Here's What WIll Happen Next In The Chick-fil-A Controversy

I proved prophetic about the Chick-fil-A flap. In my July 25 and 27 posts I said that Dan Cathy's remarks about gay marriage would drive Chick-fil-A's customer base of Republican evangelicals would flock to their nearest Chick-fil-A and show thank Chick-fil-A for validating their homophobia by buying more Chick-fil-A food. Furthermore, I said that Dan Cathy knew exactly what he was doing and that the Left's response to Cathy (Chicago refusing to grant them a permit to open a restaurant, for example) would only result in greater same store sales. Over the last week conservative politicians have covered their desks with Chick-fil-A food, evangelical and conservative customers have formed long lines around Chick-fil-A restaurants in a show of appreciation to the chicken chain that validated their homophobia and hatred for gays. 


In short, Dan Cathy executed a brilliant business strategy: by attacking gays, he cultivated the right enemies and made more money. In Republican and evangelical towns where most of his stores are, the only marketing plan better than getting publicly rebuked by Rahm Emanuel would be getting rebuked by President Obama himself.


As I said in my July 25 and 27 posts, there is a symbiotic, money-making symbiotic relationship between those who support gay marriage and those who oppose it. So here's what's going to happen next: Lefties who don't understand evangelicals because they don't actually know any and Lefties who haven't yet figured out how the world works will continue to play right into Dan Cathy's brilliant and cynical money-making plan by denouncing Chick-fil-A and calling for boycotts. On the other hand, Lefties who understand the Lefty-Righty symbiosis will just as cynically use Chick-fil-A's financial contributions to anti-gay organizations and Chick-fil-A's public record of unfair labor practices toward gays to open the wallets and checkbooks of Lefties who don't understand how the world works and don't know  any evangelicals and,therefore, don't know how evangelicals react to public shame and humiliation.


Further, Republicans and Evangelicals who want to monetize evangelicals' desire to show appreciation to Chick-fil-A for validating their homophobia, will flood Chick-fil-A headquarters with franchise requests. Cynical Southern evangelical politicians will shore up their base by publicly assuring Chick-fil-A that their restaurants are welcome in their Hootervilles. Simply by reading the mail, Dan Cathy will be able to identify the geographies where his kind of people are eagerly awaiting their opportunity to show their gratitude and appreciation for validating them.


Wow, following Christ is easy these days. There was a time when following Christ might involve suffering or death or acts of love and righteousness but now all one has to do to demonstrate his Christianity is to denounce gay marriage or buy a chicken sandwich.


And here's what won't happen next: Minds and hearts will not be changed by the brilliant and cynical anti-gay statements of Dan Cathy or by the shrill reaction of The Left. The American people no longer think, they simply shop for and then align themselves with other people who validate them.
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