Tolerance For You Bigotry For Me

This has always bugged me:

Mitt Romney’s been engaging in illegal activity — playing the rock tune “Panic Switch” on the campaign trail without permission from the band Silversun Pickups — this according to the band which fired off a cease and desist letter to the candidate today.

According to the band’s frontman Brian Aubert, Romney has been using their 2009 hit … even though no one ever asked them for permission, but it’s pretty clear he wouldn’t have gotten it even if he asked.

So, let’s be clear.  The same folks who would erupt in righteous indignation if a corporation took a stance on marriage, or refuse service to someone based on race or creed or sexual orientation are somehow secure in the moral stance that they can refuse service based on someone’s political persuasion?

Can you imagine the outrage if a sign maker refused service just because someone was gay?

Last Monday, Mike Reis and his partner, Mark Hurst, placed a 2,500-flier order with Kent-based company Access Printed Media, which advertises “business and promotional printing you can rely on.” The flyers would announce the grand opening of Diesel, a new bear barslated to open later this summer on 14th Avenue. The couple planned on handing out the flyers—which depict the silhouette of a man leaning against a ’50s-style gas pump—during Gay Pride weekend. “We chose Access Printed Media because we wanted to support another local business and we knew a woman who worked there,” says Reis.
But on Tuesday, they received an email from the printer. “I have some bad news. :/,” wrote Sarah Wheeler, an employee with Access Printed Media. “Not that we’re against homosexuals at all, but because knowing that our printed products will be advertising and promoting the kind of lifestyle that goes against our morals is something that [the owner] can’t bring himself to do… :/

“We were horrified when we got the email,” says Reis. “I felt sickened, furious, humiliated. Obviously, they do have a problem with homosexuals, but they couldn’t even pick up the phone and call us. You’d expect this kind of close-mindedness somewhere else—out of the state or east of the mountains. Not here.”

Sub homosexuals with republicans in the paragraph above.  Still agree with BOTH Silversun Pickups and Mike and Mark?

But the ACLU of WA says the printer can’t legally turn down the job. “The print shop’s refusal to provide services violated state law,” states ACLU spokesman Doug Honig. “The Washington Law Against Discrimination… bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and require[s] businesses open to the general public to serve all customers equally. The bar owner can file a complaint with the WA Human Rights Commission. The ACLU would be glad to hear from the bar owner and provide assistance if he wishes to pursue the matter.”

I wonder if the ACLU would be willing to provide assistance if Mitt Romney called?

 

6 responses to “Tolerance For You Bigotry For Me

  1. Did Romney pay royalty fees for the public playing of the song, as required by law? If not he’s violating federal law (though we all know it’s something everyone does) and he’s using their product without paying for it. Political issues aside, you have to acknowledge that he’s using their product FOR FREE, which is substantially different.

    • Did Romney pay royalty fees for the public playing of the song, as required by law? If not he’s violating federal law

      That’s an awesome point. I’ve tried to do some very simple and light research to see if licensing music is like buying soda, pizza or some other product.

      I know that Pay Per View events are more expensive for venues, bars and the like, than they are for private home customers. Further, you can’t pay the Pay Per View at home and then charge people to watch. I wonder in cases like this what the law says.

      I don’t think that politicians are using the music in a way that counts as distribution, like a radio station of someone who is pirating the music for resale. So I wonder if just buying the CD and then playing it loud constitutes royalties. If not, and there are other fees that campaigns have to pay, then by all means they ought to.

      And, further than that, it’s perfectly reasonable for bands to waive those fees for candidates they approve of while charging others.

      However, the idea that artists are allowed to discriminate on one “lifestyle” strikes me as very hypocritical.

  2. Usually protected classes are those who lack power or resources, or who have suffered in status in some material way because of who they are. I don’t think being Republican is a protected class! The point of any anti-discrimination laws is not to fight discrimination per se (we all discriminate in many ways, usually harmlessly), but to end discrimination that prevents groups of people from being treated equally and having equal rights in our system. Governor Romney certainly is not lacking in power or resources!

    • Usually protected classes are those who lack power or resources, or who have suffered in status in some material way because of who they are. I don’t think being Republican is a protected class!

      Certainly republicans are not a protected class.

      The point of any anti-discrimination laws is not to fight discrimination per se (we all discriminate in many ways, usually harmlessly), but to end discrimination that prevents groups of people from being treated equally and having equal rights in our system.

      So, two things

      1. What’s the difference between:
      – not to fight discrimination
      – that prevents groups of people from being treated equally and having equal rights in our system.

      2. For the record, I think that Superduper Punk Band can sell or not sell the use of their music to anyone they want. I also think that private companies can hire or not hire any one THEY want. Or sell products to the same. What I think IS wrong is for our government to do the same.

      With that said, do you see a difference between a bartender in Raleigh denying service to a man who is gay versus a bartender in Seattle refusing service to man who isn’t?

      we all discriminate in many ways, usually harmlessly

      I make this point all the time when debating this in person. We ALL discriminate. Just think of how we discriminate while we date. Could you imagine a law that required “beautiful” people to have to go out on a date with “non-beautiful” folks like me?

      • Yeah, I think there should be real limits on laws dealing with discrimination. I do think that housing is one where people should not be denied due to race, religion, and the like. I do think that a seller who hates Democrats and doesn’t want to accept the offer of a Democratic family can discriminate in that manner. Even though whites are more likely to be of privilege, a black should not discriminate against someone because they are white for housing, servic,e etc. either. I’m with you to a point – I do think that there are some cases involving employment, housing, and basic services (e.g., being served at a restaurant) where discrimination is wrong in a small number of cases. And to be sure, claims of discrimination are hard to prove – it has to be a pretty overt case with real material consequences.

        While I think it’s wrong to deny a service to homosexuals because of sexual orientation, given the social norms now in transition, it’s not a clear case that the law should force companies to do this. Apparently in Washington they do have an anti-discrimination law that does so — I’m OK with that, but you’re right to point out the danger of being too keen on forcing businesses not to discriminate at all.

  3. Romney should’ve just copy/pasted a youtube video clip of the band’s song (if they are on the youtube, they’re free for all.)

    The ACLU would be willing to help Romney were it a claim against Mormons. I do believe the ACLU will get screwed over this one; a business owner may pick and choose as they please.

    I must thank you again for your article…..ooh! I should post a link here and see if the boys want to pipe in! I almost reposted Scott’s reply, but I didn’t have permission so….. hold on….plays muzak…. http://therionorteline.com/2012/08/23/for-james-and-ccf/

    Et voila! (P.S. – I think you are beautiful. 😉 )

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