The movie The Godfather has a well remembered, well put phrase that movie lovers of all time surely can quote, "It's not personal, it's business."
The first time this is said is after the Don has just been shot, presumed dead, and his oldest son, Sonny, is angrily ready for revenge. His adopted brother, Tom Hagen, says to him, "Your father wouldn't want to hear this! This is business, not personal!"
The shooting of the Don was business. He opposed a business venture involving drugs that Sollozzo was offering him, but his sons did not. Sollozzo, who orchestrated the shooting of the Don, thought that after the Don was dead he could convince Sonny and Hagen to get on board. Therefore, bringing in more business.
It had nothing to do with the fact that the Don disagreed with the drug business.
It had nothing to do with his personal values.
There are many people attacking Chick-Fil-A right now about something that has nothing to do with their business. Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-Fil-A, was questioned about personal values. The personal values of those who founded Chick-Fil-A are that they support biblical values.
Anyone who doesn't know that the Chick-Fil-A founders stand for biblical values (therefore, also the biblical definition of the family as one man, one woman) hasn't been awake for the past decade. (Closed on Sundays, hello? Do you think they just felt like having a day off, a day of zero dollars in revenue? No, they've chosen to take a hit in their business to follow the biblical direction to honor the Sabbath and keep that day holy).
Last time I checked, in America first amendment rights were established that allow us to speak freely about our values and standards without discrimination.
Walk into a Chick-Fil-A wearing a gay pride t-shirt and they will still serve you without batting an eye. If they didn't, then they would be allowing their personal agenda to influence their business. Yet, somehow gay rights activists have misheard and misinterpreted Cathy's comments calling Chick-Fil-A "a company that holds hate as a family value" and are planning illogical retaliation.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/07/25/gay-rights-group-petitions-against-chick-fil-a-plans-kiss-in/
Let's consider a business that does support homosexuals. Should I not eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream because I disagree with their lifestyle choices and opinions?
I cannot speak for all my Christian brothers and sisters out there, but that is just foolish. They make incredibly awesome ice cream with a variety of flavors that are out of this world. They did not get into the ice cream business to support a homosexual agenda. They got into the business as two guys who needed to make a living and making ice cream became what they could do best.
And because I live in America, I might have to hear once in a while that Ben and Jerry's has decided to name one of their flavors in support of same-sex marriage. (Which is much more related to directly pushing an agenda than making a personal statement of the values of the founders of your company).
Don't believe me?
Read:
But guess what? I'll still eat it.
Because their business produces something delightful to me. I might not go to hear Ben Cohen or Jerry Greenfield speak somewhere because I know their standards are different from mine. But then again, listening to them talk would make this more personal.
Allow businesses to do what they do best. Consider them a product, not a person.
It's not personal, it's business.
For extra reading on this matter, here is an excellent post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/chick-fil-a-the-greek-olympian-and-the-sandwich-problem/2012/07/25/gJQAjvyj9W_blog.html
"Judge the sandwich by the sandwich".
No comments:
Post a Comment