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The Red Hen Is a Canary in the Coal Mine
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen Restaurant in Virginia along with her seven guests. They already ordered, but a snowflake waiter decided he didn’t like her because she worked for President Donald Trump.
The owner came in and asked the employees what “they wanted her to do.” They said expel Sanders, so she was asked to leave, and she did. Why did this remind me of the 1960s lunch counters where blacks were refused service based on skin color?
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) June 23, 2018
Sanders was belittled by a vulgar woman masquerading as a comedian at the White House Correspondents Dinner, even calling her the “Uncle Tom of white women,” who got a laugh at her expense. The double standard of what is acceptable has become absurd.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielson, was recently bombarded by protestors chanting “no borders” inside a Mexican restaurant while she was dining. The harassment was allowed by the manager and it forced her to leave.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was harassed at a recent screening of a new Mr. Rogers documentary. The protestors approached her asking her questions, became very aggressive, and police were called to escort Ms. Bondi from the Tampa Bay theatre. A local paper reported,
“The video they are choosing to share is of the least aggressive portion of the attack that transpired after police arrived to control the scene. What they are not sharing publicly are several previous encounters involving large men getting in the Attorney General’s face, spitting and blocking her exit,” the spokesman, Whitney Ray, said in an emailed statement. “The Attorney General tried to have a conversation with these individuals, however, when it became abundantly clear that they were not interested in a constructive dialog but were only there to cause a scene, the attorney general tried to leave the volatile scene.”
Vulgar threats were recently made against First Lady Melania Trump and her son by former actor Peter Fonda, to the point where the Secret Service was contacted.
The level of vitriol and vulgarity in the public square, in the entertainment world, on college campuses, in social media, even at a movie or restaurant, has increased to a startling level, where people, especially women, feel frightened for their safety. The recent harassment over political differences has overstepped the boundaries of “the right to protest” in our free society.
Further, the media is oddly silent on the recent IG Report showing the vulgarity and level of corruption and manipulation at the highest levels of our government and law enforcement during the last election. Not only was Trump and anyone associated with his campaign a target, but so was Bernie Sanders. The tolerant, progressive, and so-called politically-correct Left have created a new low in civility and decency, by words and example.
Heated issues such as immigration, healthcare, foreign policy, and more (problems that did not begin with the 2016 election) are worked through and solved through debate, votes, and democratic means. There can be no tolerance of violence or violating the rights of citizens, whether public or private, to where they feel unsafe in their public or private lives.
These incidents are our wake-up call, and we must ask ourselves if we should be accepting it as normal. Our freedoms as law-abiding citizens are being threatened; there are no more boundaries between having differences of opinion and actual hate. What should be done in this case and others?
Published in General
Well at least in the case of the Red Hen the owner said she only felt she had to ask her to leave because she worked for Trump. So specifically it wasn’t her views that were the deciding factor. None of the other guests who didn’t work for Trump were asked to leave. Can you deny someone service because of their chosen public political affiliations?
I don’t think we can at once be on the side of conscientious objections to provide services for bakers, doctors, florists, and pizza shop owners and then call what happened at the Red Hen out of bounds. What happened to the Secretary of Homeland Security is I think another matter all together, as that was other customers clearly harassing her, and protesting at people’s homes is also harassment as well (or too darn close to it for my comfort). Mrs. Sanders was politely asked to leave in a reasonably discrete manner. It isn’t what I would have done were I the owner of the Red Hen, but then again I would also have have baked a cake for a gay wedding. You may think the owner of the Red Hen was wrong to do what she did, but were we not just arguing that people should have a right to be wrong just weeks ago about the cake baking case and similar cases.
If we conflate all of these things together we undermine our own argument for nuance in the future too.
Adopt-a-Family. Good for all involved. 😀
True story – after the housing collapse and subsequent “Recession of 2008” a friend of ours took a job at the local pear packing plant. Seasonal work. But with overtime, if you as a fifty something can handle the intense pressure and the 88 degree temps of the twelve hour days, you might clear around $ 325 a week. He was motivated – he had lost his home in the collapse and didn’t want to lose everything.
He was almost “Employee of the Year” his second year working there. But management told him he’d won, only then stated that they “had to” give the award to a latino, as otherwise the workers would have been resentful.
The following year, in late May when he called to see what week in June or July the packing plant would open, he was told “No, sorry. Our foreman is hispanic and he would be upset if we hire white people.”
Luckily for him, Obama and Schwarzenegger deported massive numbers of people here illegally and he ended up working.
But that is the crazy world we now live in. If pear packing employees and restaurant employees see that they can decide who can work and when, it is only a one step further down the road when they can say that they have the right to bar whoever they want to bar from eating there.
The point has been made in one of the threads that no one seems to be contesting the legal right of the restaurant owner to do this. It’s a rude and classless act, and it strikes me that we tend to get worked up about that stuff here. I know I do.
