UraniumJ and Chick-fil-A

What Would Jesus Do? Source

I started writing a post this morning about the women who inspire me the most. One of those women, Captain Tesla, wrote on my Facebook wall that I should write about Chick-fil-A after I posted the picture to the left.

As I try to stay in the middle of the road when it comes to political and religious beliefs, I don't see what all the hullabaloo is about in the first place. Do I agree with Dan Cathy? No. Do I agree with his right to say what he believes? Yes. Am I surprised by his beliefs. Not a bit. What suprises me about this whole Gays vs. Chicken thing is that any of this came as a shock to people. I thought we all knew that the founder of Chick-fil-A was a conservative Christian. That's why they're closed on Sundays people. It's not like it's rocket science. If you don't like their values, don't give them your money. Simple as that.

The "demonstrations" have also shocked me. Gays descending on Chick-fil-A. Why? If you're not buying, you're loitering and that's against the law. Breaking laws makes you look bad. That's silly. Why not simply boycott? By doing flash mobs and what not, all you're doing is bringing more attention and publicity to the joint, and as we all know, there's no such thing as bad publicity. This was all but proven by Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day wherein all the Right Wing Conservative Family Values folks went out of their way to eat dry chicken sandwiches and bland tasteless potato products. That's their prerogative, and I say "More power to you".

My real question is "Why are we all so uptight about this in the first place? Their food is not tasty." Now, if this were, say, Chili's, oh, I would have to do some serious soul searching. Can I say "goodbye" to Chipotle Chicken Crispers forever in order to maintain my integrity? That's a hard call. Could I never again sip the green goodness that is a Starbucks Green Tea Frappucino because of an ethical disagreement? I don't know. Would I be able to forget the goodness that is Baja Blast Mountain Dew (found only at participating Taco Bells) because I had a real issue with their corporate values? I hope I never have to make these decisions.

But the chicken sandwiches? Not a hard call. I can, and have made better tasting sandwiches in the privacy of my own home, and I didn't even have to say "have a blessed day" before I started. The food at Chick-fil-A is a deep fried nightmare. I think one of the more striking things about the line of people in the picture is how fat some of them are. Values or not, ya'll just don't need to be eating fried chicken sandwiches, yesterday, today, or any day. Neither do I. Furthermore, I don't need to be eating any of those other delicious things I listed up there. We would all do well to stop eating fast food in general and send the savings to a local food bank or something.

As I said on Facebook earlier today, I am so tired of this culture war. Left vs. Right. Who cares? Why can't we all just find some common ground and work from there? I'll tell you why: People want to fight. They like it. Look at any comments section on any site on the internet. There may be some thoughtful discourse here and there, but unless the threads are heavily monitored (like The Offbeat Empire, for example) everything degrades into name calling and mean spiriting trolling in no time at all. It makes me sad.

I will say this in defense of Dan Cathy - his values mean more to him than his wallet. He just alienated a whole lot of potential customers to stick up for his beliefs. I don't agree with him, but I respect his chutzpa. It wasn't Mr. Cathy who turned this into the debacle it has become. It was the ignorant masses who want nothing more than to have a reason to fight about something. Ya'll really didn't know that Chick-fil-A doesn't support marriage equality? Then you've been letting your lust for tasteless, mass produced, garbage food get in the way of knowing all the facts and it's your own fault. Stop acting like a victim. You did it to yourselves.  Don't like Dan Cathy's opinions? Then stop giving him money.

As for the rabid bigotry that is being manifested by the over consumption of Chick-fil-A? Carry on. Eat fried chicken sandwiches with gusto until you go broke or die. But remember, this isn't about faith, values, ethics, or integrity, it's about capitalism.