Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Via AmericaBlog: Barilla pasta kinda-sorta finally gets that bigotoni is bad for business
Barilla pasta got into some hot water six weeks ago
after AMERICAblog exclusively broke the news that the Italian giant’s
chairman, Guido Barilla, told an Italian radio show that the company
would never put gay people in its advertising.
Barilla added that if gays didn’t like it, they could buy someone else’s pasta.
So they did.
What happened next was a textbook case of Gay David vs. Corporate Goliath in the Internet age, with Barilla issuing no fewer than four apologies in a failed attempt to quell the growing consumer and media meltdown of its once-famed “family” brand.
Fast forward to today, and there are signs that Barilla got the message. (Albeit, six weeks late.) It still remains unclear, however, if change is on the horizon, and whether Barilla will be taking “bigotoni” off the menu for good.
Barilla says it’s reached out to gay representatives in the US and Italy, though we have no details about any of that outreach, other than the fact that gay political icon David Mixner is involved, which is always good. But beyond that, who knows. Barilla certainly never reached out to us, and we broke the story.
Specifically, Barilla has created an “advisory board to promote diversity.” As Kathleen Sebelius would say….
I want to know if the company has a comprehensive LGBT anti-discrimination policy, for starters, and how many openly gay people it has in any kind of senior position anywhere in the company.
Next, they promise a new advertising campaign that’s more inclusive. Hmm. That’s really the cruz of the problem, that Barilla said they wouldn’t include gays in their ads. Let’s see some gays in their ads, and let’s see the advertising budget, where the ads run, how often they run, whether any actually run in gay media (and straight media), not to mention on the gay blogs. (And absolutely Barilla should run ads in the straight media, but they should also show support for the gay media here and at home as well.)
Make those changes, then we’ll talk.
Barilla added that if gays didn’t like it, they could buy someone else’s pasta.
So they did.
What happened next was a textbook case of Gay David vs. Corporate Goliath in the Internet age, with Barilla issuing no fewer than four apologies in a failed attempt to quell the growing consumer and media meltdown of its once-famed “family” brand.
Fast forward to today, and there are signs that Barilla got the message. (Albeit, six weeks late.) It still remains unclear, however, if change is on the horizon, and whether Barilla will be taking “bigotoni” off the menu for good.
Barilla says it’s reached out to gay representatives in the US and Italy, though we have no details about any of that outreach, other than the fact that gay political icon David Mixner is involved, which is always good. But beyond that, who knows. Barilla certainly never reached out to us, and we broke the story.
It will be interesting to see if Barilla follows the usual corporate
path of parlaying with the large gay groups who have become increasingly
irrelevant to the online direction that civil rights, and all
progressive activism, has gone in the past twenty years. They always
try to broker a deal with the people who didn’t get them in trouble,
thinking that somehow this will appease the people who did get them in
trouble. And it rarely works.
Specifically, Barilla has created an “advisory board to promote diversity.” As Kathleen Sebelius would say….
I want to know if the company has a comprehensive LGBT anti-discrimination policy, for starters, and how many openly gay people it has in any kind of senior position anywhere in the company.
Next, they promise a new advertising campaign that’s more inclusive. Hmm. That’s really the cruz of the problem, that Barilla said they wouldn’t include gays in their ads. Let’s see some gays in their ads, and let’s see the advertising budget, where the ads run, how often they run, whether any actually run in gay media (and straight media), not to mention on the gay blogs. (And absolutely Barilla should run ads in the straight media, but they should also show support for the gay media here and at home as well.)
Make those changes, then we’ll talk.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 5, 2013
Engaging Others' Views
Listen
without arguing, and try to hear what the other is really saying,
remembering that, as Buddha pointed out, all beings wish to be happy and
avoid suffering. A Buddhist practices nonattachment to views. If we
human beings are going to stick around on this earth, we need to learn
to get along not just with the people who share our views, but also, and
more to the point, with the people who get our goat. And remember—we
get their goat, too.
|
- Susan Moon, "Ten Practices to Change the World"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through November 6, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Monday, November 4, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 4, 2013
Drunk on Dhamma
Being
drunk on the dhamma is no different from being drunk on alcohol.
They’re really similar. Don’t go there. You have to look carefully,
again and again, for sometimes something is dhamma, but it’s drunk.
That’s not right.
|
- Venerable Ajahn Chah, "Drunk on Dhamma"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through November 5, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 3, 2013
Giving Rise to Forgiveness
Our
suffering was not caused by our parents or grandparents. It was merely
passed down. We are social animals. We grow through modeling. We teach
what we have learned. We act as we have been acted upon. A person who is
not loving has not experienced love. It is not his fault. Realizing
this gives rise to forgiveness. And in Chan we vow that suffering will
stop with us. We will not pass it down.
|
- Guo Jun, "A Special Transmission"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through November 4, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 2, 2013
Developing a Skillful Attitude
Skillful
attitudes of mind are the key to facing potentially explosive
situations and the ongoing highs and lows of life and practice. In fact,
recognizing these attitudes and cultivating their antidotes is the
foundation for all spiritual growth. By cultivating skillful attitudes
of mind, we will respond to more and more of life with awareness and
wisdom.
