What If There Was a Microsoft Appreciation Day? 362
theodp writes "In 2005, Microsoft came under fire after withdrawing support for an anti-gay-discrimination bill. 'I don't want the company to be in the position of appearing to dismiss the deeply-held beliefs of any employee, by picking sides on social policy issues,' explained CEO Steve Ballmer. That was then. Microsoft — like Google and Amazon — has since very publicly declared its support for gay-marriage legislation, which means it — unlike Chick-fil-A — needn't worry about the 'deeply-held beliefs of any employee' causing it to be blocked from doing business by the mayors of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. I guess we'll never know what Microsoft versions of 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day' or 'National Same-Sex Kiss Day' would have looked like."
What's the point of this "story"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Other than just trying to rile up commentators? Clickbait much?
A gay viewpoint (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't consider it real progress that some companies come out in support of gay marriage, while others are against it. I go to Pride, but I wish we didn't have it. Real progress will be when it ceases to matter whether or not you're gay; When it's as natural as not being gay.
It's like black history month. I don't support that either. People call me racist for it, but I don't. There is no black history month; Black history is American history. It's human history. And their accomplishments should be celebrated the same way as every other historical accomplishment is. We don't need a "special olympics" history for people based on the color of their skin, we need to delete those divisions from our history books, mentioning only that there was a period of time (known as the Stupid Ages) when it was relevant, and then we grew up and put a stop to it. Ta-da, the end.
It'll be progress with companies like Chic-Fil A say they don't support gay marriage or homosexuality, and gets no press coverage at all. Like, wait, what? Why the fuck does anyone care what a fast food restaurant owner thinks about a perfectly natural state of being? That'd be like Ford Motor Co., coming out and saying they're against red heads marrying. It would go on the back pages, in the "News of the Weird" section.
That's where shit like this belongs, and until that's where it ends up and people pay it no more attention than as a source of fringe humor and entertainment when companies make announcements like this, we're still in the Stupid Ages of our future history books.
Re:I ate at chick-fil-a every day this week. (Score:4, Interesting)
I understand the sentiment, but please reconsider your choice. Chick-Fil-A did not come under attack because of its CEO's statements, although those statements did fan the flames afterwards. Chick-Fil-A came under fire for its funding of hate groups. And I'm not using "hate group" here in a wishy-washy, "anyone who disagrees with me is a hate group" way. I'm talking about groups that are pushing for Ugandan law to make homosexuality a capital crime. There's some confusion out there about much of Chick-Fil-A's millions of dollars of donations research that particular organization, but I would anyone involved in supporting GLBT issues to find any association with that hate group to be reprehensible.
Re:Ready... set... Troll! (Score:5, Interesting)
I personally don't want to give my money to hate-mongers and bigots. Thats why. And I generally advocate that no one else should support assholes as well.
This appreciation day thing is creepy, since its supporting them just because they are run by an asshole. I'm glad that hatred can make you the money here in America, for no reason but for the fact that you hate someone who someone else hates. I find this depressing as hell.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)