Chick-Fil-A

Wednesday was National Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day.

Lost in the din was the reason why it existed in the first place:  Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel disagreed with the personal views of Dan Cathy, president of Chick-Fil-A.  Rather, they disagreed with the CNN's interpretation of those views.

In his interview with the Baptist Press, Mr. Cathy made the following statement:

Some have opposed the company's support of the traditional family. "Well, guilty as charged," said Cathy when asked about the company's position.

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.

"We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized.

  Wow, controversial stuff, huh?

Here's how CNN interpreted it on their Belief blog (Emphasis on their agenda-based bias in bold):

The fact that Chick-fil-A is a company that espouses Christian values is no secret. The fact that its 1,600 fast-food chicken restaurants across the country are closed on Sundays has long been testament to that.
But the comments of company President Dan Cathy about gay marriage to Baptist Press on Monday have ignited a social media wildfire.

"Guilty as charged,", Cathy said when asked about his company's support of the traditional family unit as opposed to gay marriage.

"We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that," Cathy is quoted as saying.

But he didn't say that!  A more thorough analysis of this is available at the following links:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/07/cnn-lays-an-egg/
http://www.getreligion.org/2012/07/wheres-the-beef-what-the-chick-fil-a-boss-really-said/

As Dr. Goebbels might have said, never let the facts get in the way of a good story.  It's hard to not see this as journalistic malpractice, even if it did ultimately backfire:

More than 3,000 people lined up for Chick-fil-A at the food court at Jordan Creek Town Center on Wednesday, joining in a battle of words and demonstrations over same-sex relationships and the fast food restaurant’s president.

Iowans were not alone; hundreds of thousands of people around the country stood in line at Chick-fil-A locations Wednesday to show their support for the restaurant and for marriage only between one man and one woman.

I arrived at the Chick-Fil-A around 7:30 that night.  The lines were still long.

But the Des Moines Register, like most media outlets, doesn't frame the event correctly.  It wasn't about people supporting Chick-Fil-A because of Mr. Cathy's stance on same-sex marriage (which, as has been pointed out, he never touched on in the interview in question).  It had to do with this:

The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company's president spoke out publicly against gay marriage.

Even though Mr. Cathy didn't even mention gay marriage in the interview, what Boston Mayor Menino vowed to do was unconstitutional.

But Menino wasn't alone:

Chick-fil-A, the national restaurant chain known for its chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, has become a litmus test for gay rights. This development erupted after its CEO Dan Cathy, known for his conservative religious views, said in a radio interview that his company backs "the biblical definition of the family unit," not same-sex marriage.

Outraged, Chicago Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno, 1st, responded that he would not allow a Chick-fil-A to come to his gentrifying Northwest Side ward. Mayor Rahm Emanuel seemed to back him up with, "Chick-fil-A's values are not Chicago values." He soon was joined by other national politicians eager to dump Chick-fil-A into the fryer.

 Mayor Emanuel's comments about "Chicago values" have prompted many snickers across the blogosphere, as people pointed out how 11 people don't get murdered daily in Chick-Fil-A restaurants, or that Chick-Fil-A's management has some catching up to do if they want to attain the same level of corruption as Chicago's politicians.

Both Boston's and Chicago's newspapers have raked their politicians over the coals for their tone-deafness on First Amendment issues.

So when I went to Chick-Fil-A Wednesday evening, it wasn't because I agree or disagree with Mr. Cathy's stance on same-sex marriage (and it bears repeating one more time that he didn't say anything about it!).  It was a message.  To Mayor Emanuel.  To Alderman Moreno.  To Mayor Menino.  To all the bullies whom would dare try to use the power of government to interfere with someone's legitimate business.  Whom would use it to intimidate, possibly silence.  The message is this:

Knock it off!  You don't rule us. You serve us!

Every so often, we need to remind our elected representatives of their place.