The Little Red Hen was not being asked to cater a Trump rally or otherwise lend their creative energies or endorsement to a themed event they find morally objectionable, they were being asked to provide basic goods and services to customers whom they disagreed with politically.
One finds it difficult to believe you are unaware of the importance of that distinction.
If I was famous at all I’d be nervous about eating at any restaurant. Way too much opportunity for malfeasance.
Several years ago Scott Adams stopped all association with his alma mater Berkeley as he no longer felt safe on the campus. He’s now refusing speaking gigs for safety concerns. Too bad he no longer owns a restaurant so he could eat out without worry
And it goes without saying that all of us should refuse invitation to a dinner party (real or methaphorical) at Jennifer Rubin’s house …
Kinda brings The Last Supper movie to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(1995_film)
FIFY 😀
It is not a few random waiters. Really and truly, it is a movement. Read my comment at top above, here on page two, about how so many employers in areas where much of the work force is hispanic feel they owe it to their “real employees” to shun those born in the USA.
The Koch Brothers have promised to put some 400 million bucks into the 2018 campaign cycle. They also favor those who want open borders.
So it is hard to get hired if you are white, it is hard to order a meal in a restaurant if you are with Trump, and it is doubly hard to be candidate if you are strongly against the open borders policy. (Soros won’t give such candidates money either!)
And then, which side does our Fourth Estate continually promote?
Yes! In my city there are cute little signs in some front yards and some businesses that let you know your place. They speak of spreading “kindness” and of welcoming everyone, and they tell us not to “hate.” ( Those among us who are famous may still need shades, a wig, and an alias. ) We commoners have the luxury of keeping our opinions to ourselves and shocking the pundits when the votes are tallied.
Recently, on another post, someone mentioned that the Left seems to be heading for a civil war. That is hinted at here as well.
What is a civil war / how do they happen? Opposing sides (maybe several) disagree about who runs the country and how to run it. They don’t agree that elections are the way to decide. When you don’t agree that elections are the way to decide, you are IN a civil war.
We have two sides that can’t agree on how to rub the country. One side says, “We won. Deal with it.” The other side says, “We’ll deal with it by throwing your guy out of office.” Civil war.
We are in a position where the two sides are so opposed to each other’s ideas that they cannot find (nor want to find) common ground. Civil war.
The Left wants a dictatorship. They rule…everybody obeys.
The right wants a democratic Republic. People vote…everybody accepts the results. The losers try harder the next time to win.
These two ideas are diametrically opposed. Civil war. It’s happening now. We are in the late days of 1860 looking toward April of 1861. What will be our Ft. Sumpter moment?
Valiuth, I don’t think we’re the ones guilty of inconsistency here.
Who of us holds that business owners should be allowed to refuse to serve anyone they want for any reason whatsoever?
I would not be okay with business owners refusing to serve Obama administration officials. Would you? I would not be okay with business owners refusing to serve gays or Jews or Irish or blacks or socialists.
I would be okay, though, with tattoo artists or T-shirt designers or cake makers declining to work “Alluah Akbar” or “Long Live the Alt Right” or “Build a wall!” or “NRA Rules” or “Down with Christianity!” into their designs.
That’s coerced speech, imo.
Regardless, I’m not talking on the level of law here. I’m not asking for legislation to prevent that sort of thing from happening. I’m not saying the police should have been called in. I’m saying it should be denounced as grossly uncivil.
I think every person who cares about civility should denounce it. And I think Democratic politicians and leftist commentators should be asked whether they approve such tactics, and, if yes, whether it applies to, say, Muslim restaurant owners who don’t want to serve Jews.
Obviously turning a congressional softball practice into a target shooting spree is not enough. And they want to take away our guns!
I would like to call for a conservative boycott of The Red Hen. We should also find the stinkiest homeless people we can, transport them to the restaurant and pay for their meals. Encourage them to saver the moment and linger over coffee. Make them regulars.
The business is located, if I recall, in a county that went 62% for Trump. It wasn’t smart on the owner’s part, but if she wants to put a sign out and limit the potential market for her restaurant, so be it. Ms. Sanders’ handling of it was well done.
Wilkinson certainly was in her right not to serve Sanders. But her employee then doing a victory lap about it on Twitter and Sanders then confirming the incident on her own Twitter account made it into a story, and one for the Red Hen that figures to impact their long-term business.
Short-term, odds are good that people who are opposed to Trump will seek out the restaurant to eat at to show their ideological support. But if the core clientele of the Red Hen comes from the Republican-leaning areas around Lexington, and not from the Democrat-leaning college areas of the city, when the hubbub dies down the ideological supporters will be gone, and if the former regular customers remain irked that the restaurant denied service to someone who thinks like they do, their business will plummet.
