Voting with your dollars: Shilo Inn, Oregon Country Beef and beyond…
I’ve long been a supporter of buying locally where possible – and it’s kicked up a duststorm of sorts in the comments to posts like this one, where a commenter suggested my support of Helen Bernhard’s aided those who supported Measure 36.
And I also count myself in the camp of people who make decisions about where to shop based in part on a company’s political, ethical, or moral stance – but I’m also practical or economical when I need to be (short version: I sell out frequently. Don’t we all?)
Those twin stances frequently clash – with predictably flinty results. And there are those who’d argue that neither stance is a viable one (didn’t we have a debate on here somewhere about Chilean produce versus local produce? I can’t locate it right now, ugh…)
And we’ve got yet another debate brewing in the comments to my innocent little post below about where to go for dinner last night (note: we went to Bush Garden; that particular choice has yielded no political shrapnel yet) To keep that post relatively benign, I’d like to redirect the discussion here, if possible.
LeLo started it off with this comment:
I wouldn’t step foot into a Shilo Inn if you payed me. Even if they have a restaurant that’s to die for. Right wing owned and operated? No thanks. Nope. No Shilo Inn.
ExtraMSG countered with this:
What happened to boycotting a place because they discriminated against a group or some other substantial policy? The left’s love of political correctness has become a sort of reverse McCarthyism: blacklist people for their political beliefs.
Read the rest of the conversation here, then join the discussion below, if you will. But do me a favor – leave the personal characterizations and/or snarky jabs behind, please? I’m all for vigorous debate and relish substantive criticism (based on positions, not personalities), but get enough juvenile behavior at home from my two kids already, thankyouverymuch.
Update: LeLo’s come back with a very passionate post (too long for the comments here) about why she chooses to vote with her dollars. It’s well worth the read…
I’ll sit this one out because I’ve been accused by the clique of having too much “negativity”, “criticism” and “bitterness”. God forbid you have anyone posting who disagrees with the opinions emanating from the magic circle.
Aw, damn.
And after I opened this item just for you…!
Just a note: I don’t know about who owns what and what they do in their spare time. I don’t really pay attention to that sort of thing. If the owner of Shilo Inns was publicly and actively working to try to pass Measure 36 that would be something substantial. But the original comment merely mentioned that Shilo Inns were owned and operated by right-wingers. That’s where my real problem lies.
I still think it’s a dangerous game to get into when people in the legal political process make their views known and are punished for it. It’s rarely the case that they are the only ones who suffer. They may not even be the primary ones who suffer.
Have you thought about whether the CEO of the place you work at is a Republican or Democrat? Have you checked to see where they’ve given money politically? Do you check before you apply for a job? Would your opinion on such things change if you were the one being laid off because your company was being boycotted because its CEO or the majority shareholder family or whatever was politically incorrect?
I am a boycotter. I am not extreme, I don’t keep lists or anything, but I do it. It does no good IMNSHO if you don’t tell them why though. Similarly, if I am swayed by an excellent service or something, I let them know. (Dear Century 16 Eastport, thank you for being THX Certified, I spend extra money so I can come here for good sound and no ads straight from the tv. Love, BLF)
Probably my biggest boycotts are because of rude staff or worse, staff who flat out ignore me.
I choose to shop at places that aren’t Wal-Mart, but that’s because people I know who worked there all have horror stories about how they treat the workers.
At least in Portland you have the choice of “I won’t shop at A because of X” and there is still a B and C and D choice. If you live east of the Gorge, you don’t always have that option.
MSG: I’m with you on that. “Right wing” isn’t good enough for me. Donated 50% of his salary last year to fight Measure 36 is something else again.
I don’t like that game because generally on side A, when someone says “I won’t buy from Blah because they are on Side A” then Side A-ers all say that’s just dumb, what does it matter? But when they say “I won’t buy from Blah because they are on Side B” then Side A-ers all go “good for you! Way to stand up for your principles!” and so on.
But yeah, I think I’d get a new job if I worked for Initech and found out that the CEO of Initech was actively donating to causes I was deeply against (or vice versa). I think a lot of people would if it was the right cause. I think everybody has a line, it just isn’t in the same place for all of them.
