The Day I ‘Chickened Out’, and why I’m proud of it

Sorryless48 Comments

Chick fil A

I’m not much for extreme stances, seeing as how it’s difficult to abide by such things with any degree of magnanimity. Taking a stand on something is easy, following through is the sticky part of the label. But there are some things to which I am unwavering, mostly.

Take for instance the fact I haven’t stepped foot inside of a Chick-fil-A in years. As it turns out, almost six years. I googled CEO Dan Cathy because I couldn’t remember when he made his gay marriage comments and it turns out that all happened back in June of 2012. ‘Chicken-Gate’ doesn’t feel that long ago. That’s my affectionate term for Cathy’s piety party as it relates to same sex marriages.

If you forget what Cathy said way back then, here’s an excerpt.

I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, “We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage”. I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.

Listen, I do not give a great good fuck what Cathy thinks of gay people, gay marriage, rainbows or the show Will and Grace. I just don’t think it’s cool that Cathy, who presides over the most successful fast food operation in the country- a business whose annual revenue exceeded 8 billion dollars in 2016- needs to be playing come hither with all the holier than thou Huckabees out there who wear their beliefs on their lapels.

Biggoty

Here’s the thing. Cathy’s business is getting ‘ching from plenty of gay people. He made it a point to damn their way of living and loving but he’ll gratefully accept their moola. Then his company takes that gay people money and donates a portion of it to organizations who basically see homosexuality as a sickness- like cancer- which needs to be eradicated in the name of God.

Add to this the fact that Cathy’s same sex marriage statements happened inside a national election year, and you’re left wondering what he stood to gain from such a pious stance. Were his statements genuine or manipulative? Either way, it was wrong of him to make his personal feelings public, thereby alienating a segment of consumers who really dig his product.

So I stopped going. Just like that. Six years later I do not regret my decision one bit(e).

If you were waiting for my but . . . here it is. I have partaken of the stuff on two occasions since my decision not to step foot in their doors. Call me a hypocrite if you like, and maybe I am. I like to think that if I lawyer up my laymen, I can ‘splain how my brief and limited interaction with the chicken king did not affect my boycott. A top five? I’ll try.

5- I didn’t step foot in the doors- Interaction with a retail establishment often results in impetuous behavior. Like when you go into Target for deodorant and you end up buying Doritos, frozen pizza, pajamas, the movie Pitch Perfect and a 55 inch ultra- high def TV whilst forgetting the deodorant. By not stepping foot inside a Chick-fil-A, I was practicing temperance.

4- I didn’t actually ‘buy’ the stuff- I realize possession is nine tenths of the law, but unlike weed, if a cop finds a a chicken sammy in my glove box, he’s just gonna be like “You’re not gonna eat that? What’s wrong with you?”

3- It was “Free”- To borrow from Dan Cathy, it is our God given right to accept free food.

2- I asked myself, What Would Jesus Do?- And I came to the conclusion he would be like “Dude, I went through a shit ton of misery so you could sin,”

1- A fried Chick-fil-A sammy is really fucking tasty- Hey, my boycott is painful! I have sacrificed so much over the last almost six years.

What is a boycott all about anyways? Among the multitude of boycotts in recent memory, we have NFL football, Coca Cola, BP, Target, Nestle and Nike, Staples and Starbucks and hell . . some people even boycotted Amazon! Yeah . . and those people are called Amish.

So is my boycott full of shit? Let’s review . . .

While I have broken the boycott commandment which stipulates that one must not handle said product, I have not had any social interaction with the company. As far as I’m concerned, those are offsetting penalties. My commercial involvement with Chick-fil-A was one of third party privilege and no currency was transacted by yours truly. If anything, it could be argued that my dispassionate involvement was akin to a quality control expert.

As far as I’m concerned, my boycott is intact. I do not plan on darkening the doors of a Chick-fil-A, unless I were to become afflicted with a deliciously uncommon medical condition in which my doctor suggests that I incorporate more fried foods into my diet. My own personal little boycott isn’t going to affect the chicken king in the least, I realize this. But for me, it still means something.

It should.

 

48 thoughts on “The Day I ‘Chickened Out’, and why I’m proud of it”

  2. I like your stance. I have to add though, Cathy made his beliefs known. He courted all the gays in the world boycotting his place. I think he was putting his money where his mouth was and made a conscious decision to state what he believed even if it cost him sales. How many execs would be willing to speak openly about how they feel about an issue? I would say, none. If I were gay, I wouldn’t touch a Chick-Fil-A with a ten-foot pole. The fact that I’m not guy still keeps me out of the place simply because I don’t want to support an organization whose leader is a homophobe. In a small way, I have to give it to Cathy. At least he is upfront with his bigotry and is not collecting my money under false pretenses. A good subject today, Marc.

