because you keep being so darned intolerant!

I'm sorry what?!, but a couple of years ago Marsha Strawman wrote a facebook post about how black teenagers on the MAX make her uncomfortable. All you are tasting in those blueberries is racism!

And now, I'm pretty sure we should all band together and invest a ton of energy and anger into ruining Strawman's business. I mean really work at it hard. Make it personal. Take it way to far. Because of what she said to her friends on Facebook. Seems totally in proportion.

Lynch Mob! Thought Police! Crusade! Boy, you libertarians sure are drama queens. Imagine the histrionics if some government entity actually involved itself somehow (which it hasn't and won't).

When have I ever purported to be a libertarian on this blog? I am not a libertarian.

I'm not advocating for this business or any other business to be able to discriminate. They've said they won't discriminate and we know that they haven't because they aren't even open yet.

I'm basically arguing that people are being dicks and need to chill the hell out and not turn into the very types of people you purport to hate.

The proper response to this woman is to roll your eyes and say "whatever crazy lady" and then go shop somewhere else. That is the proportional response. An intentional, organized campaign to harass and destroy her is not proportional. It looks like an attempt to stomp out people who "think wrong" as determined by... who exactly?

And what type of person researches this shit and makes a 7 minute You-Tube video in the first place? Someone who needs a life. This is a campaign started by shut-ins and followed by people with too much time on their hands.

Harrass? Destroy? Stomp Out? Like I said, drama queens.

Yes, the video producer has too much time on his hands. And perhaps anyone who keeps employing exaggerated and incredibly false anologies over and over in her defense on a message board has too much time on his hands, as well.

Destroy and stomp out:

https://www.facebook.com/BoycottMorelandFa…

I'd like to order a whiskey sour, but can I first see the voting records and Internet history of all your employees for the past 20 years?

You know what IS proportional? Comparing a boycott to hanging a person to death!

The person who made this video is an upstanding, contributing member of society and our community. He's the polar opposite of a shut-in. He did the research after hearing rumblings for months and stood up for what he believes in.

It is disturbing to me that so many people on both sides of this issue rely on insults and name-calling instead of reasoned arguments.

Of course their business isn't going to discriminate because it's illegal. Of course people are going to boycott their business because they have discriminatory ideologies despite the ability to enforce them because it's legal. It's a first amendment right. As long as no one is throwing bricks through windows or committing arson, both sides aren't doing anything wrong, from a legal standpoint.

Let's also keep in mind that a business is a power, no matter what size. The business owner, sure, can't discriminate against their customers, but they can fund organizations that push for those kinds of rights. And they do. If the community a business is in doesn't want that, they have every right to boycott. Just because boycotts aren't super common doesn't make them some kind of WMD of society; they're a completely appropriate tool for society and communities to use. It's just the idea of 'Not shopping somewhere' but with better awareness and solidarity.

A couple things continue to be mis-stated on this issue:

1) She said she thinks a business should have the RIGHT to discriminate. But that's different than saying a) she would discriminate, b) that discrimination is good, or c) that she's especially concerned with having that right for herself.

It's a technical point and a trap to some degree to talk about it, since most people don't have that sort of nuanced thinking. Yet there are lots of things that are legal but not moral. It's dangerous to start equating what's legal and what's moral. That's part of the problem: fundamentalist Christians trying to force their morality down gay people's throat with all kinds of real and pernicious repercussions.

A gay friend keeps making the point that if a fundamentalist Christian came into her cake shop and was asked to bake a cake honoring their son's gay conversion, she wouldn't want to have to say yes or be worried she was discriminating against someone's religion and subject to fines, etc. There is a real balance of rights to consider, which is why traditionally public accommodation law had to do with necessities and government services not all businesses.

2) I don't believe she said she thinks legalizing gay marriage will lead to bigamy and pedophilia. I think it was a more parallel slippery slope: that she believes legalizing gay marriage could lead to legalizing pedophilia and bigamy. It's similarly fallacious and a weak argument, but the moral content of it is not as bad. It's much worse to say that if we legalize gay marriage people are going to start becoming pedophiles than to say that if we legalize gay marriage, it sets a legal precedent that could lead to pedophilia being legalized. The latter is the whole "redefine marriage" argument that, while it has no basis in reality, isn't as bigoted as people want to make it sound.

This is what's so frustrating about something like this. Both sides just want to demonize and sensationalize the other side. I made the mistake of reading the Oregonian's comments on the story. It's just nastiness with no attempt to actually understand what the other side is saying.

Obviously there are going to be people that once you lay it out for them, they'll still be as vehement as they were before. Any variation from their narrow conception of what's right will be intolerable. But it'd be nice if the majority of people, especially those in the media, made understanding their first goal. Might not lead to as many clicks on dating service ads, though.

YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF LIBRARIANS!

there, i said it

Mrs Childs wrote MANY offensive things on public social media, then she is 'shocked' that the community is outraged..? Seriously, she is going into customer service - maybe expressing / sharing your hateful opinions isn't the best idea. Sure, she has a right to do that.. but, I also have a right not contribute to her bank account. No, I do not know the views of all shop owners, most of them do not feel the need to say nasty things on a public forum. It's lovely that she is trying to 'make peace' now,.. but honestly with posts like her "lesson on irony.. the government not wanting us to feed wild animals in our national parks, but we are handing out welfare" (not an exact quote, but very close) and the a little 'cartoon' that equates making a cake for a gay marriage with honoring a baking request from the KKK.. You can say we are a 'lynch mob' all you want - but this make most of in the neighborhood sad, we were looking forward to going to the new Moreland Market .... now, I am just peacefully not shopping there when it opens.

If you believe in taking other peoples rights away,you should be destroyed.They,and thier rotten business will never exist in Portland-no matter what it takes.GET THEM!

I see the agents provocateurs have begun to appear.

Is the Red & Black Cafe still discriminating against gay and lesbian police officers?

You could always shop at New Seasons. Just ask for the "Marriage Equality pork" or the "Gender-bias-free kale." They keep that stuff in the back. It was raised or grown by the sweet freckled and dimpled hippies you see at the farmer's market. Make sure at check-out to let them know that you don't want any of your money going to their 69% owner, Endeavour Capital, since they give lots of money to the Republican party. They'll just put a little sticky note on it and put it aside. You gotta keep your money out of the hands of homophobes.
http://gangsteroffood.com/?p=1000