No Soup for You: Refusing Hypocrisy Over Business

Isn’t it amazing how eager we are to point out hypocrisy in others, yet so blind to see it in ourselves? Excuse me, did I say “amazing?” I meant nipple-twistingly painful. Pardon the typo.

First, let’s get caught up with old news: In early June, the Supreme Court ruled that a bakery in Colorado, based upon their Christian ethics, had the right to refuse making a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. SCOTUS basically said (I may be paraphrasing here): “Yeah, we totally care about gay rights and stuff, and please don’t get mad at religious people. But you know…first amendment and free speech and all that. When’s lunch?”

Okay. We do live in a country with an open market where private businesses are afforded the freedoms to operate as they choose, so long as they aren’t causing actual harm to anyone. We’ve all seen the sign hanging that says: “WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE.” Well, apparently this is that in action. I certainly don’t agree with the discrimination, but if I’m that couple, I’ll be happier giving my business to someone who isn’t bigoted towards me.

But predictably, the left was outraged and vocal. And of course, the right gleefully applauded the decision as both an upholding of our liberties and a reaffirmation of Christian virtues (the latter should obviously be irrelevant here). I found myself empathizing a bit with each side — much as I do at a soccer riot, which is really not all that different from this.

Fast forward a week or two, and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was visiting the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. The owner — who may or may not have several dart boards at home with Donald Trump’s face on them — decided she didn’t want business from a face of this administration, and asked Sanders to leave. She complied, and it took about three and a half seconds for this to flood the national news.

Here we go. The positions have flipped, but now we have livid conservatives spouting off about liberal hypocrisy: “They were just furious about the wedding cake decision, but now they’re okay with this? Typical!”

And from the elated left: “They were cheering about the wedding cake decision, and now they’re crying about this. Typical right wing hypocrisy.”

Well…yes to both. What did you expect? Both the left and the right supported the position of their political lean in each instance. Objectivity is an endangered species in America, so it’s sadly expected to see partisanship supercede rationale. And the rub is that either both sides are hypocrites or neither are — and it really doesn’t matter either way.

Of course, people have gone through vigorous mental gymnastics to dissociate the two incidents — the most common obviously being that the bakery decision was different because it was about religion. And the Red Hen incident was just about someone hating the Trump administration.

But the fact is that both politics and religion legally fall under the same umbrella of ideology. You are free to practice any religion you like in this country, but your religion does not give you special privilege to discriminate based on dogma. The Colorado baker was permitted to deny service to the gay couple because of the first amendment — not because it was God’s word. The various teachings of the Bible do not govern this country.

And likewise, the first amendment will ultimately protect the Red Hen in the same vein. Both of these situations are about Americans being denied service based on some kind of ideological principle. And both refusals are sanctioned because of the constitution. With all that mumbo jumbo out of the way…

Earlier I said I understood the Supreme Court ruling for the gay-unfriendly baker. Ergo, I also accept Mrs. Huckabee Sanders being declined service based on political difference. I understand this is how the constitution is written — but that doesn’t mean I agree with it.

This is an extremely slippery slope. Because currently, ours is truly a nation of hypocrites and petty rebuttals. Maybe that’s harsh — but is it really that difficult to imagine a deep-seated Republican business now refusing service to a prominent Democrat? Then a liberal car wash refuses to wash a truck with a confederate flag in the window. Next, a right wing pilot tells three college students with George Soros tattoos to get off his plane. And a left wing surgeon rejects a heart surgery on a woman whose husband is wearing a MAGA hat. And a republican firefighter stands and watches his mother’s house burn down because she voted for Obama…twice!

Okay, maybe I got a bit carried away there (obviously commercial pilots and firefighters aren’t their own business), but the point remains. Given the belligerent outrage that arises after these occurrences — and the sheer amount of press they get (another story entirely) — the retaliations could quickly get out of hand. To the point where we might have a selection of liberal businesses for the left and conservative businesses for the right.

I’ve been using hyperbole here for two reasons: 1) This exaggeration should help you understand why discrimination by a business is not only hypocritical, but self-defeating and dangerous. 2) It amuses me.

Hypocrisy is a burden we all must bear. It’s part of politics, and it’s part of being human. But rather than perpetuating it at every opportunity, maybe step back and take a look at how it affects the nation as a whole. The outrage dial needs to come down a few notches. Like fifty. Crying foul at either the Colorado bakery or the Red Hen restaurant, while nodding in approval at the other? This factional dishonesty needs to stop. It essentially lays down the bricks for a descending pathway into segregation. In 2018, that is not what America should be about.

So open your business’ doors to everyone. Make as much money as possible. Then spend that money on booze, lottery tickets and processed meats. That’s what America should be about.