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August 24, 2009

Boycotting the Boycotters

Andrew Breitbart details the intolerance of the Left.
Yet amid the cries of "dissent is patriotic" - a phrase seen on the bumper stickers of cars in the Whole Foods parking lot - the antiwar movement grew and grew, unfettered by the war's supporters or by the party in power.

As the Hollywood Left churned out antiwar film screeds, it was creating a narrative of its victimhood as it victimized Mr. Bush and his administration with the false accusation that dissenters were being persecuted. But now that they are in power, Democrats are brazenly wielding punitive weaponry against dissenting Americans and are using the power of the state to shut up citizens.
John Mackey - the founder, CEO and marketing genius behind Whole Foods - finds himself in an organic, unsustainable mess with his carefully cultivated affluent, liberal customer base after penning an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare."

For starters, Mr. Mackey opens with a line from known-liberal-allergen Margaret Thatcher that features the dreaded "S" word: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Then he goes on to provide eight sensible free-market solutions gleaned from his company's well-regarded employee health care program.

Mr. Mackey, a free-market libertarian, is now at the mercy of an unforgiving grass-roots mob intent on destroying his company. More than 25,000 people have signed on to a Whole Foods boycott on Facebook.

"Whole Foods has built its brand with the dollars of deceived progressives," the online petition reads. "Let them know your money will no longer go to support Whole Foods' anti-union, anti-health insurance reform, right-wing activities."

A complementary Web site, WholeBoycott.com, features unintentionally comical video testimonials from aggrieved former customers. The mainstream media have picked up on the story and fanned the flames.

The success of Whole Foods is largely built on Mr. Mackey's understanding of the liberal mind. It wants the good life - but with instant absolution for the sin of conspicuous consumption. Whole Foods is marketing at its best. Iconography and slogans throughout the store - not unlike those Barack Obama used to win the presidency - tell the shopper they are saving the planet in large and small ways.

The product is so good even conservatives and skeptics are willing to play along.

But Mr. Mackey missed the key ingredient of modern liberalism: intolerance to the ideas of nonliberals. And this miscalculation may prove to be devastating to his multibillion-dollar business.

Everywhere one looks these days, the intolerance of self-avowed liberals is on display. Especially since Mr. Obama came to power.

The purportedly open-minded and empathic among us who now run everything - save for NASCAR and Nashville - openly wage war against those who dare disagree.

Witness Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi's joint-penned editorial in USA Today in which the House's two top Democrats describe those publicly questioning Mr. Obama's proposed health care system overhaul as "un-American."

(More...)



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13 comments:

Red said...

I JUST finished reading this. Nancy and the Gang look so stupid (as if that was possible). Go Whole Foods! Or as we like to call it here, "Whole Paycheck" 'cause their 'spensive! Hippy food ain't cheap.

Anonymous said...

Red, Life ain't cheap. And Good Life ain't free.

INCOMING!!!!!!! said...

Don't you just love the exclusiveness of the otherwise inclusives. They are never happier than when they are drumming some poor wretch out of something!!!

Though just you try it on them.

Then you'd be exclusively excluding the otherwise inclusives in an inclusive exclusion!!!

Man time for bed ;-)

Heads up.

Opus #6 said...

Incoming, I will have to read that sentence again. It didn't work for me the first time. Too much CA sun making my hair blonde. ;-)

Didn't the Whole Foods stock just reach a 52-week high? I thought I saw that on Twitter yesterday. Maybe all of this attention will be good for business in the long run.

innominatus said...

Makes me wish we had a WF in my town. Supposedly one being planned for a year or two from now, but the "outrage" will be pretty well simmered down by then. Bummer. It means I probably won't have an opportunity to mock any protesters in front of the store. :(

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Incoming. I always enjoy watching my betters bicker.

Anonymous said...

Opie, I understand that Trader Joe, himself, will back Palin's presidential run in the hope of improving their sales figures.

Anonymous said...

Inno, I'll bet you don't have to drive all that far to mock protesters.

Caeseria said...

Okay, where is the nearest Whole Foods, I have a new favorite store!

Anonymous said...

Caeseria, I agree. Try the cheese department. It's wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Tricia, you seem to be a born cheerleader.

lovelyprism said...

Wow, that's just sad. I love Whole Foods! And after I read the Op-Ed I loved it even more. Too bad it's such a sin to have an opinion in America these days.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Don't these stupid twits realize what goes around ... comes around? If you bite the hand that feeds you enough ... you won't get fed.