Posted on 08/03/2012 9:22:00 PM PDT by StAnDeliver
Should someone be fired from their job and threatened with violence, torture, even death because they have an opinion different than yours? Of course not. And yet, that is what Adam M. Smith of Arizona says happened to him.Adam Smith’s life has been turned upside-down in the 36 hours that followed his posting the video of his protest at Chick-fil-A, which involved letting a young, female employee at the drive-thru know what he thinks about the company. (You can watch the video here.)
We had an exclusive conversation with Smith where he shared his side of the story. Here’s a taste of what he said:
•He has lost his job as Chief Financial Officer at Vante. (Smith claims that he was not given a chance to really explain himself before being terminated)
•His family has been threatened with violence and death. (At one point, his email account was getting 3 messages a minute, mostly vulgar and threatening)
•Because his home address was made public, he cannot live in his house. (And Mr. Smith is a married father of four – two of his children are adopted, special needs kids.)
•Smith said that his original intent was to follow guidelines laid out in an online video, which included quoting a scripture.
Before the original Blaze story ran and then again following the news of Adam’s termination, I reached out to him for further comment and clarification. I wanted to see if he wanted to apologize or possibly speak with Rachel, the girl he’s seen berating in the video. There was no comment or reply from Adam until early this morning.
Mr. Smith asked me to watch the video that he claims inspired him to act. It is a YouTube clip from a Christian writer named Jackson Pearce. In the video seen below, Ms. Pearce explains her thoughts on Chick-fil-A and suggests that people go to the restaurant on August 1st and ask for a large water and mention Proverbs 25:21, and if you video your protest, she will post it as a response.
Smith’s initial reasoning for his protest at Chick-fil-A springs from his belief that same-sex marriage is a Human Rights issue and that any laws denying it must be changed. And he chose to protest against the restaurant using the method suggested in the above video.
After he returned home from his now-infamous protest, Smith posted the video as a response to the YouTube video on Ms. Pearce’s page. He claimed that this was the first video he ever posted on YouTube. He later walked that statement back saying that he had only posted a few personal family videos, but nothing of a political or protest nature.
Shortly after his video reply hit YouTube, Smith claims that threats started hitting his email inbox. Threats to his family and to himself. So, he removed the video as quickly as he could, but it had already been saved and was in the process of being re-posted by others. One re-poster is tied to the group Stormfront.org. In fact, before he actually spoke with me on the telephone, at 9:34 this morning, Adam sent an email stating:
read this……"
The link he attached to that email took me to a blog site from someone who identifies themselves as “Florida Squeezed.” The headline of the post read:
Chick-Fil-A Becomes Iconic for Neo-NAZIS & Tea PartyYoung-Adult fiction writer’s idea accidentally leads to Arizona Chick-Fil-A protester being cyber-bullied by “White Power” website based in West Palm Beach, Florida
I was a bit confused by this. Was Smith now claiming that he was the victim of cyber-bullies that he claims are Neo-Nazis? No. He wanted me to see how Stormfront.org had re-posted his initial video and also added his contact information. As the video went viral, the threats and emails increased.
“My inbox was getting 2-3 emails per minute,” he explained via phone. He added later: “I’m not even at my house, you don’t know that. I can’t live in my house right now. I’m in an undisclosed location right now.”
I wondered about his terminations. Did both the biotech manufacturing company (Vante) and the college react without giving a “hearing?”
According to him, “The college has not fired me at this point.”
When asked if there is any chance to appeal his abrupt termination from Vante, Smith said he doesn’t not have legal counsel and thus has “no idea.”
So often in cases like this, a lawyer or law firm will step up and offer to assist, so I wondered if anyone had made such a proposal:
“I don’t think anyone can find me right now. I can’t find the emails through my ***** account because… it took me an hour to find your email, and I knew you did it, I knew you sent it, and it took me an hour.”
Smith started reading off some of the offensive emails he was receiving, telling me how people were referring to him and his family:
“I’m a fa**ot, I’m so glad you got fired, it’s so funny, I hope you’re slitting your wrists, your kids have a horrible example of a father, ya know, all kinds of real tolerant stuff…. Ya know, they have free speech so great… they can do whatever they want… they can do it.”
So given all the fallout, I wanted to know if he cared to see Rachel again. “If you encountered her again, what would you say to her?” I asked.
“I will say to her… what I will say to her… and I will figure out what the right words are,” he responded. And then he shed a little more light, saying that he had already gone back to Chick-fil-A the next morning to talk to Rachel.
