HEADLINES: The Frothy Beard Controversy
[Headlines from DRJ]
The Post and Courier (May 18, 2019): Frothy Beard Brewing Co. deals with fallout from co-owner’s social media posts on abortion.
Charleston City Paper (May 20, 2019): [Frothy Beard co-owner] Wesley Donehue to leave Frothy Beard Brewing Co. after backlash over social media posts
What did he say, you ask?
This is a taste from the first link:
Wesley Donehue, a political operative who describes himself as a “pro-life and pro-gay rights conservative Republican,” in a now-deleted Facebook post expressed his exasperation with the belief that men shouldn’t control abortion legislation. He wrote, “For the remainder of the day, I am self-identifying as a woman so I can have an opinion on abortion. #liberallogic.”
Plus this from the second link:
Fri. May 17, Frothy Beard issued an apology on Facebook after Donehue posted on Facebook and Twitter, reacting to sentiment that Alabama’s recent abortion ban is a result of not enough women running for office. “We need more women running for office,” Donehue wrote. “Until then, men will and should control legislative bodies.”
— DRJ
Okay. I don’t see it. Where’s the controversy?
Gryph (08c844) — 5/21/2019 @ 4:56 pmDRJ may be trying to contrast this guy (who suffered immediate consequences for his toxic behavior) and Brian Sims (who hasn’t).
Dave (1bb933) — 5/21/2019 @ 5:20 pmReal life just intersected with the Babylon Bee.
Paul Montagu (7968e9) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:34 pmBut gay men DO have aright to talk about abortion.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:38 pmOff-topic: Comment at the LA Times site, get targeted email. Just happened to me. Commented on a article about medical billing practices, go an email an hour later about helping lobby for medical billing reform. Who knew there were more reasons to hate the LA Times.h
Kevin M (21ca15) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:44 pmmen will and should control legislative bodies.”
I suppose to say men should control takes it into obvious patriarchy. But his phrasing it as “control[ling] legislative bodies” suggests an unsuccessful attempt at sarcasm, given how often abortion advocates claim abortion restrictions are male attempts ro control women’s bodies.
Kishnevi (c81531) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:48 pmAoc and ulhan omar agree more women need to be elected to public office.
lany (f9fb76) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:53 pmSnorfle. This is a comment from the second article, addressed to the reporter:
We’re talking about a guy marketing a beer to the LGBTQ. I would quote a line from a Bruce Springsteen song, but I have already done that.
nk (dbc370) — 5/21/2019 @ 6:55 pmGryph,
> For the remainder of the day, I am self-identifying as a woman
is invalidating and dismissive of trans people.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 5/21/2019 @ 7:00 pmI view this as a controversy because a person has been pressured, successfully, to sell his ownership share in a company because of his opinions. It is a good example of a prolonged, public, and heated disagreement. It also saddens me because everyone is a target now.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2019 @ 7:52 pmI didn’t see it that way, aphrael. I saw it as a sarcastic way to make a point that only certain views are welcome.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2019 @ 7:54 pm> For the remainder of the day, I am self-identifying as a woman
is invalidating and dismissive of trans people.
Rule Five: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
Personally, I am more inclined to ridicule beer snobs.
nk (dbc370) — 5/21/2019 @ 8:50 pmMay 28, 2019 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
At the brewery
Come out for Timber Tuesday’s at Frothy Beard! Every Tuesday from 5PM – 9PM, Blade and Bull Axe Throwing of Charleston will be at Frothy for a $10 “all you can throw” axe throwing night!!
Please pre sign a waiver at bladeandbull.com and please wear closed toe shoes!
It’s a pub with pretensions.
Kishnevi (8768cf) — 5/21/2019 @ 8:59 pmHey, I just thought of something. You know how NPR started putting “Goats and Soda” after its online stories to arouse readers’ curiosity and make them read the story? Well, how about “Watercress and Beer” for this kind of story? Your suggestions earnestly solicited.
nk (dbc370) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:01 pmnk
steveg (354706) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:08 pmI sometimes go into local breweries and ask for the beer on tap that is most like coors light.
Just to enjoy the look of total disgust.
My worst enemy is boredom. I’ve been recovering from cervical fusion surgery and all that non activity (except walking) gave me way too much time on my hands.
First I had to apologize to the host here, and then I had to overtip the waitress.
Boredom will do that. Plus when I’m bored, I find my inner child tipping over the apple cart just because.
I ‘m not a psychologist and would be a quack if I was, but I am confident I could diagnose myself as a chronic apple cart upsetter https://allpoetry.com/A-Sane-Revolution
That is a tough procedure, steveg. I hope each day is a little better.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:20 pmI can relate about too much time on one’s hands. I just ordered one ounce each of seven different tobaccos to see if I can duplicate the European cigarettes of my youth that are no longer imported.
nk (dbc370) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:27 pmDRJ, at 11: i’m reasonably confident all of my trans* friends would interpret it as implying that trans* people are just playing games, and/or that trans identity is something one can don and doff like an article of clothing.
aphrael (3f0569) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:38 pmGood luck nk
steveg (354706) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:38 pmHopefully you will find some combination that makes you as happy as the original.
The tobacco ads always threw in the alluring female who wanted to share the cigarette…
Ok, aphrael, but isn’t that the same as the post — believing that some people have superior understanding of issues (simply because they are women, trans, etc.) and therefore others are wrong?
DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:46 pmThanks DRJ
steveg (354706) — 5/21/2019 @ 9:49 pmEvery week is better. Individual days have to be considered within the context of the entire week.
