Posted on 08/02/2012 11:37:07 AM PDT by rhema
The Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day yesterday was historic. It was historic because it marks a new method of mass protest. I even hesitate to use the word ‘protest’ because it wasn’t a protest. There wasn’t any anger. There wasn’t any hate. There wasn’t any bullying. There were no unwashed crowds of unhappy people holding a sit in and causing other people stress, inconvenience and expense. There were no protest signs, no marches, no noise makers and attention grabbers. There were no revolutionary slogans, no clenched fists, no class warfare, no sullen adolescents in a stroppy mood.
The classic signs of a protest movement were absent. If they were not actually violent revolutions, the great protest movements in history have often had violent undertones. Subtle threats were made. Bullying tactics, financial and political pressure was exerted. Guns were wielded. Behind the scenes in smoke filled rooms men did deals and crossed swords to determine the future of millions. In the great revolutions hoards of unhappy people filled the streets, rioting and on the rampage they took what they wanted, killed who they wanted and in misplaced zeal for justice overturned an established order.
Even the non-violent protests pioneered by Gandhi and the American civil rights movement had an undercurrent of threat. Nevertheless, they avoided violence and they opened the way to other peaceful revolutions in which ordinary people stood up against injustice and tyranny without resorting to violence themselves. In his great biography of Pope John Paul II, George Weigel shows how the Catholic Church, during John Paul’s papacy, inspired this sort of non violent revolution across the globe. The Solidarity movement in Poland lit the fuse which brought down the Communist Empire with little or no violence. The revolution of Cory Aquino in the Phillipines, and numerous other smaller scale non-violent revolutions in Africa and Central and South America were all inspired by the people and for the people–and most of them were also inspired by people of faith–working from the grass roots upward to change their society for the better.
Yesterday’s Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day was the sort of ‘revolt’ this country needs, but it was even better than the non violent revolutions and peaceful protests which have changed the world because it was so ordinary. It was just plain, ordinary Americans getting in their cars and doing a plain, ordinary American thing: going out for lunch to a fast food joint. It was just plain, ordinary Americans doing something plain and ordinary, but positive and joyful and good. In buying an ordinary tasty chicken sandwich at their corner fast food emporium ordinary Americans were expressing the wish to be left alone to be ordinary Americans.
There were no protest signs (except from a few glum pro-gays who said we were eating ‘hate’ sandwiches) There were no noisy, angry scenes. Folks in the drive through lines did not honk their horns or proclaim their Christianity with bullhorns. There were no statements against homosexuals or homosexuality. (Indeed, the only statement put out by Chick-Fil-A affirmed their commitment to serve and employ all people equally without notice of race, gender, age or sexual orientation.) The brilliance of the event that it used the network of a nationwide fast food chain as the foundation for a visible, peaceful, creative nationwide statement.
There was no bullying, no hateful anti-homosexual loud mouthed preachers. This grace, patience gentleness and community good humor contrasted with the ugly and spiteful comments from the ‘other side’. Nobody wished their enemies to get cancer the way ‘comedian’ Roseanne Barr proclaimed. Nobody was using back room political and financial pressure to bully the majority of Americans the way mayors of Boston, DC and Chicago were doing. For all the talk of the traditional marriage supporters being full of hate, there was not hatred apparent. It was just ordinary suburban Americans sticking up for their way of life by buying a chicken sandwich with their friends and neighbors. These were not scary people like the folks from Westboro Baptist who tote guns and hate homos. They were the folks next door.
Yesterday’s demonstration was a truly American form of revolution. Where else could it happen but the USA?
...a triumph of good over evil.
The story that the media isn’t touching is the fact that this turnout of average citizens (as SanFranNan refers to it as astroturfing) portends dire consequences for Obama and the dem party in the upcoming elections.
Americans are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore.
