(original photo replaced with this, so as to not offend veterans, I don't make a habit of doing this, but as Croak had said, he and I imagine some other veterans may be offended by the original photo. that was never my intention.) Ford's going to take a lot more heat after their decision to cave in to the AFA. The blogsphere is rife with articles on the subject, as is the mainstream media. I've read on CarPundit's site, references to old man Henry's historic intolerance. Ford despite years of working with different groups towards tolerance and civil rights, has taken a big mis-step here. The LGBT community is not about to be marginalized by a major corporation.
I would wager there are more people carrying this flag on fifth avenue, than there are in the AFA. I would bet a year's salary on it. Think about it boys and girls, if 10% of the population is Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered, that's a lot of folks. And if Wall Street and Madison Avenue are right, that this community is proportionally more affluent than the community at large, then smart money would market to them right? Oh wait, Smart Money does market to the Gay community. In researching this piece, and past posts on the subject, I have noticed many ads for Subaru, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Saab and others on Gay and LGBT websites.Face it folks Ford screwed the pooch on this one, the AFA has unsucessfully boycotted the likes of WalMart and Disney, having no effect on either company. Hell, these idiots boycotted WalMart and forgot, while they gave WalMart an award. Ford could have just given them a new ClubWagon van, to get them to their next protest, but instead Ford has brought more bad press their way, and potentially pissed of an afluent influential consumer base.
Stupid stupid stupid, after all those years of trying to forget old man Henry's love of Hitler and the Nazis and his hate of the Jews, Ford has really stepped in it now. Unless they make a complete turn around, in a very public way, they will be the new posterboy for intolerance.
I found the link to Robert F's article at CarPundit's blog, thanks CP.
Update, new link from reader; http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/ford-spokesmen-jim-cain-and-mike-moran.html
The shit storm starts.
11 comments:
You know, as a Marine, that first picture just plain bothers me, and it has nothing to do with homophobia. Much.
Croak, I respect your opinion and appreciate your service in defense of our nation. But it's a photo, it's not really in bad taste.
For the record, there were gay Marines that died on Iwo Jima and every other battlefield, during every war this country fought.
So if it bothers you, I'm sorry, but I don't tolerate homophobia. Much
Dotty Gale, I learned about Henry's ugly side many years ago. But I feel it's important to look past the old man and see the company for the progressive forward thinking company it's been for as long as I've been alive.
So...You don't tolerate homophobia very much but the rest of America is supposed to tolerate, no accept, homosexuals not tolerating anyone not tolerating them?? From public education to same sex marriage, they are cramming their agenda down everybody's throats. Sorry but the thought of two men being intimate with each other makes most people very uncomfortable and it should. I applaud Ford for its stance. They have no business supporting that lifestyle. (and just to pre-empt you because I know what is coming - if you call this opinion HATE or homophobic, you are rendering the words useless and not very tolerant of different opionions yourself) No one is telling people what they can or can't do in the privacy of their own domains but on the same token, we don't have to endorse it publicly either.
Well dude, who ever anonymous is, what is it to ya? Seriously. Why does it matter what 2 other consenting adults are doing?
Legalizing gay marriage doesn't take away your rights. Just like granting civil rights to minorities doesn't take away yours.
I'm not gay and it doesn't bother me at all. It doesn't effect me. It isn't taking anything away from me.
You want to protect marriage, outlaw divorce. There are FAR more passages in the bible about divorce than homosexuality. Now why aren't you all up in your panties about that?
Anonymous, hell I hate anonymous posts, so let's call you Pinhead until you grow a set of balls and identify yourself.
This isn't about anyone's veiw of homosexuality, it's about Ford's lack of backbone.
You applaud Ford's stance huh? What about the years that Ford supported Gay groups and issues? They didn't do this because in a moment of clarity they backed down out of fear of a group that in reality doesn't have millions of members, but is run out of a small church down south. What the AFA has is millions of "signatures" on a petition. And we all know that everyone of those signatures is real don't we?
