Liberals attack Whole Foods

American Thinker ^ | August 21, 2009 | Robin of Berkeley

[neverdem]

As a leftist up until last year, I know what liberals are good at:  emotion and righteous indignation.  And they're experts at channeling that fury into concrete action.  So Moveon.org and other far left groups are e mailing and twittering and Facebooking like crazy to mobilize the troops into doing whatever they dictate.

Their tactics can be so cruel and chilling, that those of us with a conscience can be left hanging in the dust.  Meanwhile, a la Saul Alinsky, the Left isolates, demonizes and destroys their "enemies," that is anyone who disagrees with them.

When a person or company is the next target for Liberal Fascism, my plan is to contact the business and offer unconditional support and encourage my new friends to do ths same. I already did this when I  read of a boycott of Israeli products at Trader Joe's. I marched in  there, purchased some "Israeli Cous Cous" (pretty good, actually), and told the store manager why I was buying it.

Case in point:  The current boycott of Whole Foods because John Mackey, the CEO, has his own opinions about health care and expressed these in the Wall Street Journal.

The result: a nation wide, well publicized campaign of nasty phone calls and e mails to local stores.  Ironically, if you've ever been in a Whole Foods, you know that 99.9% of the employees are mega Obama fans.  And when Obama was campaigning in Iowa, didn't he wax rhapsodic about the arugula there?  (He's such a man of the people.)

When a person or company is the next target for Liberal Fascism, I suggest that we get organized ourselves.  Contact the business and offer unconditional support.  This is a win win for several reasons.

First, it shows the company that there are many people who agree with them.  I called my local Whole Foods and spoke to the manager and said, "I am calling to express my complete support for Whole Foods.  I am appalled at what the Left is doing by demonizing anyone who disagrees with them.  I've always been a liberal but they are going too far.  I will shop at Whole Foods even more and encourage all my friends to do the same."

There were several seconds of silence.  I actually thought we had gotten disconnected.  Finally, the manager spoke in a stunned voice, "I thought when you started that you'd be another person attacking me.  I am so grateful for your support."

Given that she was in a vulnerable place (being yelled at all week), I spent a couple of minutes doing some consciousness raising.  "I'm in my 50's and liberalism has changed so much since I was young.  It used to be about free speech and now it's about controlling speech."

I was pleased when she agreed.

I didn't say anything negative about Obama which might have made her defensive.  I also chose not to identify myself as a conservative (because I was concerned about being immediately discredited as someone who doesn't shop there anyway -- although my credit card bills tell a different tale).

There's that old joke:  The definition of a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged.  (Unfortunately, I can relate to that one.)  A new version:  The definition of a conservative is a liberal who's been Alinsky-busted.

Given that the Left eats their own, that offers the possibility of many more conservatives!

If you want to support Whole Foods, here are some ideas.

1.  Contact your local store manager and express your support.  If you're shopping there, let the Obama lovers who work there know you are concerned with extreme far Left tactics.

2.  E mail Whole Foods at wholefoods.com.

3.  John Mackey's e mail address is: john.mackey@wholefoods.com

4.  Leave a message at corporate headquarters:  512 477 5566.

5.  Fax them at 512 482 7000.

Lastly, the other great reason for doing things like this is that it feels good!  By expressing my opinion, I felt like I was doing something, and was a great antidote for powerlessness.

And anyway I really do love the salad bar there (not arugula though).

A frequent contributor, Robin of Berkeley is a recovering liberal and psychotherapist.

[livius]

I didn’t know the original WF was in Austin. They just opened a beautiful store in Jacksonville, Florida. The materials are sustainable this and sustainable that, but the architects did a great job with it and it’s really a very nice space with very attractive features. And of course the food is great.

I go up to JAX every so often to shop there and eat some of the tasty treats from the salad/hot foods bar. And they have what is probably the best bakery in Jacksonville.

Many of the people who work there are probably Obama voters, but actually, some of them strike me as being more on the libertarian side and a little unpredictable.

[Vinnie]

and I can't stand the "HIPPIES" that work and shop there

I know what you mean.
Most of the employees at the WF near me are 'hippies', at least present themselves as such.

But, I take the 'freak show' attitude and find it amusing. Plus I'll have to admit they are friendly, articulate, helpful and speak the Queen's English.

