Posted on 11/26/2019 5:57:43 AM PST by Kaslin
Today certainly is not the easiest time to run a business. Globalization now requires executives to be experts on geopolitical issues. And thanks to rising cultural sensitivity in our own country, the slightest misstep can trigger a national boycott, which can now be organized at almost no cost through social media.
It’s understandable that business leaders who simply want to build and sell their products would be fine burying their heads in the sand. In the short term, it’s easy to surrender to the mobs that come after you, or to placate despots in exchange for access to international customers.
America’s business leaders have always played a vital role in building and sustaining our communities. But today, America needs leadership beyond funding a park or sitting on a city council. Corporate executives make a fundamental decision: does their desire for comfort outweigh their commitment to American values?
Ayn Rand, whose ideas are often portrayed as the pinnacle of cutthroat capitalism (she titled one of her works “The Virtue of Selfishness”), highlighted the difference between principled capitalism and corporate cowardice. In Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, protagonist Howard Roark is an architect who refuses to sell out his artistic vision and personal principles in order to pacify the societal elite. “You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in your own eyes,” Roark tells another character. (It’s worth noting that The Fountainhead was published in 1943—decades before the term “virtue signaling” came into popular use). As other characters in the novel sold their souls and their autonomy for financial favors, Roark stayed true to his values.
Corporate executives have become all too willing to appear virtuous to culturally favored audiences. In an apparent attempt to appease its critics, Chick-fil-A recently announced that it would end its donations to Christian groups such as the Salvation Army. Of course, such a move will serve only to embolden those who believe that online bullying tactics are the key to building their utopia. In the end, Chick-fil-A will have sacrificed its values and gained nothing.
While some corporations have surrendered to vocal online mobs, others have rolled over for the opportunity to pluck from the golden goose of international profits. Last month, Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey tweeted support for pro-freedom protesters in Hong Kong. Executives at the NBA—presumably afraid of the damage such a statement would do to their financial interests in China—stated that they were “extremely disappointed” in Morey’s tweet.
Americans were told that we would be exporting freedom by trading with dictatorial regimes. Yet those who seek freedom—such as the Hong Kong protesters, who have been waving the American flag and singing our national anthem as they rally for independence—are ignored, while American companies profit off their relationship with the mainland. NBA players, coaches, and owners—many of whom show no fear in criticizing their own country—have remained silent on the atrocities committed by the regimes of countries they benefit from.
During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote, “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.” Many CEOs and other leaders are happy to beat the drum of patriotism when it benefits their bottom line, but recoil the second they face pushback.
Thankfully, there are still a courageous few who continue to fight back. While most of Hollywood has chosen to pander to authoritarian regimes in exchange for box office receipts, South Park’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker remain a beacon of hope in the entertainment industry. Twenty-three seasons in, South Park continues to poke a stick in the eye of the powers-that-be. The show’s bold response to the NBA was both subversive and gleeful in a way that only South Park can be.
Some companies have also began pushing back against the growing cancel culture. The once-venerable New York Times—now one of the leading mouthpieces of cancel culture—recently ran a column attacking FedEx for its support of tax cuts. While the trend today is for companies under criticism to beg forgiveness and otherwise avoid headlines, FedEx’s CEO Frederick Smith issued a scathing rebuttal of the Times’ hit piece. Like many CEOs in today’s environment, it would be much easier for Smith to apologize and acquiesce to his critics. But Smith understands what few others in corporate America seem to grasp: courage of conviction is far more powerful than the whims of the crowds. What Smith and FedEx’s PR team sacrificed in social standing among online activists and Manhattan cocktail parties, they gained tenfold in integrity.
In her writings, Ayn Rand forwarded the notion that under a system of free enterprise, certain ideals must overpower the love of money. Ideals like independence, virtue, and honor. Too many members of America’s corporate class today have chosen to sell these ideals and surrender their spines in the hopes that they could mollify those with bad-faith intentions. This strategy failed Neville Chamberlain in the 1930s, and it will fail Americans today.
As we approach Thanksgiving and celebrate that fateful Mayflower voyage, let us not forget what brought those early Americans across the Atlantic. It wasn’t a desire for fortune or to build international conglomerations. America’s Pilgrims sought simply the right to be free. It’s high time our business leaders find some courage, remind themselves of the ideals upon which our country was founded (the same ideals that made them rich), and put an end to the selling out of America.
Their CEO’s and corporate board members are all products of the same Leftist university indoctrination that infects all other areas of society.
They can’t be cowed unless they allow themselves to be. Chick-fil-A prospered by defying the gaystapo, not by succumbing to it. Other companies that dare to take a principled stand can benefit from their courage. And they can suffer from cowardice.
Any acquiescence to the left is seen as a weakness, and is pounced upon. If your position is wrong, apologize. If your position simply hurts the feelings of a SJW leftest, tell them to pound sand.
Corporations have transformed into political machines.
Very well stated.
[[[“You can fake virtue for an audience. You can’t fake it in your own eyes,” Roark tells another character.]]]
The concept of today’s virtue signaling idiocy.
“They can’t be cowed unless they allow themselves to be. Chick-fil-A prospered by defying the gaystapo, not by succumbing to it.”
Corporation are quite amoral - they’re very much bottom line oriented. One of the things they fear most is angry mobs descending on their headquarters or the ceo’s mansion making his life miserable. Trust me, you would behave similarly if you were in their shoes.
The left has been masterful at instilling the fear of their mobs in corporate America and now they control them.
We on the right have caved as much as the corporations. It’s not in our DNA to use mob actions to terrorize others, but unless we find a way to make the ceo’s of these corporation even more miserable than the left is able to do, we will fail.
Or alternatevily we have to supply enough public and visible support for them that they’ll develop enough of a backbone that they will stand up to the mob. Most CEO by their very nature lean to the right, so everything else being equal, they would be on our side. They just need some meaningful support by our side to fend off the mob.
So far we haven’t done either.
We boycotted Target after they allowed pervs in women's bathrooms. Target isn't bankrupt but they took a major hit.
Chick-fil-A stood their ground, and conservatives came out in droves to buy their goods. Then they caved. They willingly forfeited all the good will they had generated by standing on principle. How's that good for the bottom line?
Federal Express' CEO just told the libs to get bent. I don't know about you, but if I have to ship anything this Christmas -- or in the future -- I'll go to FedEx first.
Conservatives may not make all the noise libs do with protests and circus acts for the cameras, but we DO vote and we DO spend money. It would behoove the corporate cowards to remember that.
“We boycotted JC Penney after they went pro-homo. JC Penney is almost bankrupt.
We boycotted Target after they allowed pervs in women’s bathrooms. Target isn’t bankrupt but they took a major hit.”
Penney was already sliding down when they went homo. As for Target, yes there was a temporary downturn, but if you look at their stock today, it’s at an all time high - and they haven’t reneged on their policies.
And look at the NFL. They also had a temporary hit, and now you even see Freepers flocking back to them.
Our efforts in this cultural war are not much more than a spit into the relentless tide of the leftist ocean.
The bottom line is the left cares much more about their values than we do ours, and they’re willing to ceaselessly fight for them. We at best give ours a bit of halfhearted lip service.
Yeah, we should just give up and resign ourselves to socialism. All is lost. Resistance is futile.
Thanks for setting me straight.
“Yeah, we should just give up and resign ourselves to socialism.”
You are rather dense if that’s what you got from my comment.
We need to fight harder, not cave like we usually do.
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