Eat mor fascism

Sorry, Chick-fil-A, but you're not a victim.

Today marks a national day of action against Chick-fil-A. The fast food giant is under fire for a series of controversies: The company has included materials from the disgraced Focus on the Family in kids' meals and has donated to the far-right Family Research Council, which has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The hullabaloo was fanned further recently when Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy made an incendiary statement about gay marriage.

At minimum, the Family Research Council is fascist, and Chick-fil-A has no regrets about supporting these extremists. This alone would be enough to blackball Chick-fil-A. I think it's also fair to say that some of Chick-fil-A's other controversies also fuel serious danger for a segment of the American public.

Chick-fil-A is practicing the cheap elitism that defines the extremes of social conservatism. But cheap elitism is never as cut-rate as it appears: Chick-fil-A seems to think its views matter more than those of the average person, simply because Chick-fil-A is a large company owned by a very wealthy family. Social and economic conservatism are often associated with different interests, but they are both part of a single intertwined right-wing code of behavior that Big Business has smuggled onto the American landscape.

Chick-fil-A is crying victim over the backlash, but the fast food chain is not a victim. The company accuses critics of violating its First Amendment rights by engaging in Chick-fil-A boycotts and public protests. But last I checked, the First Amendment said nothing about protecting companies from the consequences of bankrolling hate groups.

The only negative reaction to Chick-fil-A that might seem questionable is that of several mayors who threatened to stop the chain from coming to their cities. Even then, the mayors have a leg to stand on: Although Chick-fil-A is not a publicly traded firm, it is a large company. Its website refers to it as CFA Properties, Inc. - which makes it a corporation. While individuals have rights, corporations do not. Does a town's citizenry have a right to expect that corporations don't fund hate groups? States have justifiably passed selective purchasing laws that bar state agencies from buying from companies linked to human rights abuses. Would it be a stretch to say the same principle applies here?

The Chick-fil-A thought guardians are quite adroit at making themselves look like the victims, and The Media has of course been happy to help their cause. But nope. They're the perps. They'll try to cash in on their supposed victimhood, for if there's one thing the Far Right knows how to do, it's making the most of their self-inflicted losses. And they are unmerciful when they get the upper hand. Their braggadocio when they win elections is only the foundation for the ensuing policies.

It's long past time to shatter the Far Right's intertwined program of social and economic control.