Change of heart?
So, there's been a lot of buzz about Wal-mart recently. I'm not one to readily jump on bandwagons - especially when it comes to boycotts. I prefer to spend more time holding up the good and honorable instead. But, I did take notice and found it interesting that Wal-mart would "change face" so quickly if it means losing the business of a portion of their customer base on "Black Friday."
However, did they really change anything? I'm afraid I'm not convinced. According to the American Family Association:
Since they have such a large customer base, I would wager to say that most all controversial issues would in some way "directly relate to their ability to serve their customers." In my opinion, this is no victory for truth and righteousness and should not be lauded as such.
I appreciated Carmon's post on this and her conclusion:
However, did they really change anything? I'm afraid I'm not convinced. According to the American Family Association:
Wal-Mart has announced it "will no longer make corporate contributions to support or oppose controversial issues unless they directly relate to their ability to serve their customers."Seems pretty wishy-washy to me. My husband agreed it was a bunch of goobly-gook. They were basically saying something which sounded good but was, in essense, saying nothing. They could just as well have said, "We will support sodomites since they are part of our customer base and we want to serve our customer base."
Since they have such a large customer base, I would wager to say that most all controversial issues would in some way "directly relate to their ability to serve their customers." In my opinion, this is no victory for truth and righteousness and should not be lauded as such.
I appreciated Carmon's post on this and her conclusion:
Everyone has to pick their battles. There are lots of issues to get grumpy about, and you can't even buy a computer from a company today that has corporate policies that Christian people can support. I think, though, that those who position themselves as supporting families but who simultaneously operate in a way that helps the enemies of family life, ought to be held accountable and not supported in their duplicity.
posted by Crystal Paine at 9:09 AM
9 Comments:
I'm not sure what my final take on this issue will be and I'm very interested in what other Christian and family-oriented women have to say on the topic. However, here's how I see it now: The sum Wal-Mart gave to the NGLCC was $25,000 which is a very small amount of change for a huge corporation like W-M. It would be the same as a small business throwing about 5 cents toward the NGLCC in an effort to keep the militant homosexuals out of their hair. I think that W-M may have simply been trying to take preventative measures rather than to actually support the gay/lesbian agenda. Also, if I have the right information, a "gay" W-M affiliate store is allowed to reap affiliate rewards like any other affiliate store. Can you imagine the trouble W-M would be in if they specifically disallowed g/l supporting stores from becoming affiliates? So, my question is...do I boycott a store that will likely come under huge g/l pressure and possibly even litigation if it doesn't throw a few pennies their way? (Yes, I hate that g/l have this much power...but they do!)
While I do think that while boycotts have their place, as a whole, businesses respond better to messages like, "we'd like more family friendly items and will shop in family-friendly places" rather than to messages like, "we hate (whatever) and are never coming back". I think we should thank businesses like W-M for offering what we like, spend money on those products, and ask for more like products. In fact, I think that's what the g/l groups do and you can see how they've changed a whole country's thought pattern in less than one generation (not that we should necessarally follow their tactics...)
Sincerely, Diana
I'm not sure that Wal-Mart will keep their promises. However, I called them this morning and also e-mailed them, thanking them for keeping out of the cultural wars.
I will also sign up for the American Family Association's "action alert" and e-mail updates. I, like everyone else, am very busy, but I feel it is my responsibility to write letters, make phone calls, etc. to let my voice be heard. It is the least I can do to support the ministries who work so hard to alert us to problems in society.
While I am saddened that Walmart has made these contributions they are no different than ANY OTHER big corporation. Try finding a corporation that does not support either abortion, porn, or gay rights in some form. I think you need to look at your local store. Our local Walmart gave a VERY generous donation to our Pregnancy Support Center where I work. They gave us $500 in cash along with about 40 cases of diapers and 15 cases of diaper wipes to give to needy clients. If you look on the donation wall that they have in their store most of the donations have gone to children's hospitals, police/firemen associations, veterans groups, etc.
IMHO, the more egregious crime committed by Wal-Mart on a daily basis is paying their employees such a pathetically low wage, working them full time and then refusing them health coverage. They encourage their workers to apply for government subsidized health insurance thereby passing the cost onto US. I don't care if they give their money to gay charities as much as I care about what really affects the consumer and the Christian- encouraging dependence on government subsidies does worse damage.
I don't like WalMart because of the way they treat their employees.Yes it is sad that they give money to gay and lesbian people but on the other hand they are very generous to other programs.Our last school district was given grants to help teach ESL to the parents in the school-at least the parents were trying to learn English while living in the US.It is hard to find any major company without any wrong doings-just look at Disney !!
I agree that I don't like how low of wages Wal-mart pays employees, either, but my point was not necessarily to bash Wal-mart. My point was to further clarify the statements they made which some were taking to mean a complete reversal of their position on sodomy. That's not what it was at all, and I think we all would do well to do our research and read things carefully before jumping on any bandwagon for or against anything. Just as in the recent information widely circulated on Wal-mart giving 5% of all proceeds on the day after Thanksgiving to a sodomite group, which was completely untrue (Wal-mart, in fact, was just listed as in affiliate on a sodomite website and by clicking through the link on that website, you would be donating 5% to their cause), so the recent statements that Wal-mart is no longer supporting sodomite groups are also unfounded. Don't believe something just because you read it somewhere - do your research and fact-checking!
I like shopping at Walmart ocassionally, and I've never had a bad experience there. However, I don't think that I could in good concience shop there if I knew for a fact that part of the money that I'm spending is going towards supporting sodomite groups. I'll have to do more research because I thought that they agreed not to contribute to this anymore.
I was a huge boycotter for awhile. There are many companies that support homosexual organizations. When I found out that my car insurance (Allstate) was one of those big companies I stopped. Ford and Kraft are some others that I can think of (yet, another reason not to buy Fords). I have kind of given up, now. I rarely go to Wal-Mart, but this isn't going to stop me from going there altogether. If people feel that Wal-Mart is underpaying them then they shouldn't work there.
My question is, why do we need to donate money to these people. What do they use the money for. Are they starving or homeless? I can't believe the nonsense that people call "charity." Just because you have a gender identity disorder and want us to think you are normal does not mean that you deserve donations. I am a SAHM. I have not conformed to the norm of this country. I think companies should donate to SAHMs because they are different and people just don't understand us. *sniff* See how ridiculous this sounds? Companies should be donating to charities that are feeding and housing people. Why don't they send the money to Darfur or something.
I think Wal-Mart felt pressured because they get so much bad press.They are trying to be pc.
I agree we should all research before we jump to conclusions. Does anyone have a list of reliable websites for current events/controversies/politics?
Post a Comment
<< Home