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    • John,

      You couldn’t be more right on. He took a chance, certainly, in voicing his beliefs. It could have backfired on him, but at least he let it be known to one and all that it’s his beliefs. And for that, cool.
      Just as I am cool with that, I also think it became difficult for me as a consumer to continue going there. He’s free to have his beliefs but as the CEO of a business such as his, he should be respectful of everyone. Especially when they are paying customers.
      Also what probably got me more than that was my OWN ignorance. Like, until he made those statements, I had no idea his company was involved with organizations that were hostile to the LGBT community. Again, he can do what he wants, but it seems wrong to me.

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  3. It’s intact. CF is not a place a frequent because of the CEO’s statement. On the other hand, if a friend says let’s go to CF, I’m game. Unfortunately, they have a tasty sandwich … and unfortunately, numerous patrons go there because of the CEO’s statements.

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    • They have a ridiculously tasty sandwich! But I just can’t justify it after learning what I learned. My post concerned the slippery slope of having an opinion and following it to its umpteenth degree. It ain’t easy!

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  4. I think your boycott is intact.

    It doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. The hypocrisy of people like Dan Cathy in opposing gay marriage because of “God’s law” as apparently expressed in either or both of the Testaments, is all of the ways in which he lives his life contrary to other “laws” as stated in the text. It is the utter hypocrisy of the religious who insist on foisting their interpretation on others that is one of the most irksome things about our modern world.

    As for Chick-Fil-A … my unintentional boycott remains in place. We didn’t get the restaurants in our area until about ten years ago, maybe less, and all of the other fast food chicken has just never been appealing to me, so I’ve never been to Chick-Fil-A. People insist on how good it is, but I have never had the urge to go and nobody has ever offered me a free sandwich from there.

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    • Good for you King!

      I hate to lump things together, but it’s sort of like when the Duggars talk about God on the one hand and then do all manner of ungodly things on the other. How do they justify that?
      I’m no saint, but I don’t pretend to be. These peeps act as if they are the literal embodiment of God’s word. And as Larry Craig once proved, such proclamations are subject to a mighty fall.
      It’s a tasty sammy, but I’m sure you have done just fine without ’em.

      Thanks King!

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    • Why thank you Doc. As I’ve explained in previous comments, I ain’t saying I’m right, I just prefer to remain certain. Marrying the two- no pun intended- is the thing.
      Your two cents are always worth so much more than that in the exchange rate.
      Peace and proper

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  6. I don’t go because the MSG in their chicken (guess they admitted it) is not what i want to put in my body.
    and while on the topic of gat marriage 0 I think Justice Roberts set the model for everyone with his ruling:
    um, it is Constitutional that people should be able to get married to whoever they want – and shame on those who work in public jobs and find that it makes them uncomfortable (like a judge who does not want to marry same sex couples) that judge or clerk might find more of a fit working for their local church.
    just saying…

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    • Yes, and yes. And yes.

      Funny, I was going to include the company’s about face as per antibiotics a few years back when they made a big to do about no longer using them. But I didn’t want this to turn into an anti CFLA post, which it did anyways, lol.
      Do you remember that clerk who refused to marry a same sex couple and Huckabee and Cruz rallied around her, literally? I gotta look that up now . .

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      • no I did not know much about that case – and I have to draw boundaries with how much I get involved in this – cos it can suck the life out of you.
        oh maybe another time I can share more –
        but I am a Christian who finds it tough to fit in with most Christians (cos they can be so cold, bitchy, judgmental, hurtful, unloving, and wrong) not all – but so many
        and further – don;t even get me started on how I feel about the sunday as a sabbath – cos businesses shut down (like Chicken fila)
        but yet most christian churches – which um, are run like a business people – are open on sunday – and so the christian businesses that purport closing to honor their faith – well they let their clergy and volunteers work their butts off every Sunday.
        oh boy oh boy
        again – I have to draw boundaries.
        But another reason we stopped eating here is because it is not cheap for fast food – with two kids and a spouse we could drop almost 30 to 35 bucks – and for that we could sit down somewhere else and not have msg of thin-milky milkshakes

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        • True on all counts. Fast food ain’t cheap at all, not any more. You’re better off making something at home for a fraction of the price, and it’s better for you.
          As far as Christianity goes, I have zero problem with it or with religion in general. I am a person of faith, as shaky as it can be for me at times. I, like you, do not like the country club element that has pervaded religion. People who espouse their love for God on the one hand and then do all manner of not so good shit on the other. I never professed to be saintly, and maybe that’s a cop out, but hey . . I ain’t lying at least.
          Thank you Prior!

