06-28-2016, 03:46 PM
....people and businesses who have no say in the matter suffer. I thought this to be an interesting article. Part of it is below.
Story
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Emoke B’Racz is resting in the Southern literature corner of her congenial bookstore in this Southern town, a tad disgusted. The daughter of a Hungarian political exile, B’Racz is a woman who is cowed by little. In the face of opposition, she often prevails.
She opened Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe in 1982, when Asheville was a place well worth driving past, a boarded-up burg of pawn and porn emporiums, slowly withering in a Blue Ridge Mountain valley.
“I had no money and no business experience,” she recalls, and yet she helped lead this town’s revival to become the popular tourist and life’s-next-chapter destination it is today.
Along the way, she deflected criticism from all quarters: lesbians for not operating a gay bookstore (she’s gay) and military buffs for omitting military history (“Not my thing”). Malaprop’s has endured protests from Zionists (about Jeff Halper’s “War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification”), evangelical Christians (in response to Reza Aslan’s “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”) and, memorably, enraged vegans, who prompted a police presence at a sidewalk event for Fred Thompson’s “Barbecue Nation” — in North Carolina, where barbecue is a matter of faith.
“We are a place where freedom of speech is honored,” says B’Racz, who views books and her store as “good medicine.” both for society and for whatever ails you.
But nothing prepared her for the economic fallout from the bathroom bill.
In March, the state legislature passed HB2 — officially the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, but known to all as the bathroom bill. It mandates, among other provisions, that transgender individuals use public restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
Within days, North Carolina became the place not to visit but to strenuously avoid, and an economic boycott went into full throttle. Bruce Springsteen and Selena Gomez canceled shows, film and television productions relocated, PayPal put its planned expansion into the state on hold, and the NBA is considering a change of venue for the 2017 All-Star Game. Five states and more than a dozen municipalities banned their employees from making nonessential trips to North Carolina.
It goes on to talk about the economic fallout of boycotts by people who are trying to do a good thing by standing up for something while simultaneously hurting businesses and people who were opposed to the bill as well, had no dog in the fight or had no vote in the matter. It is a conundrum for sure.
This article goes into which is the better choice. Boycott and "stand for something" or stay the course and use your influence to shine a light on the situation in a positive way.
<p style="font-size:18px;font-family:Georgia;margin-left:auto;color:rgb(17,17,17);">
<p style="font-size:18px;font-family:Georgia;margin-left:auto;color:rgb(17,17,17);">
Story
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Emoke B’Racz is resting in the Southern literature corner of her congenial bookstore in this Southern town, a tad disgusted. The daughter of a Hungarian political exile, B’Racz is a woman who is cowed by little. In the face of opposition, she often prevails.
She opened Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe in 1982, when Asheville was a place well worth driving past, a boarded-up burg of pawn and porn emporiums, slowly withering in a Blue Ridge Mountain valley.
“I had no money and no business experience,” she recalls, and yet she helped lead this town’s revival to become the popular tourist and life’s-next-chapter destination it is today.
Along the way, she deflected criticism from all quarters: lesbians for not operating a gay bookstore (she’s gay) and military buffs for omitting military history (“Not my thing”). Malaprop’s has endured protests from Zionists (about Jeff Halper’s “War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification”), evangelical Christians (in response to Reza Aslan’s “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”) and, memorably, enraged vegans, who prompted a police presence at a sidewalk event for Fred Thompson’s “Barbecue Nation” — in North Carolina, where barbecue is a matter of faith.
“We are a place where freedom of speech is honored,” says B’Racz, who views books and her store as “good medicine.” both for society and for whatever ails you.
But nothing prepared her for the economic fallout from the bathroom bill.
In March, the state legislature passed HB2 — officially the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, but known to all as the bathroom bill. It mandates, among other provisions, that transgender individuals use public restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
Within days, North Carolina became the place not to visit but to strenuously avoid, and an economic boycott went into full throttle. Bruce Springsteen and Selena Gomez canceled shows, film and television productions relocated, PayPal put its planned expansion into the state on hold, and the NBA is considering a change of venue for the 2017 All-Star Game. Five states and more than a dozen municipalities banned their employees from making nonessential trips to North Carolina.
It goes on to talk about the economic fallout of boycotts by people who are trying to do a good thing by standing up for something while simultaneously hurting businesses and people who were opposed to the bill as well, had no dog in the fight or had no vote in the matter. It is a conundrum for sure.
This article goes into which is the better choice. Boycott and "stand for something" or stay the course and use your influence to shine a light on the situation in a positive way.
<p style="font-size:18px;font-family:Georgia;margin-left:auto;color:rgb(17,17,17);">
<p style="font-size:18px;font-family:Georgia;margin-left:auto;color:rgb(17,17,17);">