How does this happen? Chick-fil-A branded as anti-gay?

[The Mad Monk]

That's why it's moved on to Chicago

[Elok]

It certainly does. It contributes to the alienation and ostracization of a minority group with the highest rate of suicide. It makes it socially acceptable to treat homosexuals like scum or criminals, which then infringes on countless numbers of other rights.

WTF do you mean, socially acceptable? The government allowing individuals to speak does not constitute an endorsement of their speech. We let Nazis, the KKK and the WBC spew their crap all they want, and all three are pariahs outside their own small, inbred circles. As for alienation, that's beside the point. Person A's feelings do not, by themselves, justify muzzling Person B.

I understand you cannot comprehend this. You've been raised in a country where what I'm saying is heresey. Goddamnit, you live in a beautiful country, the greatest in the world. What other countries can you openly stand on a pulpit and call all jews Pedophiles we must unite against?

...because, you know, I've been such a flag-waving jingoist on this site in the past.

Other countries look at freedom as more than a document. Are we truly free if we live in fear?

I could turn that right around and say "are we truly free if we can be punished purely for saying something unpopular?" You could make a case for any situation whatever being unfree on one grounds or another. We in the States tend to err more on the side of individual liberty, yes, and we have a codified list of the freedoms we allow ourselves. Every country has its own set of rights and privileges. Some of them are written down. What of it?

[Al B. Sure!]

I just think there are bigger chickens to fry

Like the Catholic church.

But that won't happen because the Latino vote is an important growing demographic.

[Elok]

Is it actually regulating the business, or just a mayor blowing off steam? I've not yet seen any evidence of business regulation.

Maybe that's another part of the issue that these epically professional news outlets have chosen not to share.

Asher raised the hypothetical question of a local government banning a business like CFA. AFAIK nobody has suggested that such a thing is happening IRL, at least in this thread.

EDIT: WTF? TMM's link mentions some alderman trying to keep CFA from opening a restaurant there because they "don't represent Chicago values." Same article also says he can't legally do that, but I stand corrected.

[The Mad Monk]

Actually, Chicago is trying to do just that -- check my link.

[Asher]

I'm not outraged or anything, but Asher did suggest that the Mayor or citizens or someone prevent CFA from opening a branch there, which would violate free speech.

You do realize I've explicitly stated the opposite twice now, right?

I'm being too abstract for the usual suspects here, it seems.

[Al B. Sure!]

So Asher, you've been posting a lot lately? I noticed the last couple months, you rarely posted, but now you're in full force.

[Elok]

You do realize I've explicitly stated the opposite twice now, right?

I'm being too abstract for the usual suspects here, it seems.

I don't mean that you're actually for it personally, you supercilious 'sack. But you plainly raised the question.

[Asher]

WTF do you mean, socially acceptable? The government allowing individuals to speak does not constitute an endorsement of their speech.

I never said endorse. But if your community leaders around you, like let's say a youth pastor..., espoused such views and actively recruited others to join him...that's the rocky road towards social acceptance. Especially in the case of a small town, as this was.

I could turn that right around and say "are we truly free if we can be punished purely for saying something unpopular?"

Yes, you could be as stupid as saying such a thing.

You're allowed to say unpopular things in Canada. Hell, you're allowed to swear on TV. What you're not allowed to do is recruit people in an effort to target minorities for violence or any other actions which can impact their rights.

And yeah, we are truly free. We're far more free than America is in all of the ways that matter - the every day things. I don't need to worry about getting hit by a bus and bankrupted by it. I don't need to worry about the ******* behind me packing an AR-15 and 6,000 rounds of ammo. I don't need to listen to bigots trying to unite the world to take away my rights. I can march down to city hall and get married to my partner of over 9 years. I can turn on the TV and see news that does not overly lie and mislead as an agenda.

I'll take ALL of that over the ability to ridicule black people and ask we round them up and get rid of them.

[Asher]

So Asher, you've been posting a lot lately? I noticed the last couple months, you rarely posted, but now you're in full force.

Partner is working on site up north, I'm at the office longer and do idle things longer.

[Al B. Sure!]

WOW!

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino repeated today that he doesn’t want Chick-fil-A in Boston, but he backed away from a threat to actively block the fast-food chain from setting up shop in the city.

“I can’t do that. That would be interference to his rights to go there,” Menino said, referring to company president Dan Cathy, who drew the mayor’s wrath by going public with his views against same-sex marriage.

The mayor added: “I make mistakes all the time. That’s a Menino-ism.”

[Elok]

And yeah, we are truly free. We're far more free than America is in all of the ways that matter - the every day things. I don't need to worry about getting hit by a bus and bankrupted by it. I don't need to worry about the ******* behind me packing an AR-15 and 6,000 rounds of ammo. I don't need to listen to bigots trying to unite the world to take away my rights. I can march down to city hall and get married to my partner of over 9 years. I can turn on the TV and see news that does not overly lie and mislead as an agenda.

Okay, from the top, that's public health policy, gun control, restrictions on others' speech, equal privileges, and restrictions on the media, all of which you have magically equivocated into "freedom" by treating the word as identical to "stuff I think is good." I can just as readily say I'm more free than people in Europe because I can drive much farther without paying an arm and a leg for gas. I have more physical mobility, so I'm more free! Your argument is nonsensical.

P.S. Didn't you make a snide remark about "where do these 'rights' come from" a couple of pages back? Where did this right to not be alienated come from, then?

[Al B. Sure!]

What about my freedom to go to Chick-fil-a, Asher?!

[Asher]

What about my freedom to go to Chick-fil-a, Asher?!

You're free to marry a gay woman!

[Asher]

Okay, from the top, that's public health policy, gun control, restrictions on others' speech, equal privileges, and restrictions on the media, all of which you have magically equivocated into "freedom" by treating the word as identical to "stuff I think is good."

No, it is the sense of freedom. Again, you do not understand. How could you? This isn't in the constitution.

Americans are obsessed with guns, revolutions, and the threat of big government. They do this while they kill themselves with guns, have nothing close to a revolution, and have a massive ****ing government. Everything seems to equate to "but what if we need to overthrow a tyrant?"

If you need to overthrow a tyrant, who the **** cares what the laws are?

P.S. Didn't you make a snide remark about "where do these 'rights' come from" a couple of pages back? Where did this right to not be alienated come from, then?

The right is to personal security. That right does not come from the US constitution.