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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: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:39AM
Interesting -- there is this story about the Confederate flag appearing everywhere the last couple days, and at the same time, Congress has been getting fast track for TPP back on the rails. This flag story is directly above the TPP story on Soylent News, and despite the objectively greater importance of TPP, that TPP story has half the comments.
This is a real win for Amazon, Walmart, GE, Monsanto, etc. etc. While we all sit around and bitch about a scrap of fabric, the display of which was actually a helpful indicator of whether a person was worth shunning, the companies are getting themselves all fixed up for a post-national world where real political power rests in the corporate boardroom. Secondly, taking this flag out of the public consciousness is good for these companies because if we stop being reminded of slavery so often, we're less likely to note our own predicament.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:01AM
Bingo. I clicked the link to ask "How is it a good thing that Corporate America can flex it's muscles, and impose it's will on the American people?" And, here you are, basically asking the same thing.
This WILL come back to bite us all in the ass.
Of course, there are those sheeple who actually want to live in a corporate ruled world.
Science fiction writers were addressing the evils of super national corporations fifty years ago. No one has listened to the warnings. I suppose that we will have to experience the excesses of boardroom diplomacy before we believe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:39AM
> I clicked the link to ask "How is it a good thing that Corporate America can flex it's muscles, and impose it's will on the American people?"
Really? Do you hear yourself?
Choosing to not sell a symbol of haterd and genocide is a corporate conspiracy?
Guys like you really live down to the worst stereotypes of conservatives.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:27AM
> and despite the objectively greater importance of TPP, that TPP story has half the comments.
Well, I'd wager that no one here has read the TPP, not even one of the leaked drafts.
So... it is no surprise we don't have much to say about it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by istartedi on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:10AM
TPP story has half the comments
The flag is a classic bike shed [wikipedia.org], and the TPP is like the nuclear power plant in that example.
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