I tell people who are thinking about the surgery to just look at it as distilling all of the pain going forward into a procedure now and taking that pain on upfront.
I have a family member who had a similar procedure. He was glad (or at least not sorry) he had back surgery but it was not an easy recovery.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2019 @ 10:12 pmA British beer company called for hitting Farange with bricks. He’s not sorry.
NJRob (4d595c) — 5/21/2019 @ 11:04 pmDRJ — I don’t see it as “some people have superior understanding of issues (simply because they are women, trans, etc.) and therefore others are wrong”, I see it as my trans friends saying “when I heard the words, they meant *this* to me, and i’d appreciate it if you used different words to convey the same impression in the future” isn’t “b. It’s … acknowledging and recognizing how the way words have been used around you in the past colors the way you understand them.
aphrael (3f0569) — 5/21/2019 @ 11:39 pmFrothy Beard? What is that, a brewing company? And they brew beer?
Uh huh, yeah, right. These clowns wouldn’t know beer if it was peed on their faces.
Back in the early 80s, when I was attending the University in Austin–which, by the way, offers an elective course on the history of beer–there were these festivals, Wurstfest and Oktoberfest, held every year in Fredericksburg and New Braunfels. These are German communities, and there live these old German guys, who brew their own beer. It’s an old family tradition, and these guys took brewing beer very seriously. The festivals were where they brought their kegs to show off their home brewed beer.
Do you know how these guys determined what real beer was? If you couldn’t use your pinky finger to make a smiley face on the head of a mug, it wasn’t real beer.
Okay, these guys are serious about their beer. And I got to tell you, just a taste will knock you back. Wow, that’s real beer! You won’t find anything that in a bottle or can at some store.
This is what I’m talking about, real beer. I’ve tasted it, fresh out of the keg in a frosted mug, and yes I could make a smiley face on the head with my pinky finger.
If you asked any of these beer-brewing men what they thought about women’s rights, they would have laughed in your face, and taken a sip of brew.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 5/22/2019 @ 12:20 am9. Okay. I still don’t understand the controversy. I can’t count the number of times I’ve felt “dismissed and invalidated,” but I guess it doesn’t count cause I’m a cisgendered white male.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:12 amIt’s a microcosm in a microcosm in a microcosm in a microcosm. (1)LGBT (2)beer snobs who are the (3)customers of the speaker’s (4)micro-brewery. Or as someone else might say, rounding error in the social discourse.
nk (dbc370) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:18 amIn a capitalistic system, you market to your customer. If you are in the world of craft beer, you are selling to the young people who are drenched in safe space, boycott everything, twitter mob culture. Even in Charleston.
Meanwhile, at the BBQ joint down the road, you can likely find some Confederate flags to go with your Mustard based bbq and cute pig cartoons.
It makes for silly reading. But it’s not like these kids are going to chase Chik-fil-A out of the low country.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:30 am28. Strangely, there is power in victimhood. Oddly, I am powerless because I refuse to be a victim. Hmmm.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:36 amGryph,
Maybe I shouldn’t care but it bothers me that the outrage mob can pressure a small business to buy out an owner — solely because they don’t like something he wrote that (as far as I can tell) was his opinion and wasn’t threatening. This effectively took away some or all if his livelihood and I doubt the buyout from a small venture like this represents the full present value of what he expected to earn.
We know this happens at big companies and with the Chick-fil-a’s, but this is more like the little cake shop. How can it stand up to being targeted and stay in business? It can’t so the outrage mob will always win.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:43 amBasically, I don’t like bullies.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/22/2019 @ 6:57 amIt’s this sort of thing that probably inspired Brian Sims. I mean why should women and chidlre be immune?
Sammy Finkelman (db7fea) — 5/22/2019 @ 7:00 amDRJ:
Ultimately, this is about how people choose to dispose of their extremely disposable income (craft beer being, essentially, a luxury item). Fashion, including political fashion, enters into that choice. My wife really liked a pair of Ivanka Trump shoes. But she didn’t need them. She could find a stylish pair of shoes from lots of other places. And she did exactly that. Adam Smith would approve.
The cakeshop example is really quite different, as political advocates deliberately dragged the government into it. That’s where you cross the line from eye-rolling nonsense to oppression.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 5/22/2019 @ 7:03 am30. I do care that a business owner was bullied out of his business. But to me, that’s not a controversy. That’s an injustice. And there’s not a blessed thing I can do about this particular injustice. I’m running out of righteous indignation.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/22/2019 @ 7:35 am33 and 34,
You both make good points.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/22/2019 @ 1:44 pm35. Thank you. To me, calling something a “controversy” suggests that it engenders debate and disagreement. Calling the Frothy Beard incident (Sounds like a murder mystery, eh?) a “controversy” is like calling 1 + 1 = 2 a “controversy.” There’s really nothing debatable/controversial about it, though that won’t stop people on both sides of the political aisle from trying.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/22/2019 @ 3:46 pmBut it is based on a controversy, isn’t it? The abortion debate.
DRJ (15874d) — 5/22/2019 @ 4:02 pm37. Since when was the immorality of murder a controversy? That’s the thing about the modern body-politic that really bugs me; as consumers of media, we seek out controversy like it’s mother’s milk. Hell, controversy IS the mother’s milk of the modern media jackals’ outfit. So if there is none to be found, it’s generated. And for-profit “conservative” blogs are equally as guilty of this as any on the left side of the aisle.
Gryph (08c844) — 5/22/2019 @ 4:44 pm