Chicken, Crow or Fox?

There has been a medium-grade shitstorm in the media lately. HUGE surprise, I know. This current cesspool swirls around a fast-food chain known as Chick-fil-A (CFA). CFA is a $4 billion/year company run by the very devout Cathy family of Atlanta, GA. These folks are one of two major retail outlets that are closed on Sundays that I am aware of, the other being furniture store RC Willey. According to the biography of company president Dan Cathy, as displayed on the company's website, CFA's corporate purpose is: "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

Makes it sound like god wants you have that 16 grams of fat and 1400 milligrams of sodium in a 440 calorie sandwich, don't it? Selling fast food and buying into the god fantasy are no big deal, but it turns out that the Cathy family doesn't exactly want to keep their beliefs to themselves. Mr. Cathy appeared on a GA radio show and made the following statement:

"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'" Cathy said. "I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about." 

Please forget for a moment the prideful, arrogant attitude inherent in that statement. Or not. The fact that Mr. Cathy truly believes that his version of god can dictate to ANYONE the definition of ANYTHING is ludicrous. Cue the shitstorm. Those of us that support marriage equality are cheesed that the president of a major American company would behave like that in public. Are we not in the 21st century, rather than the 19th? Have we not progressed beyond such xenophobia? Did you not get that memo, Mr. Cathy?

The plot thickens when you find out that the officers of CFA are also the officers of the WinShape Foundation. CFA gives millions to WinShape. WinShape gives millions to groups like Focus on the Family to help in their crusades against abortion and marriage equality. Supporters of the LGBT population started calling for boycotts and the conservative media cried foul!

In an interview with Fixed Noise, no less a literary light than the former half-governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, leapt to the defense of CFA. She said, "Well, that calling for the boycott is a real -- has a chilling effect on our 1st Amendment rights".  Liberal politicians are inviting CFA to stay away from their locales and social media is raging with the debate. The Constant Reader knows how I stand on the issue. For a refresher just look here or here. You also know I can smell a rat a mile away, and that's just what I smell here.

While the Net and the media burned with debate, CFA held their annual "Appreciation Day". It appears to be a promotion where you can get free product if you dress like a cow (the company mascot), and other prizes are given away. With all this free publicity swirling around, guess who reported "world record" sales on that day? Survey SAYS... Chick-fil-A!

That brings me to the title of this missive. Did Dan Cathy show his ass by insisting that his god has the undisputed right to define marriage? Absolutely! Will he be forced to eat crow one day when this nation comes to its' senses on equality for all? I sincerely hope so. Did CFA make a metric butt-load of money over the past week thanks to a shitstorm of free publicity? Damn right. Crazy like a fox.