Fuck Off, Hobby Lobby

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I've decided to stop shopping at Hobby Lobby.

Not because they're a Christian company - I've known that for years and years, and that didn't stop me from spending a significant portion of my crafting budget there. Quite frankly, I don't give a good goddamn if the owners of an establishment choose to run their business on "Christian principles," whatever the hell that means, and Michelle has convinced me that closing retail establishments on Sundays is a good thing for all sorts of secular reasons.  What I do care about is that their customer service doesn't suck salt water and that the company's outside activities don't make me want to heave.

Well.

When I was out counter-protesting the WBC whackadoodles on Saturday, one of the attendees told me that he had "heard" that WBC received funding for their hateful activities from Hobby Lobby. Now, I'm not the kind of person who takes action based on information from the third bullshitter from the left. So I've been looking for confirmation of this accusation since then. I haven't found any (it appears to be a unsubstantiated rumor), but when I was trying to chase it down, I found out some really disturbing information about Hobby Lobby as a corporation.

Based on what I've read*, it appears that Hobby Lobby's ministry is of a particularly offensive flavor called Dominionism. Now I knew there were plenty of folks out there who take that "America is a Christian Nation!" canard more seriously than they ought. But these Dominionism fucksticks - they are completely off the rails. 

They apparently believe that not only should our secular institutions take their clues from "Christianity," but that there shouldn't be a secular government - we should all just bow down before Evangelical Christianity as the Law of the Land.

I'm a huge fan of the Constitution, and one of my favorite elements is the establishment clause. So the fact that a bunch of Evangelical Christians, a group whose ideas make me mildly ill, think establishing a Christian version of Shari'a is just the BEST IDEA EVAH makes me more than a little uncomfortable. And the fact that I'm contributing my own money to this excrescence through purchasing my supplies at Hobby Lobby makes me throw up in my mouth.

Hobby Lobby is a privately owned company. They're entitled to spend their profits however they wish. And I'm entitled to spend my disposable income however I wish.

So yeah - fuck off, Hobby Lobby. Hello, Michael's and Joann's.

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*I'm not a huge fan of the Daily Kos, but this article was the best consolidation of links and additional information that I found.

11 comments:

astranavigo said...

There is a LOT of material in that series on DailyKos; it's one that I wish I'd written.

The companies mentioned were not news to me - I've refused to do business with HobbyLobby (among other things, I'm a rabid R/C ship modeler)for some years because of their affiliations; I don't eat at Chick-Fil-A, no matter HOW good their chicken products might be - and I think everyone was aware of AmWay's extremist religious position.

Still in all - your post is timely, because of the insidious manner in which extremist Christianity has managed to create a parallel economy, as well as a parallel society.

Sobering.

vince said...

For whatever it's worth, many Christians, myself among them, view Dominion theology and Christian Reconstructionism as a heresy.

And like you, my spending choices are based on a number of things, including what is done with the profits by a business.

Janiece said...

Vince, I do know that WBC or the Dominionists, or whichever freeze-dried whack-a-loons I'm ranting at are not indicative of moderate Christian thought.

A fact which comforts me greatly.

The Mechanicky Gal said...

AND Micheals and JoAnnes have COUPONS!!!
Spend at will.

Stacey said...

Janiece,
Once again not only was I informed, but entertained by your very wonderful use of the english language. Thanks for doing the legwork I didn't have time to do myself.
Cheers!

WendyB_09 said...

Oh, crap. No more Hobby Lobby for me either.

Too bad. Most of the Super JoAnn's here are outside of public transit range (why on earth would people on transit want a decent craft supply store...oh, sorry, wrong rant...).

Have a couple Michael's & a Hancock Fabric I can get to, although Hancock is closed on Sundays.

Thanks for the info Janiece.

Eric said...

I dunno... while I don't eat fast food that often, I'm not sure principle and politics rise above those succulent Chick-Fil-A sammiches... and those biscuits....

::drool::

I mean giving up Domino's was easy--their pizza was crap like their politics. And Coors and Killian's (bottled and distributed in the U.S. by Coors)--there's lots of better beers, I suffered a little, but not a huge sacrifice.

But Chick-Fil-A...?

I have to be honest: even knowing their religious politics (and I have for years)...

::drooooooooooool::

Sometimes I'm a bad liberal. I know that. But have you had a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich? Have you? Have you?!

Janiece said...

Eric, I have. And I have to say, if you want a sammich that will knock the sox off of Chick-Fil-A, hit the Spicy Pickle and order, well, anything.

My personal favorite is the Adobe, but they all rock.

Eric said...

I'll have to take your word for it for the time being, since I'm not sure they have Spicy Pickles on my side of the Mississippi. There certainly aren't any in my neck of the woods and I've never seen one in the Southeast. But I'll have to try one if the opportunity ever arises: I likes me a good fried chicken sammich.

Anne C. said...

There are Spicy Pickles east of the Mississippi, two in Illinois, one in Ohio, and one in Mississippi. It started up here in Colorado, however, so there are 17 locations here. [sigh] I guess you'll just have to visit us.

Fathergoose said...

It seems to get harder and harder to find places to spend Money. I have never shopped hobby lobby (no caps on purpose)and refuse to eat at the chicken place. After seeing Food, Inc many months ago the list grew even larger. What is a Goose to do?