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In South Carolina, the governor has called for the Confederate flag to stop flying over the capitol. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina quickly declared that they would remove the flag from state license plates. Meanwhile, several of the country's top retailers -- including eBay and Amazon -- announced in quick succession that they would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise. Now MJ Lee reports at CNN that the debate over the Confederate flag is the most recent and vivid illustration of how changes in the business community can influence and pressure politics. "What you are seeing is a broad, acknowledgment across both the consumer, the political and the business community that that particular emblem is no longer part of something that should be a state-issued emblem," says GOP strategist Scott Jennings.
Walmart, Amazon, eBay and Sears announced within the span of one day that they would ban the sale of Confederate flag merchandise from their stores, saying they had no intention of offending customers. As Walmart CEO Doug McMillon put it, the decision was straightforward: "We want everybody to feel comfortable shopping at Walmart." Corporate and business leaders say that the abandoning the flag is a step towards inclusiveness for a region that has long struggled to shed negative images. "The business community -- they have a lot of say and power all over the country, whether it's on religion or ethnicity or LGBT issues," says Ralph Northam. "When you're running a business, you have to have the doors open and welcome diversity."
takyon: Alabama Governor Orders Removal Of Confederate Flags From Capitol
'Dukes of Hazzard' toy car General Lee loses its Confederate flag
Note: These moves are in response to the events in Charleston.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:44PM
And I bet the government asked them to do it. Walmart I could understand but not Amazon, where I can still get a copy of Mein Kampf.
This is part of a push to make "racists" the next big government bogeyman, because "terrorist" is now meaningless from overuse. This way, the government and other competition can more easily demonize alternative media ("Drudge is Racist") [realclearpolitics.com] and put into place De-Facto Censorship (or other things like De-Facto Ammo bans) by leaning on big retailers to ban pieces of American history. The libertarian movement is growing and it's scaring the living shit out of the status quo, so now we have this convenient push to demonize libertarians and other skeptics of the status quo as "racists." Just watch, you'll see.
Conveniently, immediately after using a media event as a pole-vault into demonizing racists, the definition of "racism" is simultaneously being widened. Critical of immigration policy? Racist. White and initiating discussion about favorite rap music to a Black person? Racist. At the same time, symbols are hidden with the strong suggestion to the public that they are forbidden, and as a result it stifles discussion and narrows the range of thought.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:28AM
> using a media event as a pole-vault into demonizing racists
Oh those poor misunderstood racists!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:39PM
It'll be only a matter of time until you speak a racist microagression, and forced to deliver an apology. The point I was drying to make is that the definitions are being widened so that anybody could be considered racist.
Idiot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:55PM
> Idiot.
What a humble way to sign your own posts. It is very self-aware, very zen. I think you should make it permanent.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday June 25 2015, @09:37AM
> This is part of a push to make "racists" the next big government bogeyman, because "terrorist" is now meaningless from overuse.
Or maybe because The US has such a massive problem with race relations, and the pressure to actually do something about it rather than just continue to hope it will just go away is becoming more and more obvious with every passing day / every new murdered black person.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday June 25 2015, @09:48AM
Exactly, just look at the posts comparing me to big oil shills because "how DARE you not toe the party line and believe in treating everyone as equal, why with that attitude we couldn't divide the poor with poverty pimps [youtube.com] like Jackson and Sharpton harrumph!". As David Carroll points out "If you are white you're a racist, if you are black you are a Uncle Tom" for DARING to actually support the words of Dr King to "judge a man by the content of his character not the color of his skin".
What the old guard on the left refuses to acknowledge (but I will) is a plain and simple fact...we got "moral majority'd" right out of our own party, just as the fiscal conservatives had to found the libertarian movement after the Falwell types ran them out their party in the 80s. Now its NOT about equality, about unity, about helping ALL of the poor and downtrodden, its about the oppression olympics [kym-cdn.com] and the new left is too fucking STUPID to see how badly they are being scammed!
Anybody here even notice that the TPP, which will make the NAFTA corporate raping look like a 2 martini lunch writeoff, is getting fast tracked? Well guess what all the media is filling their sites and airwaves with...hint its NOT the TPP fucking we are about to get, its about a 150 year old flag! So congrats new left on becoming just as shitty and corporate ass kissing as the new right, and just as the old right had to go libertarian just to have a voice I'm a card carrying member of the Green Party [wikipedia.org] and suggest strongly that others that are tired of all the racist BS by the new SJW left come have a look, we'll be happy to have ya!
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.