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Disagree. This happens everywhere, all the time, on all levels of the political spectrum. Why is it only bad now that the left is doing it? Why wasn't it "a ver

Disagree. This happens everywhere, all the time, on all levels of the political spectrum. Why is it only bad now that the left is doing it? Why wasn't it "a very bad path" when Hobby Lobby make the government give them an exemption from providing full health care to their employees? Why isn't is "a very bad path" when companies fire employees for being gay, or not hiring employees because they are black or hispanic or a woman? Is it a "very bad path" when a company refuses to make a cake for a gay wedding, or when a church refuses to have a ceremony for a gay couple? Why is it you always hear people saying "this is crossing a line" when the left does something that the right has been doing for years?

jasonkostempski 9y ago
Is it really useful to slap a left or right label on those examples? I heard plenty of uproar about all the "right" stories you referenced and all the response were the same as the "left" stories; "well, it's a free country and it's their right to do that but it's gonna offend some people and might ultimately be bad for business." There are organizations people tend to view as "above all that non-sense" until they do something stupid, then you see phrases like "very bad path", "slippery slope", "fine line". Then there are organizations people expect might take extreme stances on certain topics and no one is really surprised when they do it. People still talk about it when it happens but it quickly dissolves into something like "well, I'm never going to convince them what they're doing is bad and I was never going to buy their cake anyway. Best I can do is not be that way myself." If there's anything to polarize on it's probably reach of the organization. Actions by organizations that have no direct effect on most peoples lives won't get talked about for very long. When it's a organization that provides a global service with little competition, people get more concerned. But even reach isn't a good divider. Most organizations don't accomplish global reach without first promising things like equality and fairness, but some do, some even promise to do "bad" things. So maybe people's reactions to events like this are more about broken promises.
- freehunter 9y ago
  I'm trying to highlight two things: one this isn't "a bad path" that we're "starting on". We've been here for a long time. The second thing is, if you think this is "just starting", either you haven't been paying attention or you don't think those other things are a "dangerous path". Basically he's saying that a company refusing to do business with a white supremacist is crossing a line that was not crossed when gays, blacks, hispanics, or women had the exact same treatment. This amounts to one thing: if you're drawing your line in the sand at the persecution of neo-nazis knowing full well that gays, minorities, and women are on the "no protection" side of that line, you might be a neo-nazi yourself. There is no question on what type of outrage ptero is expressing. The only way to read that comment is that he's disappointed that people he agrees with are finally being persecuted.
ptero 9y ago
I am not saying that what Airbnb did was illegal. It probably was not (although I am not at all sure). But, to me, this is a horrible business decision. Left or right is not the point here -- the corporation denying the lodging based on the customer's political views, whichever color those are, makes me put it my lower on my list of travel options. If a hotel manager wants to ask me about my political views on arrival and, based on this, decide if he lets me stay I will not stay in this hotel and I suspect that a lot of other customers will do the same.
- freehunter 9y ago
  And Hobby Lobby denying healthcare to their employees puts them further down my list of stores to shop at. Chick-fil-a donating money to keep gay marriage illegal puts them further down my list of restaurants to eat at. Hell, Tesla canceled a customer's order because the customer said something negative about the company. Corporations have literally always done this. The question remains, why is this just now an issue for you? Why is now the point where you draw a line? Because if you ignore all the times companies have been shitty to liberals and/or normal human beings but draw a line in the sand when a company is shitty to a god damned actual Nazi fascist white supremacist, it makes me question a few things. Left or right does actually seem to be the issue, because you really seem to be okay with every other instance of this happening, until it happens to a nazi.

jasonkostempski 9y ago

Is it really useful to slap a left or right label on those examples? I heard plenty of uproar about all the "right" stories you referenced and all the response were the same as the "left" stories; "well, it's a free country and it's their right to do that but it's gonna offend some people and might ultimately be bad for business." There are organizations people tend to view as "above all that non-sense" until they do something stupid, then you see phrases like "very bad path", "slippery slope", "fine line". Then there are organizations people expect might take extreme stances on certain topics and no one is really surprised when they do it. People still talk about it when it happens but it quickly dissolves into something like "well, I'm never going to convince them what they're doing is bad and I was never going to buy their cake anyway. Best I can do is not be that way myself." If there's anything to polarize on it's probably reach of the organization. Actions by organizations that have no direct effect on most peoples lives won't get talked about for very long. When it's a organization that provides a global service with little competition, people get more concerned. But even reach isn't a good divider. Most organizations don't accomplish global reach without first promising things like equality and fairness, but some do, some even promise to do "bad" things. So maybe people's reactions to events like this are more about broken promises.

freehunter 9y ago
I'm trying to highlight two things: one this isn't "a bad path" that we're "starting on". We've been here for a long time. The second thing is, if you think this is "just starting", either you haven't been paying attention or you don't think those other things are a "dangerous path". Basically he's saying that a company refusing to do business with a white supremacist is crossing a line that was not crossed when gays, blacks, hispanics, or women had the exact same treatment. This amounts to one thing: if you're drawing your line in the sand at the persecution of neo-nazis knowing full well that gays, minorities, and women are on the "no protection" side of that line, you might be a neo-nazi yourself. There is no question on what type of outrage ptero is expressing. The only way to read that comment is that he's disappointed that people he agrees with are finally being persecuted.

ptero 9y ago

I am not saying that what Airbnb did was illegal. It probably was not (although I am not at all sure). But, to me, this is a horrible business decision. Left or right is not the point here -- the corporation denying the lodging based on the customer's political views, whichever color those are, makes me put it my lower on my list of travel options. If a hotel manager wants to ask me about my political views on arrival and, based on this, decide if he lets me stay I will not stay in this hotel and I suspect that a lot of other customers will do the same.

freehunter 9y ago
And Hobby Lobby denying healthcare to their employees puts them further down my list of stores to shop at. Chick-fil-a donating money to keep gay marriage illegal puts them further down my list of restaurants to eat at. Hell, Tesla canceled a customer's order because the customer said something negative about the company. Corporations have literally always done this. The question remains, why is this just now an issue for you? Why is now the point where you draw a line? Because if you ignore all the times companies have been shitty to liberals and/or normal human beings but draw a line in the sand when a company is shitty to a god damned actual Nazi fascist white supremacist, it makes me question a few things. Left or right does actually seem to be the issue, because you really seem to be okay with every other instance of this happening, until it happens to a nazi.