# Question for Democrats - Restaurant exclusion sign **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 19, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543 "2017-03-19T14:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/21 "2017-03-19T16:33:19Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > So you’re cool with some diner in Oklahoma posting a sign saying “Liberals not welcome here”? Would I be ticked off if I saw a sign like that in a place that I frequent? Sure. But I’d also appreciate the sign because it would let me know that I should stop spending my money there. I’d also feel empowered to let others know about the sign so that they can stop shopping there as well. As long as the business doesn’t interrogate its patrons to find out what their politics are, yes, I am “cool” with this practice. Whether I think it makes good business-sense is a different question. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/22 "2017-03-19T16:33:51Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I’m not going to force someone to take my money if they don’t want it. There is something qualitatively different in choosing where you spend your consumer dollars vs. being told ‘your kind is not wanted here’. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/23 "2017-03-19T16:36:04Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > There is something qualitatively different in choosing where you spend your consumer dollars vs. being told ‘your kind is not wanted here’. Deplorables aren’t welcome in decent society, and they need to understand that. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/24 "2017-03-19T16:37:21Z")
you people need to get a grip! its just for fun. a bar i frequent has had a “no packers fans” sign up for as long as i can remember. and on chi/gb game day the place is packed with half green and gold. not every sign is a sign of the apocalypse. . . sheesh! mc ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/25 "2017-03-19T16:37:22Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > …the owner is not focused on the the food being **severed**. We’re talking about a restaurant, not a slaughterhouse. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/26 "2017-03-19T16:40:03Z")
**Now some are saying it’s just a joke from an owner known to be free with his comments and they never really meant it.** If that’s the case at least it caused the potential for drama. I mean who doesn’t want to witness useless drama that pro wrestling fans would be envious of when going out to eat? Otherwise you’d cook or get your food delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/27 "2017-03-19T16:40:51Z")
If I were on vacation in Hawaii and saw the sign, I’d go right in. Make a connection right away. It looks like they’d be fun folks to talk to. Crane ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/28 "2017-03-19T16:42:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > There is something qualitatively different in choosing where you spend your consumer dollars vs. being told ‘your kind is not wanted here’. Being told my kind is not wanted here is a factor in choosing where to spend my consumer dollars. That’s not a hypothetical, I was hoping to get down to the US in the fall to hike the Grand Canyon. So much for that. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/29 "2017-03-19T16:49:03Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > I would look for another place to eat. A sign like that suggests to me that the owner is not focused on the the food being severed. It is possible to focus on more than two things at once. That’s like saying ‘these bathrooms are spotless, the food must be crap’. I’m sure someone that’s been running a business can manage to divert 30 seconds to write up a sign and hang it in the window. I see that logic all the time and I’ve never understood it. As for if I’d eat there, probably not, I was always taught not to discuss money, religion or politics and it seems like that would be a place where I’d end up in a political conversation because of the conversation piece on the door. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/30 "2017-03-19T16:52:00Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I beg you, fellow liberals, please stop this shit. Stop it right now. Nothing good will come of this. Stop what shit? I’m not going to stop being angry and pissed off at people who are being ignorant and hateful. I live and work alongside people who are willing to protest in the street to deny women the agency of their own bodies, but who agree with the president that maternity care should be an out-of-pocket expense. That kind of cognitive dissonance is the _real_ shit. People being so fed up that they don’t want to deal with the folks who think such shitty things is not “shit”. Barring the door is the reaction to shit. It’s a coping mechanism to shit. Everyone putting on fake happy faces isn’t going to change anything. It’s just makes it easier to pretend that shit ain’t actually shit. I personally would never ban a Trump supporter from my hypothetical business. But that’s because I’m a greedy-ass bitch, not because I’m full of lovingkindness towards the despicables who want us to go back to the “good ole days” of polluted air and water and working 30 years in the coal mines just so they don’t have to catch up to the 21 century and compete against the rest of the planet on equal footing. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/31 "2017-03-19T17:12:26Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > We’re talking about a restaurant, not a slaughterhouse. 😃 I am invoking Gaudere’s Law on you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/32 "2017-03-19T17:22:23Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Stop what shit? > > I’m not going to stop being angry and pissed off at people who are being ignorant and hateful. I live and work alongside people who are willing to protest in the street to deny women the agency of their own bodies, but who agree with the president that maternity care should be an out-of-pocket expense. That kind of cognitive dissonance is the _real_ shit. People being so fed up that they don’t want to deal with the folks who think such shitty things is not “shit”. Barring the door is the reaction to shit. It’s a coping mechanism to shit. Everyone putting on fake happy faces isn’t going to change anything. It’s just makes it easier to pretend that shit ain’t actually shit. > > I personally would never ban a Trump supporter from my hypothetical business. But that’s because I’m a greedy-ass bitch, not because I’m full of lovingkindness towards the despicables who want us to go back to the “good ole