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When reading about New Seasons Market in the New
York Times, I came across a reference to Rockstar energy drinks and their highly conservative provenance.
According to the Times, "Rockstar's chief executive is Russell Goldencloud Weiner, who developed the company with
the help of his mother and his father, Michael Savage, the far-right talk radio host." Because of this, New
Seasons won't sell the beverage.
I don't drink it because of the high fructose corn syrup, but now I'm considering changing my view to not drinking because of the politics. I did a little surfing and found several references to the "anti-immigrant, gaybashing, intolerant, hate-filled" rhetoric of Savage ("Facism Cola") and the connection between New Season's decision and that of my neighborhood co-op, People's, to stop carrying Oregon Rain water because Lars Larson was their pitchman ("Radio-Active Fallout").
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1-04-2006 @12:29PM Tim Sullivan said... "Politics" seems to be such a broad, over-encompassing term these days. Homophobia, bigotry, having a mean spirit, etc, don't qualify as "politics" to me. They are personal views. In my mind, "politics" is where govt policies meet/balance business and personal needs. Maybe the term you should have used is "personal politics"? My 2¢ anyway.
One beautiful thing about the US is freedom (somewhat) of speech and choice. If I don't like someone, don't like their product, don't like their service or don't like what they stand for, I just won't shop there. My guess is that you all, consciously or unconsciously, make those same choices on a daily basis. With this in mind, I think New Seasons has every right to do the same.
I think that those of us who really care what we're buying, for whatever reason...economic, political, nutritional, etc... will make the choice they believe in. If it turns out that there are a LOT of people who feel badly about Rockstar, for whatever reason, the product will fail. That's business.
If New Seasons were my company, though, I probably wouldn't make such a stand publicly. Nor would I associate myself with Michael Savage if I were Rockstar. In New Season's case, unless they've done their market research and KNOW beyond doubt that their business won't be significantly hurt by becoming "political", any business decision based on personal gripes with an individual has a high percentage chance to hurt them and make them seem petty & unprofessional. I, personally, would just not carry the product then make no statement as to why.
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1-05-2006 @3:00AM Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said... It should be noted that "anti-immigrant" and "gay-bashing" are typically used as leftist rhetoric to describe anyone who wants to (gasp!) stop illegal immigration and who doesn't see why gays (or any other minority group for that matter) are deserving of any special treatment.
It seems especially ironic to me that the supposedly compassionate and "tolerant" political left is so intolerant of views differing from their own, and that their vicious rhetoric is fuelled by an undisguised hatred of the political right.
Y'ask me anyone who's really up tight about the politics of a company's owners/founders/employees is an idiot. There's so much other stuff you could worry about. I'm not a vegan and I'm a conservative Republican, but you don't see me driving a PC. I hate Microsoft and its products. I'm an Apple man from waaaaay back. Garrison Keillor is a vocal Democrat but I still think he's pretty darn funny and he's got a hell of a singing voice. Why should I deny myself the pleasure of a Prairie Home Companion just because I disagree with Keillor's politics?
Now my aunt is a Democrat (she was all a-twitter over Clinton's 50th birthday because she was 50 at the time) and will not eat at Ruth's Chris. Why? Because Rush Limbaugh plugs them. She hates him, so she denies herself the pleasure of a great steak.
Well, whatever. I hope these guys are consistent and apply the same discerning political standard to each product they sell. Otherwise this is just silly grandstanding.
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1-30-2006 @7:09PM Meg said... Huh. "Get AIDS & die" sounds like gay-bashing to me.
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