Boycott Whole Foods: Michael Kirschner
Oh boy, here is another political debate. I would like to ask the readers what their opinions are on this issue.
So last week I was on Facebook and I noticed a group that was against the Whole Foodssupermarket and called for a boycott against it. For the readers who do not have a Whole Foods in their area, Whole Foods is a super market with locations in the US, Canada, and UK. Most of the food sold is healthy and organic; the company is recognized as being very environmentally conscious. As a result of Whole Foods’ respect for the environment, the company receives a large amount of “liberally minded shoppers,” so you can imagine how shocked I was to learn that what has gotten everyone in such a fuss is the company’s CEO’s statements against Universal Healthcare in the United States. The interview with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey can be found on the Wall Street Journal here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html.
I don’t want to take any of his words out of context and misinterpret them here - that’s for the news - I want everyone to go to the article and make up their own minds. After I read the article, I made up my first mind that what Mackey did was stupid and since I support Obama’s health care plan that I should go out and join the boycott, but then I got to thinking and realized how hypocritical I was being. I remember during the height the Bush administration, professors being fired from their jobs because they spoke out against the government. So I ask the readers, have we become hypocritical that we will crucify the dissenting opinions of the opposition just as they did to us before? In my opinion, I say we need to have an intelligent debate, that means no outrages claims on the right that their will be so called “death panels” and no hypocrisy on the left that calls for a boycott when someone uses their right of free speech.
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I think what many people are afraid of is a “Robin Hood mentality.” It’s not the “from the rich and giving to the poor” part that has people’s knickers in a knot - it’s the “taking” part. It’s very hard to change people’s hearts so they realize some of those who don’t have any health care may have to be helped so they can afford some. T
That said, I don’t believe a company should be boycotted because someone speaks their mind, and they just happen to disagree with a lot of sincere people. I also don’t believe there will ever be “death panels” - we’re too smart for that, and I personally hope we as a society respect life enough not to let something like that ever come into existence.
I forgot to add that I happen to agree with many of the proposals in the article. Please don’t boycott me. lol
The reaction to Mackey’s op-ed was completely over the top. I don’t agree with all of his views but he is clear in his opinions and doesn’t use scare tactics like the lunatic fringe does. He has more of a libertarian bent to his views and not a partisan one. I would assume that 99% of the people screaming about Mackey did not read the op-ed which makes them no better than the completely uninformed Sarah Palin. This entire health care debate has been childish at best. The problem with the cranky white folks yelling at congress people and “entertainers” like Beck and Limbaugh is they drown out real arguments like the one made by Mackey. We need much more thoughtful debate like he presented and less gun toting jackasses masquerading as concerned citizens.
I don’t see anything wrong with Mackey’s article or suggestions. Several of the suggestions he makes are related to what has worked for his company.
The one piece of it that I really like is the part where he’s talking about tort reform. I think one of the biggest problems with the medical establishment is that the doctors are paying such high malpractice premiums because of lawyers who are able to convince juries to award ridiculously high damage amounts for a malpractice claim, which increases health care costs. Don’t get me wrong, if a patient dies or is seriously injured due to a doctor or hospital’s mistake, then they should have to pay, but the dollar amounts that are awarded at times are crazy.
In my opinion, the whole health care debate is kind of ridiculous since, to the best of my knowledge, no Senator or Representative has read the entirety of any of the proposed bills floating around Congress. So how can they speak to what is in those bills?
And finally…it was an opinion piece, so where’s the problem with that? Just because he’s the CEO, does that mean he’s not allowed to offer his opinion and/or suggestions? I’m not part of their target market so I probably wouldn’t shop there regularly (if there was one closer than an hour away) but I sure wouldn’t let the CEO’s opinion influence my shopping habits.
So that’s what it’s come to? Legitimate political discourse leads to boycotts of entire companies because the CEO thinks that they’ve found a best practice that could help the country work through a complicated issue?
Kind of disappointed to get a RT twitter post on this topic off what I thought was a Jay and Jack Lost account. I tend to like to keep my entertainment and politics apart as much as possible.
Coleen,
Just my two cents. There is a difference between an employer firing an employee and voting with your dollar. The hierarchical relationship between employer and employee is different, and more dangerous, than that between consumer and seller. It’s the same reason inter-office romance is considered potentially problematic, but no one cares if you date the local Subway manager.
And certain institutions that are founded on ideas, like educational institutions, are even more tricky. Academic freedom is a smart internal policy, because it is the only way the institution itself works.
No one should be denied the right to work because of political beliefs. But we should all choose to enrich companies or not based on what they stand for. If Conservatives chose not to shop at Whole Foods because he did stand for the health plan, they should still be free to do so. (Or boycott Disney for extending same-sex benefits.) And Liberals should be equally wise with their dollars.