days” of polluted air and water and working 30 years in the coal mines just so they don’t have to catch up to the 21 century and compete against the rest of the planet on equal footing. Look, I’m just as pissed as you at what’s going on with this cluster fuck of an administration. I’m not suggesting anyone put on a fake fuck happy grin and pretend it’s business as usual. It isn’t. But this kind of shit leads to a very local and personal social polarization between neighbours and co-workers and PTA members and amateur sport leagues and coffee & cars clubs; People you once liked and shared something in common with, but now are compelled to hate because of how they voted. And it’s a two way street. One side does it, the other side reciprocates, and it all escalates. I believe liberals have the moral high ground here. I believe we’re mentally tougher and we have the arc of history and justice on our side. We ought not give in to this kind of vindictive pettiness. By all means, call out Trumpery for what it is. It deserves to be criticized and people who support it should be engaged and challenged. But segregation and ostracization is not the way to go about it. It just isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/33 "2017-03-19T17:26:24Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Bad idea; it could just as easily come back to hurt us, or people we like. > > I’d have to boycott any restaurant that denies service to any significant class of persons. > > (“No shoes, no shirt, no service” doesn’t count.) What if a business were to put up a sign not specifically rejecting torture-supporting bigots but just read “A portion of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the ACLU”? That wouldn’t be discriminatory but would probably keep the Republicans away anyway. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/34 "2017-03-19T17:38:17Z")
Oh, and just a thought… When did liberals become such pussies? Liberals lead human rights marches, gay rights marches, anti-war marches… And now what? Suddenly we can’t bear to sit next to a Trump supporter at the next table in a restaurant? We have to shout down every conservative speaker on a University campus? What The Fucking Fuck, guys? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/35 "2017-03-19T17:38:35Z")
Yeah, it causes polarization. I’m polarized against anybody stupid and evil enough to vote for Donald Fucking Trump. Because you’ve got to be evil to want the snake oil Trump is selling, and you’ve got to be stupid to believe that the snake oil will work. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/36 "2017-03-19T17:40:26Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Oh, and just a thought… > > When did liberals become such pussies? > > Liberals lead human rights marches, gay rights marches, anti-war marches… > > And now what? Suddenly we can’t bear to sit next to a Trump supporter at the next table in a restaurant? We have to shout down every conservative speaker on a University campus? > > What The Fucking Fuck, guys? You can’t vote for Donald Trump and expect to be treated as if you were a normal decent human being. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/37 "2017-03-19T17:46:26Z")
He took the sign down at the end of December, btw: > **[Restaurant removes sign shunning Trump supporters](https://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/12/28/breaking-news/restaurant-removes-sign-shunning-trump-supporters/)** > > The owners of Cafe 8 1/2 have taken down a sign from the Italian restaurant’s front door telling voters of President-elect Donald Trump they did not want them there. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/38 "2017-03-19T17:48:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Look, I’m just as pissed as you at what’s going on with this cluster fuck of an administration. I’m not suggesting anyone put on a fake fuck happy grin and pretend it’s business as usual. It isn’t. > > But this kind of shit leads to a very local and personal social polarization between neighbours and co-workers and PTA members and amateur sport leagues and coffee & cars clubs; People you once liked and shared something in common with, but now are compelled to hate because of how they voted. And it’s a two way street. OK, and? Deplorables aren’t, and shouldn’t be, welcome in decent society. > [@](#): > > I believe liberals have the moral high ground here. I believe we’re mentally tougher and we have the arc of history and justice on our side. We ought not give in to this kind of vindictive pettiness. > > By all means, call out Trumpery for what it is. It deserves to be criticized and people who support it should be engaged and challenged. But segregation and ostracization is not the way to go about it. It just isn’t. How else are deplorables going to learn that their behavior is not acceptable? They’re immune to reason. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/39 "2017-03-19T17:58:51Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Oh, and just a thought… > > When did liberals become such pussies? > > Liberals lead human rights marches, gay rights marches, anti-war marches… > > And now what? Suddenly we can’t bear to sit next to a Trump supporter at the next table in a restaurant? We have to shout down every conservative speaker on a University campus? > > What The Fucking Fuck, guys? Every conservative speaker or are you just talking about Milo? I didn’t follow the Milo stuff very closely, but what I did catch was really, really nasty. The thing about him was that he wasn’t (always) attacking groups of people, he was picking out individuals. He’d go on stage with pictures of minority students and make fun of them. Then fall back to his "I date a black guy and got raped when I was little, so I’m totally allowed to do what ever I want and look at how super flamboyant I am, do I really look threatening in my feather boa?’ shtick. Sure, I’ll give you that freedom of speech allows for a certain level of ‘hate speech’ as long as it stays within the confines of the law, but with that, that same amendment also allows people to go and protest those speakers. It works both ways. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543/40 "2017-03-19T18:00:50Z")
Well, if a bakery can basically put up a “no queers” sign, then I see this sign as a “see what it feels like” form of mockery. I’m okay with it. People who took the sign seriously and got butt hurt over it evidently \*did \*see what if feels like, and didn’t like it one bit. Not that those types of people are known for being particularly introspective. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-democrats-restaurant-exclusion-sign/782543.md?page=3)