Finally, Someone Gets It
By Credit where credit is due — Glenn Reynolds has repented and finally has a reasonable take on the Brendan Eich resignation:
Meanwhile some people are muttering darkly of “blacklists” because of anger at Brandon Eich’s bigotry. Hey — it’s not a blacklist when you piss off your customers and users. Calling it that just serves to underscore the combination of overentitlement and moral unseriousness that marks conservertarian corporate executives today. As Yvonne Zipp writes:
A boycott is not the same as a blacklist. No one is hauling Brendon Eich in front of committees and threatening him with prison. Nor is he being told he can never work again if they don’t “name names.”
Wealthy reactionaries are free to use their immense wealth to promote their political views, and those people who don’t want to support that company anymore are free to say they won’t use the products produced by their companies.
It’s called the free market.
Heh. Indeed! Oh, wait, sorry, I had a couple transcription errors in there. OK, here’s the post:
STRIKE TWO for the Dixie Chicks — posing for a PETA anti-fur ad? What were they thinking?
[…]
Meanwhile some people are muttering darkly of “blacklists” because of anger at antiwar celebrities. Hey — it’s not a blacklist when you piss off your fans. Calling it that just serves to underscore the combination of overentitlement and moral unseriousness that marks entertainers today. As Yvonne Zipp writes:
A boycott is not the same as a blacklist. No one is hauling celebrities in front of committees and threatening them with prison. Nor are they being told they can never work again if they don’t “name names.”
Entertainers are free to use their fame to promote their political views, and those people who don’t find them entertaining anymore are free to change the channel.
It’s called the free market.
Hacktacular! Admittedly, there are some differences between the cases; it may not be entirely fair to compare the pressure than can some from a massive corporate titan like OK Cupid to a minor mom-and-pop operation like Clear Channel.
Bonus witless hackery from another reader email that goes beyond a heh-indeed to get an “I love it”:
“Somehow, I think those ‘rifle-toting, Bambi-shooting types’ will be buying CDs by some other artists from now on.”
In that case, I’ve got the perfect headline for you: “Pro-Blix Dixie Chicks nix pix for stix!”
Yeah, that Hans Blix sure does look foolish now, questioning the Bush administration’s airtight intelligence with such crazy techniques as “inspecting the sites where the Bush administration said there would be weapons.” What a weird and awful time that was.