Andy, this site is a part of Jay and Jack’s next endeavor that they are building up for after LOST ends, Nudia.tv. This is the community blogging site that goes along with the main video site. It’s run by me and it incorporates an array of topics, including political ones like this. Check out some of our LOST discussions in the “Entertainment” section - we’ve have some pretty big ones and post a new “LOST” question for discussion every Monday. Here are the previous two, but we’ve had quite a few for the last I think 6 weeks: http://yublog.org/2009/08/31/discuss-lost-is-australia-the-key/ and http://yublog.org/2009/08/24/for-discussion-lost-season-6-theories/
I understand, I was talking about the retweet, not the post here.
No big deal.
Obama’s health plan (if that is what you call it) is a joke. The stated goal to is to reduce costs, but it ignores fundamental economic principles that say it will increase costs in the long run. The problem with the cost of health care is not the uninsured, it is the insured and how they are insulated from needing to make economically-based decisions as it relates to health care. However if you dare to suggest a free-market solution to health care reform, one that empowers users of the system to make economically grounded choices, and you dare to suggest that reigning in the cost of malpractice claims would go a long way to ending wasteful tests and procedures that drive up the costs, you are labeled an extremist wingnut who should be boycotted. Government is for setting basic ground rules, building roads and bridges, and blowing up the bad guys. Everything else they do poorly and should stay out of, including health care. Just say no to Obama!
Hey Col,
Well put, I must say. A health system at its most basic must take care of the society’s poorest citizen. Here in Australia, we have the Medicare system. It is paid for by tax payers - a yearly payment of $365AU (a dollar a day) which comes out of your taxable income. This funds the system which provides free health care to everyone - not just the rich, or those who work and are covered by a health plan.
If you are of tax-paying age, you contribute. That’s the system. It is not socialist, it is how we do things in other areas anyways: our tax dollars fund public transport, road works, the salaries of public servants - a public health care system would simply be another right the average citizen is entitled to. Nothing socialist about it: Any democratic country with a tax system already has the system in place.
We have a two-tier system here: One is a public health care system, funded by the aforementioned tax dollar. It is the basic, default system.
The second, is private health cover, which is optional. Me and my wife have chosen this, to avoid paying the $365 levy, and to give us extra benefits for when we wish to start a family, or if either of us have to hospitalized for whatever reason - we’re covered. We pay this much like house and contents insurance, or car insurance. It’s a quarterly payment.
I disagree with Mackay’s “either or” philosophy. A government run, tax-payer funded health care system works. It does over here, it does in many European countries, it does in Canada. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but it’s far better than letting people die because they have no access to it.
What I do agree with in the article, is setting up an individual payment system - but as an optional extra. If you can afford it, pay for it. If you can’t: rest assured you’ll be taken care of anyways, because it comes out of the tax coffers - and why shouldn’t it?
I will now definitely see Whole Foods in a different light, maybe not as the totally liberal establishment I thought it once was but I’m not going to stop shopping there just because of what the CEO said and that also doesn’t change the fact that the company still has a respect for the environment and still sells organic foods.
I don’t get why we have to classify food stores as liberal or conservative. My parents are conservative and they don’t mind Whole Foods. I always had the thought it was ‘healthier’ foods, to be honest.
Andy - I asked Jay to RT it because I wanted to get the post out there and active since we’ll be traveling all day tomorrow for a wedding in upstate NY that I’m in so there won’t be much action from me at all here until Sunday afternoon at some point. Send in something for our LOST talk this Monday
YuBlog.org@gmail.com - this goes for everyone, too - just send in a quick little post about a topic and what you want discussed and we’ll get it goin’ 
@mark what are you trying to say? Your comment seems to start out saying one thing and then it just rambles on to something else, when you want to make a good argument stay on track. I am assuming that you are trying to say that Universal health care will some how bankrupt the system, well guess what private health care is bankrupting families. And if you want to go after outrageous government spending why don’t you call out the governments military spending, the US spends more money than any other country in the world….COMBINED!!!!!!
Thank you sawed universal health care has test cases throughout the world the US has the benefit of seeing what works and what doesn’t work and it seems as if that is standard to the modern democratic world
Well what I meant when I classified WF as liberal I meant it is liberal friendly with the environmentally conscious and organic foods and all, they also support fair trade. But yeah I agree with you the last thing we need is to be divided over where we buy groceries
Thats it I’m boycotting Whole Foods because Jay and Jack say so… wait thats what the blog was about, wasn’t it?
I understand what the CEO of whole foods is saying is to adopt a healthier lifestyle. At the same time, there’s an underlying theme that he’s trying to promote = “Buy whole foods for healthy life” that doesn’t sit well with me.
(Completely off topic)
Now, I boycott whole foods or organic foods for only one reason…
If you take all the farmland in the entire world and turned it into organic farmland to grown organic food, you can only feed 2/3 of the world’s population.
This is typical class war bullshiite. I love Whole Foods, and they are getting even more support in my area since this stuff.
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