[coop71]

I used to love shopping at WF in Raleigh, NC! Did without for several years when we lived in WV and was so glad when we moved to Greensboro, as we could head over to Winston-Salem to shop at the one over there. That happiness was short lived. The WF in Winston-Salem is small, crowded, and full of astonishingly rude people. Every time we’d go, I was amazed at the level of rudeness from other customers. It’s as if they all walked through the doors and magically become the only customer in the store.

So, no WF for me until we move back to Raleigh next year.

[GVnana]

Maybe so for a few years. But they won’t win the war.

[Irish Queen]

In my experience, I have much less wastage with produce from Whole Foods. The problem with stores like Smiths and Safeway is their over spraying of much of their produce. Last Tuesday Sweet Hubby purchased a head of iceberg at Smiths because he thought we were out of lettuce. When he cut it open he discovered that the middle was brown and squishy. The lettuce had been over watered. So I searched the depth of our over-size Amana and came up with a two week old head of iceberg (in a brown paper bag)from Whole Foods.

[FrankR]

"I hate to rain on your parade, but maybe they earned that money from legitimate means. Not every black person gets things from ill gotten methods. Crab in a pot mentality doesn’t extend to going into a “big 7” career and blowing your money on crap. "

In the first place, you cannot "rain on" my "parade", you don't have the power. It's my personal opinion and my observation and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change it...nothing!

And, I don't even know what you are trying to say with the "crab" and "big 7" line...you sound like a kook to me.

I've been around for almost 64 years, and I've seen it from all sides. I know there are many, responsible, and well-to-do black people, and I am all about responsibility and self-reliance.

Even members of ACORN should be able to understand that.

[gussiefinknottle]

rats, might have to start shopping there. But the prices
are so high!

[fight_truth_decay]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2317025/posts

Related earlier WF story.

[Cacique]

btt

[mrsmel]

I agree with everything you say, I just don’t have much faith at this point in the scenario you depict being avoided. Too many whites have had their minds engraved with political correctness, a lot of them can’t shake it even when they recognise it and make fair judgements across the board on a consistent basis, no matter what the race of the person being weighed. There are whites, mainly on the left, who are themselves invested in seeing the tables turned (never seeming to realise, that like all useful idiots, they will be in the range of fire also).

[mrsmel]

I’ve had no use for organic food ever since the time, a few years ago, I bought some organic green beans. When I put them in a pan to saute, the heat made a bunch of bugs come out of them. It took three calls from the exterminator to get all the bugs from under my range, where they scurried after heat was applied to their azzes (they appeared to have been in the green beans unhatched). I was hysterical, I HATE bugs, especially in my house. I was so disgusted I wouldn’t use the range for weeks. Give me nice non-organic food that’s been sprayed for bugs.

[NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN]

There is a new Whole Foods opening in my neighborhood in New York City (97th Street and Columbus Avenue) August 27

[Daveinyork]

“3. John Mackey’s e mail address is: john.mackey@wholefoods.com“

Done

[Christian4Bush]

bump

[neverdem]

Global Cooling/Warming hysteria: What happened to science? The pdf link isn't that long. It's mostly graphs.

Thomas Sowell: Obama’s Bait and Switch - As we argue about the uninsured, the single-payer camel pokes its nose under the tent. Comment# 11 is a killer. SuziQ, thank you!

The squeegee guys of health care

Flu shot guidelines criticized - Mathematical model suggests that US experts got their priorities wrong.

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[xkaydet65]

I don’t normally shop at Whole Foods here on L.I., but I shopped there today for some stuff for a barbecue tomorrow, and I will continue to shop there on a more regular basis. I am incensed that this boycott is not for doing or saying anything outrageous, but for simply providing another idea about health care. I have heard TOTUS many times this month express admiratin for an open exchange of ideas, but I guess that message was only for public consumption.

[SuziQ]

We have a Trader Joe’s in town that I just love. Their prices are better than Whole Food’s prices. We have a whole foods about 25 minutes from home, but I just don’t get over that way very often.

[Grampa Dave]

Let Whole Foods and the Fascist Rats destroy each other.

Whole Foods is a left wing organization which pushes Green to make money.

[GOPJ]

I called my local Whole Foods and spoke to the manager and said, "I am calling to express my complete support for Whole Foods. I am appalled at what the Left is doing by demonizing anyone who disagrees with them. I've always been a liberal but they are going too far. I will shop at Whole Foods even more and encourage all my friends to do the same."

Liberals are narrow minded bigots who are terrified of any ideas formed after 1968 - their "hay-day". The sooner John Mackey learns what kind of party he's backing - the better.