Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Support the Right to Bear Armed Coffee

I've never spent much time at Starbuck's because I've never acquired the coffee habit. Therefore I couldn't really effectively boycott them, because the difference between the five or so cups of tea I've gotten from there and the sixth cup wouldn't exactly make a meaningful mark on their bottom line, though of course it wouldn't hurt my Daily Sanctimony Expression Requirement at all. But never fear: there's always some Episcopal organization ready to take up the cause for me:
Buttressing its commitment to non-violence, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) is joining with gun victim groups both faith-based and secular to launch a boycott of Starbucks coffee shops on Valentine’s Day.

“While states have rightfully forbidden weapons inside taverns for decades, Starbucks is alone among major retail outlets in allowing customers to bring their gun(s) – open or concealed – into its coffee shops,” said the Rev. Jackie Lynn, EPF executive director. “We know guns and alcohol don’t mix. Why allow guns and caffeine?”
I hate to say this, but I can't really bring myself to care. There was a murder around these parts some years back in a coffee shop, and I think it was even a Starbucks. But you know, I don't think a sign on the door forbidding carrying a piece would have deterred them. Peace is a good thing; we should all work for peace, don't get me wrong. But our parody image as representatives of right- er, left-thinking upper middle class liberals is bad enough as it is. There aren't enough Episcopalians left to make such a boycott mean anything more than to confirm how out of touch we are with anything but our own sense of righteous self-worth.

2 comments:

Jon in the Nati said...

While I think it is an overused simile, this sounds a lot like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. In other words, a church that apparently feels like it has nothing better to do, when in fact it has nearly everything better to do.

It reminds me when the powers that be rebranded the "Church Deployment Office" as the "Office for Transition Ministry", because the former sounded too militaristic (this was the stated reason).

This is Important Stuff.

C. Wingate said...

Well, most of this kind of stuff is is largely about getting the approbation of one's peers. It's far more important to do something symbolic than grapple with the ineffectualness of church moral teaching.