You knew this was coming. Scott Van Duzer, the Florida pizza parlor owner and profilic blood donater who hugged and lifted President Barack Obama, now says his pizza shop is getting boycotted by Republicans.Van Duzer, a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008, got some homepage play across the country for his reaction to the president, who made an unscheduled visit Sunday to Big Apple Pizza and Pasta in Fort Pierce. The president said he stopped by because of Van Duzer's commitment to donating blood and raising awareness of blood shortages.
Van Duzer's response? He bear-hugged Obama and lifted the 176-pound president off the floor.
But now, he tells Politico that people are talking bad about his restaurant. Sure enough, a partisan battle broke out on Big Apple Pizza and Pasta's Yelp page, with a sudden flurry of reviewers giving him one-star reviews from far-flung states, followed by presumed Obama supporters lavishing five-star reviews from equally remote locales.
As for the boycotters, they certainly can spend their money in whatever fashion makes them feel better about themselves. But as we've said before about a certain chicken sandwich chain, do we really want to live in a country where people don't want to do business with people who don't share their beliefs? It seems no longer enough to make our arguments; now we make one-dimensional those who don’t share them.
We'll leave the last word to the pizza man:
“There’s no middle line anymore," he says, "and that’s exactly what’s wrong with our country right now.”
Peter St. Onge
It's called economic terrorism, no matter who does it.
ReplyDeleteReligion, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Democrats, Republicans, unions, etc.
I don't like Obama as President and will not vote for him, but if the man is standing in front of me, I'll shake his hand and tell him "nice to meet you Mr. President".
This is not new. This happened a couple months ago in Raleigh where an "event" allegedly occurred at a sports bar and none of the major medias in the Raleigh area really talked about, but it blew-up online and YELP was the first place people went to rate negatively regardless the fact they never been there.
ReplyDeleteThis is the new norm now.
There is a huge difference between saying "I will (or will not) patronize a particular business because they support (or the opposite) certain values which are important to me," and posting outright lies on the web regarding a business in order to make a statement about them.
ReplyDeleteBoycott is a historical method of expression and support. Reckless libel is unfortunately a more recent addition to the discussion.
The President stopped by because his staff told him about Van Duzer's commitment to donating blood and raising awareness of blood shortages. That has nothing to do with eating his pizza.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the ending of the article mean: “There’s no middle line anymore," he says, "and that’s exactly what’s wrong with our country right now.” Does it explain why people stopped patronizing Van Duzer because he hugged the president? It seems like everyone else understands things to which I am oblivious!
But is OK for the left to "boycott" Chick Filet.. And this hardly even raises to that level, not even close but this is what the press will do every single time.
ReplyDeletePutting party affilliation aside, isn't it a little odd to meet someone you have never interacted with and greet that person with a lift-you-off-the-ground bear hug? And doesn't that same situation get even more odd when the one on the receiving end is the President?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I think Duzer is guilty of is lack of tact and decorum. My reaction to meeting the President would be identical to Wiley's - I'm not going to vote for him, but would shake his hand and say, "Pleased to meet you, Mr. President."
Also, it's absurd to say you will only do business with people that believe exactly as you do. THAT is being narrow-minded. I was extremely disappointed to hear James Taylor say at the DNC, "I love Barack Obama!" But I'm not throwing my James Taylor CDs away. I'll still listen to them. I just won't agree when he states his political beliefs.
On a completely different topic - hey, Observer, if you want to keep robo-programs from auto-posting in the comment section, fine. But could you at least do so with a program that produces text to copy that human beings can actually read? This crap you're using now is terrible. It takes 3 or 4 attempts to match the hyrogliphics this thing spits at us.
If you were bashing Chic-fil-a a few weeks ago, then you have no right to comment.
ReplyDeleteChik Fil A picked up extra business. Everybody knows that. I'm sure the amount of people visiting will increase until it wears off altogether. The yelp comments are dishonest and cowardly. A 1 star or 5 star review doesn't mean anything if you have never eaten there.
ReplyDelete