All of the signs were hand written in marker on brightly colored printer paper. With a dozen signs on paper meant to stand out, nothing stood out. All of them screamed loudly trying to outdo each other. Every sign was negative. They all started “No” or “Don’t”. They’d have done better putting a huge “No” and then listing everything not to do. The store proprietors wanted no customers with backpacks. No children without adult supervision. No smoking, no guns, no knives, no weapons of any sort. I guess that baggy pants offend the owners, because that’s prohibited too. What else, let’s see. Oh yeah, no loitering. Loitering was a big deal because it was prohibited at least 3 times.
Reading all the orders put me out of the mood of doing business there. I wondered why anyone would want to shop there. I completed my business but never went back. I drive by occasionally but have no desire to patronize it. To me it’s obvious that the company doesn’t like, or value, or trust the customers. The people shopping there, and there are always a lot of them, aren’t welcome. Their money is welcome but they aren’t.
Maybe all businesses in minority neighborhoods do business that way. Maybe the clientele has nowhere else to shop. Maybe I make too much of little things, but I don’t think so. I think that the customers should not spend money there. I think they should vote for businesses with their wallets. It’s like the grown-up version of refusing to play and taking your ball and going home. They should say, “I don’t like this game. I’m not playing.
That long lead-in brings me to my current concern. Mainstream network TV hates me and my way of life. I first noticed it years ago with Jay Leno making fun of working class rural whites. He used terms like “rednecks” and “trailer-trash” or similar insults. I actually wrote to him at NBC but of course I received no response. I dropped the issue.
Now I and my ilk are insulted constantly on network TV. White people, especially rural Christian whites, are the butt of all jokes every day. Even dramas characterize us as inept and ignorant or just plain mean. If we express displeasure in any way we’re called racist.
Tonight on Fox I saw on “The Resident” minority characters taking charge, which is OK by me. What I don’t like is that they have to overcome the white character that is portrayed as evil and stupid. It’s constant and flagrant.
The next show, a reboot of 9-1-1, has more of the same. The good black female police person threatens and overcomes the dim witted overweight white cop. While I can deal with my fair share of that attitude, the constant cultural engineering is offensive to me.
That same racist attitude is prevalent on any network anytime. They always work hard to insult me and the things I care about. I won’t even get into the late night talk shows that have spent every minute of every monologue every night making fun of our elected leaders. I can, and have, accept a little ribbing but the constant attacks are angering.
It’s a little like the store owners we talked about. The entertainers don’t like me and don’t want me around but they’re happy to take my money. I know this but I’ve been giving in for a long time. I patronize the companies paying for the shows. I actually watch the drivel, which is approving it.
So what can I do? I guess I could just sit back and wait to see what happens, but that technique hasn’t worked so far.
I’ve considered buying stock in the offending networks, which will give me a voice in what happens. If a lot of people that think like I do buy a share or two in Fox or ABC they can influence TV.
One of us can do a petition on change.org and share it with like-minded folks. People do that for all kinds of things. My Grandson shared one about Snapchat, so any subject is OK. Several hundred thousand rural white people could voice their concerns pretty loudly. Then again, we did that when we elected Trump and people lost their minds over it.
I submit to you that the best way to show our displeasure is to “take our ball and go home” by not watching the offensive shows or spending money with the people that hate us. If the big insurance company loses thousands of customers because they’re financing hate towards rural white people, they’ll have to stop or they’ll not get paid.
We all complain about “The View” but it’s still on TV. If we stop buying the widget that is advertised on that show, the widget maker will take her ball and go home leaving “The View” on the cutting room floor.
Maybe we should each let our wishes be known so we can shop without being hated. We can watch TV without being insulted. We can refuse to play.
Fini.
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