Saturday, April 4, 2015

There’s always a crackpot with cash

Perhaps I’m just cheap, although I’d like to think it is because I have a little too much sense. Or maybe cents?


But I don’t comprehend the notion of feeling the compulsion to send off some cash as a donation to back up every one of my ideological idiosyncrasies.

SO I CAN’T help but shake my head in disgust with the people who feel the need to make donations to uphold their hang-ups with regards to gay marriage.

What started this latest round of donations was the fact that a neighborhood pizza joint in a rural Indiana town got public attention when it became known that the owner said he thinks he has the right to refuse to provide catering services to a gay wedding – if they were to try to hire him.

Honestly, I think the best response to that concept is the gay activist who quipped that no self-respecting gay person would serve pizza at a wedding reception. And I don’t feel compelled to identify the restaurant; why give them free publicity?

But the hostile reaction – initially reported by South Bend television station WBND – that came forth caused the restaurant’s owner to close up shop indefinitely, with the telephone now ringing endlessly rather than anyone picking it up to check if you want sausage or pepperoni, or just vegetables, on your pizza pie.

THE FACT THAT the owners, who also said they wouldn’t deny service to a gay couple if they actually came into the restaurant, are likely to suffer some financial loss by being so public with their hang-ups is what is now motivating some people to feel the need to show their support for a business that wants to dump on gay people.

There’s a page on GoFundMe.com where people can give some money to help the company, and as of late afternoon Friday there was $798,687 that had been given to the owners. It’s probably significantly more by the time you read this!

That’s quite a financial haul – certainly better than they would have taken in had they just remained open and sold pizzas.

Could this vocal outburst against gay people wind up being a profitable move?

THAT THOUGHT HAD a Berwyn-based fast food joint upset, and they went ahead and created their own GoFundMe.com page.

The Pioneer Press newspapers reported that Big Guys Sausage Stand is asking for donations under the heading, “Non-bigoted restaurant wants cash.”

Not that the restaurant wants the money – they say if anyone feels compelled to make a donation, they will donate it all to a charitable cause yet to be determined.

But owner Brendan O’Connor told the suburban newspaper group how he felt compelled to take the stand, because he was amazed that so many people would feel the need to take a public stand in favor of Indiana’s new (and already revised because it was so offensive) Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

PERSONALLY, IT DOESN’T surprise me that some people feel strongly in favor of measures that treat gay people like they are less than desirable in society. Some people will go out of their way to say stupid things – and that is their right in our society.

The United States of America gives people the right to be wrong. And it gives the rest of us the right to point out those errors – even though the “wrong” people often think that pointing out the triteness of their remarks is somehow an intrusion of their “free speech” rights.

Nonsense! Nobody gets the right to the “last word” on an issue – not even me. Since I’m sure at least one crackpot out there would feel the need to vociferously respond to this very commentary.

It’ just that when it comes to speaking with my wallet, I prefer to let my actual purchases (or refusal to buy from somewhere) speak louder than handing over my money to someone else.

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