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The politics of lattes
February 26, 2007 5:42 PM
Not long ago, Starbucks began featuring quotes on its cups. "THE WAY I SEE IT," is what the program is called.
The goal was to provoke conversation.
They have succeeded.
In March 2005, conservatives were upset that the roster of Starbucks' writers was overwhelmingly liberal -- Melissa Etheridge, Al Franken, Quincy Jones, Chuck D. "Of the 31 contributors listed on Starbucks' Web site, only one, National Review editor Jonah Goldberg, offers a conservative viewpoint," WROTE the St. Petersburg Times at the time.
That same year, the conservative group Concerned Women for America BECAME ALARMED by "The Way I See It" #43, by Armistead Maupin, the gay author of the bestselling "Tales of the City."
"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long," Maupin writes. "I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don’t make that mistake yourself. Life’s too damn short."
(Some were even offended by the use of the word "damn.")
Later that year some in the secular community took umbrage when Pastor Rick Warren offered "The Way I See It" #92:
"You are not an accident. Your parents may have not planned you but God did," Warren writes. "You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense."
Now comes word that some in the abortion rights community are not psyched with "The Way I See It" #224, which offers a quote from DR. JONATHAN WELLS of the Discovery Institute, which promotes intelligent design theories and combats Darwinism.
"Darwinsim's impact on traditional social values has not been as benign as its advocates would like us to believe," Wells writes. "Despite the efforts of its modern defenders to distance themselves from it's baleful social consequence, Darwinism's connection with eugenics, abortion, and racism is a matter of historical record. And the record is not pretty."
Myself, I don't know if I need provocation when I need coffee. I mainly need caffeine.
Thoughts?
-- jt
February 26, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (5)
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Jonathan Wells is seeing dragons so he can slay them. Darwin's theories could not have possibly caused the immorality in America. Blame the birth control pill, Hugh Hefner, the VCR, porn tapes, longer lives, fashion and cosmetics, women's lib and the demise of family TV. None of these have anything whatsoever to do with Darwin. Wells' needle is stuck on ONE of MANY creation MYTHS. The man is SICK.
Posted by: Subhash | Mar 8, 2007 11:02:19 PM
What phillygirl64 said -- the cardboard pretty much blocks it out.
But while we're at it, I think I'm becoming pretty offended at all these people taking offense. After all, it's just a cup of coffee from a corporate coffee house, which puts a few semi-controversial quotes on their cups in an attempt to look hip enough that nobody takes too much notice that they're just another big corporation. Spare me your forced tears and rended garments.
Posted by: freeluna | Mar 5, 2007 9:31:09 PM
To be honest, I seem to get the same 2 or 3 cups and most of it is blocked by the cardboard thingy preventing 2nd-degree burns
...the other crazy Virgo
Posted by: phillygirl64 | Mar 2, 2007 12:46:32 PM
if it starts a conversation, i'm all for it. why not be provoking first thing it the morning? instead of keeping our thoughts and opinions crammed inside our heads, let's get them out there for discussion. maybe that will lead us to be more provoking throughout the day, instead of apathetic and lazy. i think it's a great idea. and if you want to ignore it, you can.
Posted by: crazyvirgo | Feb 27, 2007 2:58:02 PM
To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a coffee cup is just a coffee cup. I'm not sure we really need a dose of philosophy with our morning coffee, which is just another reason why I don't frequent Starbucks.
Posted by: chuck | Feb 27, 2007 10:30:50 AM
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