There was no bullying, no hateful anti-homosexual loud mouthed preachers. This grace, patience gentleness and community good humor contrasted with the ugly and spiteful comments from the ‘other side’. Nobody wished their enemies to get cancer the way ‘comedian’ Roseanne Barr proclaimed. Nobody was using back room political and financial pressure to bully the majority of Americans the way mayors of Boston, DC and Chicago were doing. For all the talk of the traditional marriage supporters being full of hate, there was not hatred apparent. It was just ordinary suburban Americans sticking up for their way of life...
Beautiful post. It's what happened... good people defending their beliefs with quiet dignity...
I agree. November will be a landslide. Not one of those people will vote for a democrat party that embraces the queer relationship plank.
I live in Oklahoma which is a little more conservative than the rest of the country, but the enthusiasm for conservative values is unbridled.
We kicked out Re. John Sullivan, an OK conservative because he started to look like a RINO. This could be a landslide.
I just wish we had someone to vote for, instead of just voting against 0bama.
The story that the media isn’t touching is the fact that this turnout of average citizens (as SanFranNan refers to it as astroturfing) portends dire consequences for Obama and the dem party in the upcoming elections.
++++++++++++
You betcha they’re not.
But have no doubt that the members of the Jarrett-Axelrod Team are losing more than their average amount of sleep after watching yesterday’s YouTube highlights.
They know that the Chick-Fil-A crowd will be out in force come Election Day 2012. And they won’t be there to vote for Obama.
I'm surprised they had any food left. So many stores ran out.
The sheeperals are horrified...
They know what this means.
Exactly.
The Chicken That Roared
I love the fact that many Wendy’s locations put this up on their billboards:
“Go to Chick-Fil-A today”
Guess all those hard working individual franchise owners do NOT think ‘someone else built your business—not you”.....like Obama says.
Of all the dumb things Obama has said, this one will leave the biggest imprint on America for the longest time, IMO.
I am not only thinking of all the small businesses -—like mine—but I am also thinking of the athletes who worked so hard & are competing at the Olympics.
I am far from a world class athlete, but 24 years ago, I went for championship points nationwide in a horse riding discipline.
I rode that horse-—NOT someone from the government.
I hauled that horse & trailer all over the country—NOT someone from the government.
I paid for the entries & rode the 50 or 100 miles of each event-—NOT someone from the government.
I put in all the extra hours at my business so I could be absent from my desk for 61 days that year-—NOT someone from the government.
I drove over 30,000 miles—NOT someone from the government.
I have the award for Reserve National Champion in that sport on MY wall-—NOT someone from the government.
Brian Williams on NBC was reporting last night that it was “organized” by Mike Huckabee. Possibly he had the idea, but I think neither the media nor the dems understand that it was NOT “organized”.
I drove to the CFA in Cedar Hill texas to get a grilled chicken sandwich and waffle fries. You couldn’t get within 20 feet of the place, in 108 degree temps outside people were standing 10 deep outside in lines to get food, there were no parking places and the cars were lined up waiting to get in. This wasn’t at noon, this was at 1:30 in the afternoon. I LOL, great show of support. I didn’t get my lunch that day.
I'm still predicting that 0bamao gets Carterized in three months.
Banned-in-Boston Mayor Menino: "[t]here is no place for discrimination on Boston's Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it."
Banned-in-Chicago Alderman Proco Moreno:“If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the First Ward."
Banned-in-San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee: "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."
Here's what independents are not hearing from the right:
Dark imprecations and vows from conservative elected officials to ban Starbucks or [fill in liberal company's name here] from their cities because the company or its CEO supports gay marriage
To me this is not about what some homosexuals wish for - or how they see the world - or what they want and demand. It is about a blatant attempt to SHUT ONE MAN UP - trying to forcefully deny his Freedom of Speech Rights through the use of threats, bullying, intimidation and hate mongering. It should have to go without saying - but we have Constitutional Rights to exercise Free Speech, Free Religious Speech, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association. Therefore, we have to show complete resistance to these Fascist attempts to shut down our God given rights embodied in our Constitution. And we did it in grand style. If you look at all the photos of the massive turnout at all the Chick-Fil-As across the nation - you can see November...
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