Given Ford's early track record, this story out of California is rather disturbing. (Via PZ). A SoCal Ford dealership is using prejudice against non-Christians as a prominent selling point for their business.
Henry Ford I was a well-known antisemite, and published the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in his personal rag, the Dearborn Independent. During the pre-war/depression era, Detroit hosted a number of prominent isolationists and antisemites, including Ford and Father Coughlin.
But, if you know your market, intolerance sells, and hard times sometimes bring out the worst in people. Still, it's rather sad to see my hometown company doing nothing to rein in their renegade dealership. Unless of course, they approve of the marketing tactic of hate and prejudice. Hey, I'm sure they can afford to lose a few customers. The U.S. auto industry is doing well enough to alienate anyone they please. They are an unstoppable juggernaut, dominating the world auto market. I think.
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I suggest that trying to draw even a tenuous connection between Ford's attitudes and this dealership action is not supportable.
Is this very heavily veiled sarcasm, or do you need to get out more? :-)
Oh, come on. Is there actually any reason to think that there's a link between Henry Ford's anti-Semitism and this local Ford dealer's attitudes? Do you really think they picked Fords instead of Chevies to sell because of Henry's bigotry?
Of course not. It's just an interesting historical fact to round out the story. But, at least around here, Ford's less pretty legacy is not forgotten, and FordCo is not ignorant of history. You'd think once they heard about this, they might use their influence to give the dealership a little push.
Ford are the same company that pointed out trade unionists to right-wing militants in Argentina and allowed them to be tortured on their property. Given that, I'm not really surprised by this latest nonsense... :(
Just for fun:
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2008/05/and-fishy-on-trunk.html
Thanks, cuttlefish, as usual
Things like this are the true test of tolerance. Can you accept someone doing something you find distasteful and morally offensive? If you do find this act offensive, by all means boycott. But don't forget to look for AND protest/boycott anti-Christian activities as well.
But I must say, a Christian should not discriminate against people simply becasue they are not Christian. Doing so is a total disregard for the basic teachings of Christ.
I am on several right wing mailing lists just to keep my finger on things and below is the text of one email I received recently. It isn't only Ford dealerships. It is as y'all suspected all along. It's endemic to the right wing:
London was destroyed in 2005? Obviously I need to follow the news more closely. . .
Don't make the same mistake that these lunatics make. They are no more representative of the majority of conservatives than the militant extremists are representative of Islam. I doubt that all liberals would want to be judged by PETA any more than conservatives want to be judged by people like Rod Parsley.