Boycotting because of rude staff is the same as boycotting because of bad goods or bad food or whatever. That seems precisely when you SHOULD boycott. Though then I don’t know if “boycott” is the right term.
My dad used to do that all the time. He’d stop going to a store because some checker was an a-hole to someone in his family. But he’d never say anything.
Me, I generally will not leave a tip if it’s at a restaurant, and if it’s bad enough will complain to a manager. My favorite phrase used to be: “I’d like to file a complaint.” I’ve emailed, written letters, phoned, walked in to a lot of companies. But I also tell them and write letters of gratitude when I get especially good service or goods. I think it makes a real difference, too.
In some cases, it’s easy to make decisions about how/when to boycott a product, service, or business.
For example, let’s take Dominos Pizza, 10 years ago (warning – I’m shooting from the hip here; may not have all my facts re. the players straight):
* owned by Tom Monaghan (sp?), who actively supported activist right-to-life groups & other rightwing causes
* overpriced for what you get
* national chain
* and – oh, yeah – reallly shitty pizza
In that case, it’s easy to have your personal tastes dovetail with your value system – I can support a local pizza company, not give money to Monaghan, *and* get a better product, (even if it means I have to drive to pick the damned thing up.)
Now, let’s look at Dominos Pizza now:
* No longer owned by Monaghan – instead, Mike Illich (sp?) is much more liberal, from what I recall.
* Now that they’re handing out coupons and discounts and all those giveaways (3 pizzas for 15 dollars!), they’re much more reasonably priced
* Hey! They’re employing local technology executives who got hit with the latest rounds of downsizing/offshoring as drivers!
* Uh…they’ll deliver, right? With their gas money no less, no? And the hordes of teenagers currently in my living room will devour it, right?
So – even though it’s shitty pizza, there are times when I’ll ignore my value system & order Dominos.
Not often, though. And definitely not if I’m one of the people expected to eat the pizza…!
Well who would have known I would have kicked up such a scuffle? Very fascinating topic. So fascinating I’ve reflected on it quite a bit and did a big long report on this reflection over at my blog. I’d post it here but it’s too long for a comment. But if you want to know what my original comment was about and why…
http://lelonopo.blogspot.com/2005/09/voting-with-my-dollars.html
(Hope it’s okay I link to it here)
An anecdote:
A while back Ken Gordon (Ken’s Place) posted on Chowhound (which later got deleted) that we shouldn’t go to McCormick & Schmick’s because one of the owners is a strong supporter of Bush and was recently appointed an ambassadorship, I believe.
I emailed him asking, then, if he would like me to stop supporting and even promoting his restaurant, despite the fact that I really like it, because he’s a liberal Democrat and I’m a libertarian Republican.
He thought it a good point, but made a distinction. He goes to Michael’s regularly for sandwiches and gets in heated arguments with the ardent Republican, but enjoys the Italian beef sandwiches. He distinguishes between someone with political power and clout and your average business owner who is also vocal politically.
Personally, I prefer Bourdain’s view which I read for the first time tonight in his Les Halles cookbook in the pommes frites recipe which I got on sale at Powell’s for $15! tonight:
[quote]
There were surely few lowlier, more stupid moments in American history than when a few boobish media whores started talking about changing the name of French fries to “Freedom Fries.” First of all, the French call them frites — and could hardly care less what we call them. (I’m sure that, if anything, they were amused at the mini-controversy, as it seemed to confirm their worst assumptions about the savage and “uncultured” Americans.)
Second of all, frites are very likely a Belgian invention. Third, if you really want to hurt the French, just keep opening McDonald’s franchises and Euro Disneys. And, of course, continue making better movies and popular music than they do. They really hate that. Which is to say it’s never a good idea to mix politics and food. I’m no fan of Donald Rumsfeld, for instance; but if he makes a good sandwich, I’ll certainly eat it.
[/quote]
“I’m no fan of Donald Rumsfeld, for instance; but if he makes a good sandwich, I’ll certainly eat it.”
Stupid Analogy