She refused to talk to him.
“I wanted to see if she was OK, that’s all,” he explained. “She was actually working there, and her manager went to get her… and she wouldn’t come back.”
Considering the controversy that’s erupted, you can’t really blame her.
By the way, we have repeatedly reached out to his former employer Vante for comment and have not yet received a reply.
Why would the Blaze give this jerk any air time?
Why would the Blaze give this jerk any air time?
There’s been a lot of speculation about Rachel’s reaction and what was going on in her head when this D-Bag was ranting.”
Maybe she thought she was facing an Aurora Colorado moment. Who knows, maybe she still has nightmares.
I am glad thus jerk got the fame he wanted. Now stew in it.
He said he got back to the office and their voicemail was jammed to capacity (300 voicemails, all complaining about him.)
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see the idiots face when he knew the jig was up.
Maybe Chick-Fil-A will hire him. They could let that girl teach him how to work the window and how to handle self righteous douche bags.
Just go away. Oh and Mr. Smith, I believe Neal Boortz was correct about you. A. You are a douchebag. and B. Vante wanted a reason to get rid of you for a long time and when you did this they said "YES!" then canned you!! Don't know who Neal Boortz is? Well you have all the time in the world to find out!
I never considered that. He is “out there” after all. He could retaliate since he lost his job. Could also be Chick-Fil-A told her to stay away from him.
Guys.......I just ran across this. Adam is an atheist and has wiped this from his YT account.....but SOMEBODY saved it. Here he is berating a man carrying a cross on Good Friday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRwumTSmaQ
You have to admit though that it’s very likely with his information being posted online that he has been a target. Do you think that is right? Do you think it fair that he receive death threats?
I hope to God that while you can feel it’s fair he got fired that nobody thinks he is getting what he deserves. How Christian do Christians look when they are hoping he and his family die?
Therefore, the typical, excessive behavior associated with leftists, ie death threats, can occur due to there being no moral guiding force to prohibit such behavior as far as such individuals are concerned.
Has it actually been clearly established, though, that death threats have even been received by this man, let alone anyone having actually ascertained the religious beliefs of those communicating such? Or, is it all presumption, yet again, intended to put Christians in as negative a light as possible?
This guy was fired “with cause”. That means he won’t even be able to collect unemployment.
It amazes me how stupid some “smart” people are. Any and every thing posted on the internet will always be there.
mr Smiths children will perhaps learn a valuable lesson about the consequences of not controlling one’s temper, tongue & judging. maybe those who know him or his family might explain to them the principle of reciprocity.
“When the scoffer is punished, the naive[simple] becomes wise; But when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.”
Prov 21:11 NAS
“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”
Prov 10:11 NAS
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:37 NAS
Exactly.
I think the biggest disconnect in the progressive mindset is that to them, everything is relative. They childishly define their own words and build their entire worldview from the inside out.
To them words aren't taken for their actual meaning. Vulgar, threatening, hate, bigotry. These words all create 'bad' feelings, so to them, they all must mean the same thing.
Rational people know being nasty, endangering someone, and being mean or judgmental are nowhere NEAR the same thing.
And I, for one, am heartily tired of the puerile little pukes confusing the word 'tolerance' with DOORMAT!
It will be if Obama gets reelected,we will be bowing to communist,fags, black panthers, and the lot of the filthy of this world..
Well I think it’s clear that any “Christian” that would issue a death threat to him doesn’t speak for all Christians either.
It just seemed important to me that even though the guy is a loud mouth liberal jerk that us Christians should keep our heads above it all.
If Smith did receive a credible threat, the entire Tucson LEO community is there for him to reach out to. So where is the proof of that? If he can't provide proof to The Blaze, it's a certainty you can't. There's no evidence other than Smith's word. And he is a proven liar, as he told The Blaze, 'I never posted videos to YT before that one hurr durr oh wait yes I did, a lot of them actually and I even posted a video of me interrogating a Cross-carrying man on Good Friday'.
So there's no reason to believe anything he says. At all.
To me, it is not a stretch of the imagination to visualize his wife and/or one of his children asking "why did you do that?", followed by a violent reaction from him, and their lives being snuffed out.
I pray that they will be safe, and I pray that he will not direct his anger and frustration towards them.
That would be a brilliant PR move.
Live the bible and show forgiveness and check mate the fired a-hole and the MSM in one fell swoop. Brilliant.
It's all the same to that bunch. So, in their view, he did say it.
Well, he's right, and they....suck.
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