You're entitled to you veiw of homosexuality, I could give a rats ass what you think. As for being uncomfortable watching two men being intimate, there are far worse things in this world, that should make you feel uncomfortable. How about watching people starve to death in third world countries? How about war and terrorism?
If the thought of homosexuals being intimate bothers you so much, then don't watch. Better yet, get therapy.
Replace the word Gay with Black, Jew, Muslim or Woman and it would still bother me. It's not about Gay, it's about ignorance and fear. It's about a major corporation making a bad business decision.
It's an undeniable fact that Gay people buy cars like everyone else. And since many gay people have more money to spend, they buy new cars more often than the average consumer. Ford is thumbing their nose at a group that buys, in favor of a group that hates.
Ford wasn't supporting a "lifestyle", they were catering to a desirable market. And now, they've potentially damaged that market's veiw of Ford.
It's simple dollars and cents.
See I didn't call you a homophobe, there's no need for that. It's not as simple as that. But in your heart you know that you are, or you wouldn't have mentioned it yourself. Mine is not to judge you, just like it's not yours to judge me or anyone else.
In the future please sign your post, I don't like calling people names.
Have a nice day Pinhead,
BigFordFan
Shawn you must be a member of the so-called "tolerant" crowd. If you read my post carefully I said exactly that. What two people do PRIVATELY, NOBODY cares about. It's public behavior and in this case, full endorsement of a lifestyle by Ford that most people don't approve of. I never mentioned the Bible did I? The people up in arms are the GLTB groups. Maybe the rest of us aren't entitled to speak on the subject. If you want to expose the real hate in this country, all you have to do is say you don't approve of the homosexual lifestyle. Ford doesn't need to compromise its values to sell cars.
Well, Big Ford Fan, you sound quite hateful and intolerant in your post, especially with the name calling and the disrespect of others point of view. Don't you see the irony in your words??? So, Ford shouldn't cater to a LARGE group with millions of members, but instead they should cater to a tiny MINORITY - I'm glad you're not running the marketing dept.
And calm down about the anonymous. We're all anonymous here, regardless of the handle. I'm not trying to be inflammatory, just siding with Ford. But, I knew taking that stand would incur the wrath of the "tolerant" crowd.
Shawn, Ovaltine and Anonymous, posts that have been removed are deemed to be off topic or personal attacks on other commentors.
See the new post above on comment moderation.
Now I won't automatically censor anyone. Ovaltine, you are free to comment here, as long as you remember to ID yourself.
Anonymous posters will not be allowed unless they leave a name or initials.
It's confusing if I get more than one person leaving anonymous comments. It's difficult to direct the response to the right person.
Ovaltine, you will notice I did not remove comments that were relevant to the conversation.
But if you and Shawn want to discuss Homosexuality or Hate or the Dictionary, do it through direct email, not here.
All comments will be deleted from this post in a few days, regardless of relevance. The subject is Ford's decision to respond to pressure from one special interest group, against another special interest group.
I would be just as pissed if a Gay group had told Ford to stop supporting Christian Issues.
Gentlmen, further debat on this issue should take place over at an open forum such as Blue Oval Forums; http://www.blueovalforums.com/index.php?
Ovaltine, you should be familiar with this forum, seeing how you've been a member since July of this year with only one post made on December 7th of this year. Funny thing is this, they have at least 2 threads related to this subject, and not a peep from you.
I did like your post about the Lincoln contest, does seem kind of lame to have a contest promoting how well a car drives and offer a chaufer as part of the prize.
Shawn, go on over to Blue Oval, Ovaltine will show you how things work over there. And once you sign up, his email address is available for anyone who wants to contact hiim. I won't post it here though.
Oh and just to remind you of one simple fact no matter what anyone thinks, nothing on the Internet is truly Anonymous. It's easy enough to get someone's email address and IP address if you want to. Even anonymous email addresses such as Gmail and Yahoo can be traced to an end user. Most require a firm email address upon registering.
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