|
- Steve Armstrong, “Got Attitude?”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through November 3, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Friday, November 1, 2013
Via JMG: Moscow Bans Tribute To Gay Holocaust Victims: It Would Promote Homosexuality
Around 20 participants applied to hold a peaceful event in Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow on 5 November. The intention of the tribute was to also spread the message about not repeating past mistakes and ensuring something like the Holocaust never happens again. But the authorities rejected the application, saying paying tribute to gay victims of Nazi Germany could potentially "influence" children on homosexuality. Nikolai Alekseev, founder of Moscow Pride, said: "The Moscow authorities are becoming increasingly absurd, and the banning of the rally to denounce the crimes of Hitler and Nazism is more proof of this. The government is approving of Nazi Germany’s genocidal policies."Scott Lively is likely thrilled.
Via OUT: Ian McKellen Gets Vicious on PBS
Ian McKellen Gets Vicious on PBS
10.31.2013
By Matthew Breen
The six-episode series Vicious
from Britain’s ITV that stars veteran British thesps Ian McKellen and
Derek Jacobi is coming to the United States in a deal with PBS, which
will give the broadcaster rights to air the series in 2014.
The series from Will & Grace executive producer Gary Janetti, features McKellen and Jacobi as “a constantly bickering couple who’ve lived together in a small Covent Garden flat for nearly 50 years.
But underneath all their vicious co-dependent fighting, they deeply love each other,” according to Deadline Hollywood.
Frances de la Tour (the Harry Potter movies) and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) also appear in the series.
Vicious has a green light for a second season in the U.K., and as these things go these days, an American version is also being considered. Sometimes it works (see: The Office) and sometimes it sucks (see: Coupling, Football Wives, Red Dwarf, Skins, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here).
The series from Will & Grace executive producer Gary Janetti, features McKellen and Jacobi as “a constantly bickering couple who’ve lived together in a small Covent Garden flat for nearly 50 years.
But underneath all their vicious co-dependent fighting, they deeply love each other,” according to Deadline Hollywood.
Frances de la Tour (the Harry Potter movies) and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) also appear in the series.
Vicious has a green light for a second season in the U.K., and as these things go these days, an American version is also being considered. Sometimes it works (see: The Office) and sometimes it sucks (see: Coupling, Football Wives, Red Dwarf, Skins, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here).
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From one end of the country to the other, the overlapping developments on a single day underscored what a historic year 2013 has been for the U.S. gay-rights movement — "the gayest year in gay history," according to Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, the movement's largest advocacy group.
Yet each of Monday's developments, while heralded by activists, revealed ways in which the gay-rights debate remains complex and challenging for many Americans.
Republicans, for example, are increasingly split on how to address gay-rights issues — some want to expand their party's following, while others want to satisfy the religious conservatives who make up a key part of the GOP base. More than 40 percent of Americans remain opposed to legalizing same-sex marriage. And even some prominent gays remain uncertain whether they should make their sexual orientation known to the world at large.
Mike Michaud, the Democratic congressman from Maine, said he came out to dispel "whisper campaigns" about his sexuality as the three-way race for governor began to take shape. Through his six terms, he'd never before spoken publicly about his sexual orientation, and he broke the news to his mother only hours before releasing his statement.
In Hawaii, where the state House is debating a Senate-passed gay-marriage bill, thousands of citizens have signed up to testify — and the majority of those who've spoken thus far oppose the measure.
And in Washington, even as gay-rights supporters celebrated the Senate's backing of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, conveyed his opposition and left it unclear whether the GOP-controlled House would even vote on the bill, known as ENDA.
Boehner "believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs," said his spokesman, Michael Steel.
Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House adviser on gay issues, said he was on the Senate floor in 1996 when an earlier version of ENDA lost by a single vote.
"Even though we're making rapid progress on marriage equality, and the entire movement seems unstoppable, there are still big pockets of resistance," Socarides added. "It's going to cost a lot of money and require a lot of work to get us to where anti-gay discrimination no longer exists."
Monday's 61-30 vote on ENDA demonstrated that the Senate's Republican minority could not muster the votes needed to block the bill by filibuster. The legislation could win final Senate passage by week's end.
Current federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race and national origin. But it doesn't stop an employer from firing or refusing to hire workers because they are lesbian, gay bisexual or transgender. The bill would bar such discrimination by employers with 15 or more workers.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have approved laws banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and 17 of them also prohibit such discrimination based on gender identity.
Sainz, a vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the most striking aspect of the ENDA debate was the division surfacing in the Republican Party — with several prominent GOP senators supporting the bill and yet Boehner signaling his opposition even before the Senate vote was held.
"There is no doubt that the American public is changing on this issue very quickly," Sainz said. "That's what makes what Boehner did today such a head-scratcher."
The Senate vote on ENDA was among a series of major victories for the gay-rights movement this year, highlighted by two Supreme Court decisions in June. One ruling cleared the way for ending a ban on same-sex marriages in California; the other struck down a 1996 law passed by Congress that banned federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
Gay marriage is now legal in 14 states and the District of Columbia, and bills are pending this week that would add Hawaii and Illinois to that group.
Read the entire article here