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posted by takyon on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:00PM   Printer-friendly

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.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:20AM (#200819)

    Is it not freedom of speech for Amazon to decide what products they will sell?

    Not if they feel they have to in order to avoid being crucified by public outrage. Being forced to shut up is censorship, weather it's governments doing it or bloodshot eyed soccer moms.

    Invoking freedom of speech to force somebody to do business they do not want to is really messed up.

    If they didn't want to do business with this particular good, then why were they selling it so far?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @12:31PM (#200906)

    Is it not freedom of speech for Amazon to decide what products they will sell?

    Not if they feel they have to in order to avoid being crucified by public outrage.

    I see. So it couldn't possibly be because they realized what they were doing was fucked up and that they wanted to stop.
    No, it must be because they are being threatened by all those evil, hypocritical crypto-racists!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @04:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @04:38PM (#201063)

    Is it not freedom of speech for Amazon to decide what products they will sell?

    Not if they feel they have to in order to avoid being crucified by public outrage.

    Just so you know, the First Amendment protects you from government censure of your speech. It does not protect your from public opprobrium.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @06:46PM (#201150)

      Just so you know, the concept of freedom of speech isn't limited to the first amendment.