Just ruminating, speculating, brain-storming…not justifying the actions of Pastor Brown…
Perhaps, only perhaps, some people are inspired by the success of certain notable figures on the Right in perpetrating heavily edited hoaxes intended to bring down their ideological targets (Acorn, Planned Parenthood). Some of these folks end up as minor heros in their tribe, referred to by Presidential candidates!!
I would suggest they could equally be called Social Justice Warriors, just of a different flavor.
So, maybe Pastor Brown, in his sideways little mind, was inspired by their ilk.
The good Reverend Brown seems to have overlooked the commandment about not bearing false witness. Shame on you, Reverend, what sort of example were you setting for your flock? I expect you to assign yourself some fitting penance, though I won’t be holding my breath.
Be that as it may, it still doesn’t make it any fairer to Whole Foods.
Imagine an era in which many white people are carrying out lynchings of black people. It still wouldn’t be fair or right to falsely accuse an innocent white person, who has never lynched anyone, of lynching a black man.
I wonder why Whole Foods dropped their suit without clear admission of wrongdoing from him. I’d have made him confess to his involvement and think it would have been very fair if they had.
Pursuing it at this point doesn’t really get them anything. Everyone knows it’s a hoax, why spend money on legal bills to get an admission? The guy is judgment-proof; Whole Foods certainly isn’t going to get any damages from him.
Security camera tape of him buying the cake. The label is clearly on top of the box. The box he showed pictures of had the label on the side/bottom despite his claims to have not opened the box and that it was in the same state as at the store.
Because it was pretty clear that they did not do this and there were exactly zero groups still trying to claim that they did. They have better things to worry about than attempting to sue an obviously unwell person for questionable damages.
There’s enough real examples of discrimination out there, and it sucks to be on the wrong end of a wrong accusation of bigotry.
For every thousand or more examples of real discrimination, how many will end up in the news? Some will, certainly, but It’s hardly even news. But you get even **one **viable counter-example, one idiot who is lying, and the end result is that that one story will be all over every news outlet, and politicized media will hold up the one example and downplay the other thousand examples and falsely paint a picture that there is no discrimination, it’s just a bunch of minorities whining about problems that don’t exist. And that will work on enough people with poor enough reasoning skills to hold back civil progress.
Phony civil rights abuses hurt everyone. These people are just as bad as the racists and bigots they’re pretending to be victimized by, because that enables the real racists and bigots to go unaccounted for, and real injustice to be shrugged off as possibly a hoax.
Cry rape, sexism, racism, or bigotry, and have it not exist, and you’re a total shitbag in my view. Don’t care what your motive is. Don’t want it or need it in a real civil rights movement.
I don’t know why we need to speculate about motives or mental illness, or Münchausen syndrome. The guy started a lawsuit against a big corporation, hoping they’d pay him a “shut up and go away” settlement. Which probably would have happened if they hadn’t had that camera footage.
Fraudulent lawsuits aren’t a new thing. I don’t see anything here that materially separates it from faking a fall in the parking lot.
While you are quick to dismiss motivations, I believe that they are what distinguish between scams for money and scams to promote some sort of political agenda. Holding a press conference had the rings of a politically motivated agenda as opposed to a purely cash grab scam.
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He is a preacher. Lying to people is what he does for a living. I can never figure out how two preachers can pass each other on the street without laughing. That’s got to be the hardest part of the job. Well, that and having to work on Sunday.
In lawsuit terms, the appropriateness of the use of the word “materially” isn’t typically affected by the presence or absence of a press conference in a parking lot.
In attempting to publicize a political agenda and garner media attention for your cause, press conferences are a regular occurrence.
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You have used this exact phrase recently in another thread, to imply that someone was lying to push a liberal agenda. (My interpretation, not Bricker’s actual words.)
Are you actually trying to make an objective hypothesis on a possible motive behind the actions of this one individual, or are you trying to paint some sort of broader picture?
Whether for attention or money, what Brown did was reprehensible. At the least, it could have gotten an innocent person fired. At worst, it could fuel anti-gay prejudice. Brown’s actions do not represent any kind of truth. He is a liar and a very selfish and/or irresponsible person.
I don’t know whether or not Whole Foods actually has any real commitment to social justice, but I think their decision to drop their counter-suit and not draw the whole thing out any longer could be considered socially responsible and commendable.
Like Askthepizzaguy wrote, with so much real prejudice rampant in society, the foolish actions of this one selfish, thoughtless individual could easily be seized upon by bigots as justification for their bigotry.