Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey recently took to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to advocate against the Obama proposed health care reform plan, which Mackey deemed unaffordable and would lead to a quality decline; while proposing his own free-market reform plan that entails nation-wide insurance competition and removal of state-based mandates that increase the cost of care.
Not surprising, liberals did not take to kindly to Mackey’s editorial. Many liberals felt betrayed. Whole Foods sells organic food, something liberals champion; how can a seller of something so good advocate something so “evil”? Whole Foods was always seen as a “blue-state” chain.
In response, a Feacbook group has been established to promote a boycott of Whole Foods and demonstrations have been planned - and maybe executed - outside of Whole Foods. Of course, consumers are more than free to stop giving their money to a CEO whom they disagree with and one can even find public protests outside of stores respectful forms of opposition.
But what is uncalled for is the arrogant dismissal of Mackey. Liberals are denouncing Mackey not as a thoughtful person with a differing point of view, but simply a right-wing shrill who should have never expressed his opinions. But some go beyond that.
Outstanding, none other than MSNBC liberal talk-show host Keith Olbermann has denounced Mackey’s decision not only for ideological purposes, but also because, Olbermann claims, Mackey is so stupid as to hurt his bottom line by inviting boycotts against his opinions.
So let’s get this straight: liberals consistently attack CEOs as being greedy corporate-heads whom only care about profits with no concern for values. But when a CEO puts his values before his profit, if said CEO’s values happen to be opposed to liberal plans than this CEO is not a honorable example of a value-based CEO but an idiot who does not care about his business. Olbermann is criticizing Mackey for doing what liberals often claim CEOs never do: put values before profits.
Now, liberals like Olbermann are so concerned about the profits of Whole Foods and so sad to see the corporation lose. For some liberals, when ti comes to the advancement of certain policy - in this care health care reform - that is more important than upholding long espoused values.
Vile.
Health Care is crucial for all Americans. Anyone with out Health insurance is left to die. Plain and simple. But, Whole Foods does not cater to the poor. HMMMM. But, what about its customers with pre-existing illness (HIV, High Blood Pressure, Cardiac Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, ..etc...) that can't get a insurance policy? This should not have been about politics; but, doing the right thing.
There was one co-worker named Tim, who was one of the people in the deli she would harass. He seemed to have asperger’s syndrome, or however it’s spelled, and she would yell at him and he’d simply stand peacefully with no response, and she yelled at him for that too.
There was a co-worker, a Muslim, named Habib. He was the one who dropped a chicken on the floor, and put his finger up to his mouth (meaning to be silent) and put it up for sale). It freaked me out since it fell on the bare floor which we walked on all the time. I didn’t say anything because Hannah had pretty much silenced me and I had already dealt with a violent tempered supervisor at Barnes and Noble nearby (manager at the time was Holly Thorenson, one supervisor at that time was named Jamie, and she later became a manager and denied that Charles had ever done anything violent or was a racist despite another black supervisor warning Charles about his temper, anyways so I quite B and N because Charles wouldn’t stop insulting me and threatened me with a box cutter one day, and years later Jamie wouldn’t hire me despite me explaining why I disappeared. And later I had an insulting Jewish area supervisor at CVS in Plaza America who asked if I was stupid when I covered the foot of the fire exit with boxes despite the manager insisting I put them there, and before B & n and CVS worked at a restaurant called Sgt. Peppers where a bizarre manager from NZ freaked me out so I quit there.) So I didn’t want anymore trouble.
Anyways, there was another coworker in the deli named Joyce, she was nice, seemed to be a real Christian. There was a senior employee there but I forget his name, he was also from Ghana, a Muslim, and kind.
Later Ken was replaced by a beautiful woman named Holly. She flirted with me one day, a little.
So many years later I end up in ABQ, NM, and a drunk of an employee named James, whose life I saved when he was in his apt. one day passed out drunk with his stove smoking the air badly, repayed me by ruining at least a months worth of art work by crashing at my place drunk, and refusing to leave lest I help him walk back to his apartment, so I did, and later angered me more by not even providing a signature to a judge that I was a peaceful person. So I told one of the managers at Northe Town Plaza what he did. A sick supervisor named Shelly heard of it apparently. One day I went to apply for a job there, and seeing the Unicru test was religiously biased a little, left a polite anonymous note about it (and Shelly spoke with me during the test and showed no signs of anger to me). A few days later I came in to shop, and a red-headed security guard followed me inches away to no end, and it even embarrassed another employee I spoke to. So I went to the front desk with a usb drive showing a shopping list on it, a manager or something took it went up stairs then came down with it saying they weren’t allowed to plug it in. Then came down Shelly holding the anonymous note, SAYING my name rather then asking, held it with two hands staring it at it front of her and asked if she could speak to me outside. Then she proceeded to argue with me when I asked what the problem was, and she said, ”You don’t know us,” to which I replied, ”Yes I do,” and told her how I used to work at ”Fresh Fields” and told the story about the dropped chicken, to which she gave a childish toned hateful, ”Yeah right,” and then said, ”I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” So I stepped off the property and said, ”There.” She then claimed Whole Foods owned the entire plaza, and I didn’t believe her so I stayed. She then asked, ”Are you refusing to leave?” And then she lifted her cb radio to her mouth to call the guard and the police. The guard repeated that they were in charge of the whole plaza, assaulted me when I wouldn’t leave, and tried to rip me off a pole. Then I went to Borders, and called the police. Minutes later the guard comes walking like a bully into borders points me out and the police take me out search me in front of these two jerks, and in public, and not only repeated the lie, but added that I’d harassed their employees. I lost a job interview at Borders because of that, and job I bet.
The police banned me on the spot telling me never to come back (which was illegal).
More than a year later, still angered about what happened, I called whole foods at that place where I was banned and repeated this story. The man listening sternly replied with, ”You’ve been trespassed don’t come back.” and when I asked if he’d listened simply repeated himself and hung up on me.
I then called the plaza owner’s secretary and she said Whole Foods was not in charge of the plaza. I was given no apology by anyone.