I adore Ellen DeGeneres. She’s gentle, kind, funny, cute, authentic, honest. I can’t think of a single negative thing to say about her.
As you might imagine then, I was just a wee bit pissed off when One Million Moms (all 40,000 of them) made a big stink last week about JC Penney hiring Ellen as their spokesperson. The sanctimonious Moms, who were offended that Ellen is a lesbian, ended up with egg on their hateful little faces and a whole lot of it also splattered on America’s right-wing religious nut-jobs.
Scott Wooledge, over at the Huffington Post, said it all so much better than I ever could. Do check out his piece if you want to see the Moms appropriately sliced and diced. America’s reaction to their bigotry made me proud and renewed my hope what’s always been good about Americans … still is.
Related articles
- JC Penney is sticking by Ellen DeGeneres (pinkbananaworld.com)
- JC Penney reveals customers’ show of support for Ellen DeGeneres (guardian.co.uk)
- LGBT Activists Organize Buycotts For JC Penney In Support Of Ellen (thinkprogress.org)
- Ellen DeGeneres Stays On with JC Penney – to the Dismay of One Million Moms (celebs.gather.com)
- Bloggers Launch a JCPenney Shop-In To Support Ellen DeGeneres, Tolerance (blogher.com)
- JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson: ‘Ellen Shares the Same Values We Do’ – VIDEO (towleroad.com)
- Ellen DeGeneres Reacts To JC Penney Controversy (5min.com)
- Ellen DeGeneres Fires Back at J.C. Penney Protesters (newsy.com)
It probably isn’t obvious to everyone at first glance, but this is an EXCELLENT example of the fact that well intentioned laws designed to promote some kind of behavior often have consequences diametrically opposite from those intended.
Jim Crow laws hid from view the troglodyte segregationists by criminalizing the actions of progressive integrationists which made them all seem to be equally unbiased. For example; In the early 50’s, an S. H. Kress lunch counter was shut down and the manager fined when he tried to serve blacks and whites at the same counter.
Current civil rights laws which criminalize bias against certain groups in privately owned commercial enterprises similarly hide from view those business leaders who would practice the bias as well as those who would not.
Consumers and those who market their object of consumption are partners who are better able to educate and civilize the masses using logical carrots and sticks (profits and losses) than legislation with illogical (arbitrary) punishments designed to achieve the same goals.
By sticking with their decision in spite of the uproar, J. C. Penny now has a legitimately gained and viewable reputation that separates itself from it’s competitors. My applause.
I hadn’t thought about the law in this particular case, since both sides had the right to do what they did (hire and protest, respectively). The free enterprise system worked.
Way to go, Pied. I’m going to assume that you succeeded in summing up my point in the course of only two sentences.
To wit: In the absence of any law dictating any particular behavior, the free enterprise system will eventually identify and dictate the best course of action.
She certainly is perky. (If you don’t like something, just go elsewhere – don’t demand everyone think like you). Happy Bloggentines Day to all
Did I not say perky? I should have included perky. But the list was getting so long …
My hats of those who stand up and say something!!! Makes me proud to be here 🙂 Thanks for sharing this 😉
Apparently a LOT of people stood up. The Moms were put down hard, even by conservative commentators.
I love Ellen too. She’s got it all. And I guess I’m now “down” with JC Penney.