But I’m No Expert

It appears I need to clarify a few things for the people of America. I read on CNN this morning that Chick-fil-a, my favorite fast-food restaurant, is catching grief from an organization in New York because The Chick donated food to an organization that supports traditional marriage.  Traditional marriage, meaning one man married to one woman, for those who are confused.  I was surprised this was somehow a national news item and even more surprised at the ignorance and utter stupidity shown by the commenters to the article.

There is an apparent requirement for national-chains to adhere to some list of rules developed by popular opinion.  While this is somewhat true for publicly traded companies (they have to deal with the SEC and other such organizations, not to mention the whims of their investors), privately held companies can do what they like.  According to this commenter, Chick-fil-a is not doing their part in prolonging the illusion of the public’s control over the behavior of every company in existence.  They stated it’s OK for a Mom-and-Pop restaurant to donate to organizations like this, it’s not for Chick-fil-a, since they are, or are trying to become, a national chain.  Huh?

Why would a national chain matter more than a Mom-and-Pop when it comes to these “moral” issues?  If it’s wrong for the big boys, it’s wrong for the little ones too.  Truth is scalable and objective.

Another thing I noticed was people kept saying The Chick hates gays.  Just because someone disagrees with your opinion, doesn’t mean they hate you.  That’s just inflammatory and immature.  Surely you realize that not everyone is going to agree with you, right?  You’re not really that naive, right?  Funny enough, the CEO made a video statement on The Chick’s Facebook page stating they don’t have an agenda against any one.  How’s that for hating?

And along those lines, just because you disagree with someone’s opinion, it doesn’t automatically make you correct even if a bunch of other people agree with your side of the issue.  This is the flaw of “public opinion”, the mistaken idea that if most people agree on something, it’s  correct.  Not so bozo!  “Most People” have agreed on many things that turned out to be incorrect: like the Earth is flat.  I’ll give you, that’s a pretty extreme and old example, but at some point, “Most People” agreed the Earth was flat which was completely wrong.  Funny enough, “Most People” seem to be about 49.9% of the people out these days, since the entire world seems polarized on every issue and there is rarely a  majority opinion on any issue.

Another winner of a comment said The Chick was wrong for discriminating.  Discrimination is not a bad thing.  You couldn’t tell the difference between an apple and orange without discrimination.  Because that’s what it is: making a difference between two things.  What you do after you make the difference is where morality and ethics come into play.  Like firing someone because they are a woman, not a man.  Or beating someone half to death because they are a man and prefer other men over women.  There needs to be another word for this action after a discrimination, so we don’t get confused by the perversion of terms.

Here’s the final kicker, and I’ve seen this in response to many different issues.  An issue somehow gets blamed on Christianity, therefore, Christianity is obviously horrible.  This person said she won’t eat at Chick-fil-a any more because her daughter worked there and spilled the beans about how employees would routinely not wash their hands and practice additional poor hygiene.  Followed by: if that’s an example of “Christian” management, I’ll have none, thanks.  Seriously?  Prepare yourself: people sometimes don’t wash their hands.  There.  I hope you can recover because I’m sure the shock just knocked you on your ass.  How this fact is related to Christianity or management is beyond me, but this is the irrationality of the commenters on any given message board/comment system.  I bet I could find enough fodder there for a post every day, if I cared to look.

Let’s put this simply: Jesus is not to blame for people’s bad choices.  He didn’t ask anyone to lead the Inquisition or the Crusades.  Those guys were simply deluded and hungry for power and glory.  In fact, most of the crap that gets blamed on God and Christianity has nothing to do with either.  People make bad decisions and sometimes follow through on them.  Ouch, is your butt sore yet?  I’m knocking you down quite a bit here.  Recover, then continue reading.

People are not God.  People who know God don’t always listen to God.  When they don’t listen, God is not to blame.  Sure, he could force them to do what he wants, but that defeats the purpose of the whole set up here on Earth, but hey, I’m no expert.