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          • oh I loved your reply.
            and whew – sigh with nice exhale here because it took me years to figure out what I could not figure out with my lack of fit in most Christian social circles.
            if that made sense.
            and I once heard someone say house churches – and not church as a business – is really getting to the heart of healthy fellowshipping and whew – so right with this: “country club element that has pervaded religion”

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          • and side note – back in 1993 as a very broke college student I was extra thankful for chik-fil-a — I went to a Christian college in CO (where – um, yeah I met many more Christians who left much t be desired – but also met some awesome ones too – very cool) anyhow, the orientation week involved getting these free meal cards from chik-fil-a and I had so many that really made my life better on that tight budget those first few months – they were (and I guess still are) very generous in their donations and outreaches.

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  7. Your reaction makes perfect sense to me. Have your beliefs but dont be so audacious as to project what you believe ‘God’ would be feeling…. how can people actually beileve that God is not an embracing, inclusive God of love and did Jesus give a damn about rules or formalities? Did he cast judgements on those just living and loving and trying to get on with their lives according to their own beliefs and principles if they were not hurting others? I dont think so. 🙂

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  8. Luckily avoiding douchebags like Cathy (or the sanctimonious lot at Hobby Lobby) can be a clear struggle. In Cathy’s case, I became a vegetarian (but not because of his douchebaggery-it was for health reasons-woo-hoo a big bonus). I’ve had to consciously say “nope, not gonna shop at Hobby Lobby.” Luckily Amazon has came to my rescue if I need a craft product and can’t find it locally. Funny how online purchases can alleviate any potential guilty, isn’t it? 🙂 So is substitution in this case similar to hypocrisy?

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  9. I completely respect your decision and your right to spend your dollars where you deem it most appropriate to do so, and to withhold those same dollars as well.
    My wife and I no longer eat Chick-Fil-A, but only because it’s not on her medically enforced diet. Our neighborhood CFA is a terrific place. A place that is, believe it or not, staffed by a significant number of gay people. People who truly enjoy their work and their workplace. Their manager welcomes them and creates, by all appearances, a loving, inclusive work environment. And they get every Sunday off.
    Daniel Truett Cathy also has his rights to his beliefs. Your statement that it was “wrong” of him to express those views publicly makes me curious. Polarizing? Certainly. Risky? Without doubt it cost him a great number of customers (though it probably also added a number of “evangelicals” to the number). Wrong? I personally find that a bit gray.
    But that’s okay, as life isn’t defined by agreement, but rather by living peacefully and lovingly within its opposite.
    I don’t agree with Mr. Cathy’s opposition to gay marriage. I believe that love is love, and judging is not my (or any other human’s) place. I don’t believe that the fact that I married a member of the “opposite sex” should give me more rights than someone who marries within their gender. In fact, I find the idea of marriage as a religious institution ridiculous; it is a contract which enables a couple to share in legal and fiscal responsibility for one another. I didn’t marry my wife after 17+ years together because I loved her more than I did before, I married her at that point in time so that I could put her on my insurance and care for her in her illness, which was impossible without that contract.
    But I recognize Mr. Cathy’s right to his opinion just as I recognize your right to yours, and both of your rights to express those beliefs.
    Dan Cathy knew that there would be consequences in the form of lost profits for going public with his opinion. While I won’t join the aforementioned evangelicals in calling him heroic for choosing to do so, I respect his right.
    And he does sell one damned delicious sandwich.
    BTW…the clerk was in Kentucky, and the one half of the gay couple she refused to issue a license to is running against her for that office in this year’s election. If I lived there, I’d vote for him in a second.

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    • Matthew,

      Point taken as per my saying it was “wrong”. Thank you for calling that out, because upon reflection it seems that I allow for too much guesswork in calling it wrong. I believe it was the wrong thing to do, but as to whether he is wrong to have made his public statements on gay marriage, no . . he wasn’t. It’s his right as an American to do so. I don’t agree with it, of course, but it’s his right. Good call on your part.
      As for gay people who work for the company, I knew a young lady who was a store manager and she too had nothing but good things to say about her experience. I have gay friends who love the place, and weren’t going to deprive themselves of it because of Cathy’s statements.
      I think in my case, it simply struck a chord, and I’m still there.
      I had a fried chicken sammy yesterday, FOC, which is what led me to write this. I LOVED it. It’s a dang good sammy.
      Thank you for your thoughtful comments, they are much appreciated.

      Peace and chicken sammys

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  10. Honestly, this is where the old adage not to talk politics or religion at the dinner table comes into play- maybe this Cathy wasn’t paying enough attention, but that includes cheap chicken dinners (assuming it’s cheap, we don’t have this in the UK as far as I know) But I think you’re off the hook when it comes to your boycott, given it was third party involvement 😉

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