It seems the golden rule is no longer taught and it makes me think that many values that came from faith, taught by our families, parishes, even school, isn’t relevant anymore, since faith isn’t being passed on, and classes on civility non-existent? So ‘pseudo-tolerant’ political views have rewritten those old lessons, and here we are??
I looked it up and I don’t think someone’s political views are protected by law, so the restaurant can do whatever it wants?
They are protected with regards to employment, but not service…so far as I can tell. The restaurant business is a dicey one, few can afford to alienate any potential paying customers. I expect the market will have its say.
Legally, yes. If a restaurant owner decided not to serve registered Democrats that would also be legal. The federal and state civil rights laws apply specifically to protected classes, generally race, gender, and religion. Perhaps there is a state that prohibits discrimination based on political views but I am unaware of any.
This link takes you to a summary of state antidiscrimination laws and protected classes.
Personally, I think a privately owned business should be allowed to serve or deny service to whomever they choose. I just think the pressure should be applied more evenly. If they get to force a baker to bake a cake, then they also have to force the Red Hen to stop their staff and other customers from harassing a member of a Republican administration.
But if I were a prominent Republican these days, I wouldn’t eat out at ALL. Who knows what disgusting things a kitchen staffer is doing to your food if they recognize you.
Judging by the menu, they likely get a good deal of their business from those affiliated with the schools and parents visiting. I’m not sure that those making up the Republican areas are very much into $9 appetizer salads (locally sourced greens, but of course) and $28 pan seared pork chops when they are likely growing their own and having a beer.
Whoops, just noticed a cheese and crackers assortment for dessert ($12).
The manager should have told the employees “shut up and serve your customers.” If this is true, I’m shocked the manager of a retail business would cave in to employees who demanded this action. If the “manager” is not also the “owner,” then the manager should have instantly been fired.
Yes, and they’re describing what she said as an “attack” on the restaurant, which is not at all what she did.
Guilt by association is the rule now.
And then the little red hen ate the restaurant’s food all by herself.
Valiuth:
“Can you deny someone service because of their chosen public political affiliations?
I don’t think we can at once be on the side of conscientious objections to provide services for bakers, doctors, florists, and pizza shop owners and then call what happened at the Red Hen out of bounds.”
Actually, in a technical sense I believe you are correct. A business owner has the right to refuse service to anyone because of “conscientious objections”.
However, I think you have slid right onto a very slippery slope. The Progressive Left has pushed every issue to it’s absurd conclusion and Society as a whole is likely to pay for it dearly. Civil society may die at this rate at the hand of the Left. For example, the political stances that Gays have taken in the denial of religious freedom and free speech has been just appalling in my opinion and the opinion of millions of others. BTW, the comparison to Trump and his staff is baseless in this case, because no case serious case can be made that Trump has denied citizens their constitutional rights where the Left and Gays have done that horrid deed on a regular basis. Based on that heinous political stance by Gays in general by your comparison, should not a business owner be able to deny Gays service anytime anywhere for almost any reason?
I mean, the left is saying “Yay for Red Hen for denying service to Literally Eva Braun!” while at the same time saying “Bake the damn cake!”
They can’t have it both ways.
Bruce: “This can’t be everybody on the left, it has to be just the extreme activist-types. But how many non-activist lefties are decrying these acts of gross incivility? How many claim the virtues of tolerance and love for fellow man, but let it go in this case because, Trump.”
Bruce, not to be too critical, but if you had associated more with people of the Left, you would have been aware that these days standing up for decency and the rights of conservatives or the religious is a heinous crime to many on the Left and those “criminals” are harshly attacked almost immediately among the fashionable set when they stray from the one true way of the Left.
Like your comparison of Islam, where the punishment for apostasy is death , yes death, the punishment among our young for the crime of being reasonable and empathetic to the right is a harsh and near violent banishment. I know of many millennials who keep their true opinions to themselves because they live in fear.
Now looking at the greater problem, when you have a large segment of the population trigger ready to harshly attack anyone who does not share their radical and disturbed views, there is likely in the very near future to be breakdown of civil society and civil discussion. The Left has attacked the right to disagree with a vengeance and is getting more and more unhinged. It has already in the case of Antifa gotten violent and deadly, and only because Jeff Sessions is so antagonist to his duty to faithfully execute and enforce the rule of law has nothing been done about it. However, that situation is not likely to last and a violent confrontation may be in the offing soon.
To the extent that the “non-activist lefty” or the “peaceful Muslim” or the non-violent Klan sympathizer has a social or political agenda (the Obaminal transformation of America; transitioning the USA from a flawed man-made legal system to a perfect and divine one, or the alleviation of omegaphobia*) and terrorism moves the Overton window in the desired direction, or otherwise promotes your political agenda – yes.
* The fear of being on the bottom rank of the status totem pole.