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.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @03:41AM
> I think you're oversimplifying a problem with much deeper structure than you'll ever know in order to bring false clarity to your own life.
Not clarity, rationalization of pre-existing bias. If you've read many of hairy's posts, you would have no difficulty predicting how he would come out on this issue. Even to the point of him citing, for the millionth time, his former membership in the socialist left 40+ years ago. He's like that climate change denier constantly citing his former membership in greenpeace the 1970s. [mediamatters.org] I'll go out on a limb and guess that both of them did what they did so long ago not for ideology, but for pussy.
(Score: 2) by Non Sequor on Friday June 26 2015, @06:58PM
I consider it a hobby to try to disrupt people who wear political blinders. I don't really care which side their on, since all of the sides make themselves useless in different ways.
Honestly local politics and positional bargaining (i.e. horse trading type deals) on niche issues are the only really meaningful politics to me. Sweeping gestures tend to cause as much damage as good.
Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.