Is boycott of Whole Foods going too far?

I think I will participate in a "Reverse Boycott" and begin going to Whole Foods while wearing my "Sarah Palin-2012,You Betcha" T-shirt.

The Health Care package is being water-down so much, I wonder what will be left. But I have hope that something will come of it for the people that need health care. I appreciate my Medicare plus Blue Cross and think all people should have the same access as my husband and I do.

As to boycotting Whole Foods because of the CEOs remarks, I don't feel that is a good reason (you know, the "cut off your nose" thing). But, I have a good reason for "boycotting" them. They are no longer what they use to be, so I no longer shop there. The last time I was there, I found so many things on the shelves that were past their "sell by" date I was shocked. Now I encourage anyone that does still shop there to inspect what they buy for the "sell by" date.

I shop someplace based on convenience, service, product, price. I do not shop at places based on what the CEO thinks. I have more than my share of free time but even I do not think that hard about where I buy my food. Excluding the above mentioned criteria.

I say let them boycott, I would rather not shop with idiots to begin with.

I anticipated that the Whole Foods CEO would have a different perspective on health care, but either way, it would have no effect on my decision to shop there. We do believe in free speech, do we not?
Mary must be 65 or more if she is on Medicare. She clearly has no idea what is in the House healthcare bill---because it would definitely result in rationing with seniors getting the short end of the stick. Medicare is having such problems that unless the government turns it over to private enterprise to run, all can expect cut backs in service and resulting rationing of care.

Haven't shopped there too much, but will now. It works both ways mental midgets, who like obamination hate free speech. Progressive? In the joe stalin fashion.

Like Mary Hilpert I stopped shopping there because of the deteriorating integrity of the store overall. The cod fillet I discarded right after I got it home. The imported unsalted butter was on the edge of being stale. The little cans of cat food went up from 90 cents to $1.10. The whipping cream in the cute glass bottle would not get stiff enough for decorating. The gorgeous looking produce is too expensive for me. And I don't live in Fig Garden. I am back to butter from California happy cows, Producers cream whips up great, and Simonian Farms' produce is just fine.

But I am concerned that the president's health plan is not going to be healthy for seniors of adequate but limited , fixed income; (which is most of us seniors.) To reduce to insufficient medical treatment and medication for one group in order give insufficient medical treatment to an additional group is not health reform in my book. It's robbing Peter to pay Paul to the detriment of Peter and Paul.

I still believe that we should be willing to pay a little more in taxes and make special temporary provision for those who are now without health care through no fault of their own. Let efficient and fair health care reform happen like the aging of good wine. Government could work well with private enterprise, if that government has the backbone to stop the insurance industry from looking look at us as cash cows instead of human beings. Reform in the laws guiding the obligations of the insurance companies would be far more useful than inventing an entirely new and equally inadequate system. I think!

Free speech has been replaced with "politically-correct speech." The owner of Whole Foods apparently has broken he sacred rule that anyone who believes in wholesome foods must be a progressive liberal, and toe the line. I don't shop there because I can't afford to but I recognize that they carry the finest in eats. Let those who cannot tolerate free thought and free speech seek out their organic fare elsewhere; it will far more inconvenient. As a libertarian, I am now motivated to shop there for what I might be able to afford, knowing that the owner is truly an individual who is not controlled by others.

Let the others eat cake.

It seems to me that we have had it so bad so long that this country would believe you. I remember when President Reagan started this whole privatization thing back in the good old "80s". When Medicare was fully funded, it was so much user friendly over what the private sector is doing. I remember what it meant to be part of the bigger picture. Our National Government can do things that the States and private business can't do. That's the fly in the ointment. There's so much money riding on this, if the American people get anything to help them; it will be a miracle! Big business does not want to lose!

Blah blah culture wars, "defending it against conservatives," WHATEVER. People get all excited about making enemies. Any opportunity to get offended is taken advantage of.

Here's another newsflash. The people who sell you food at farmer's markets might also have opinions that differ from your own. The nerve!

"The people who sell you food at farmer's markets might also have opinions that differ from your own."

Affirmative! That's why I don't ask my grocer for his party affiliation. Kimberly, if the opponents of conservatives are idiots; what are the opponents of liberals? (An idiot is an idiot may it be to the right or may it be to the left....to be played in f sharp) lol

Yes and no. Any marketing professor will tell you that when you buy you are voting. You are placing your vote to say I want you to make more of this product. Which in essence also says you agree with how it was made. If you purchase a product that was produced with child labor working 17 hour shifts, you are in fact saying that is O.K. with you. In cases such as I just described I'd say, hell ya I'll boycott that company. In this case, the CEO is stating his personal opinion. Buying from that company is not supporting his opinion. His opinion harms no one. In this case, the boycot is just plain silly.

Government provided healthcare is my birthright as an American, and Mackey is trying to keep me from having what is rightfully mine. I'm fighting back.

I refuse to shop there again until Mackey is gone and until Whole Foods supports single payer.

"Are those who are proposing the boycott overreacting?" Probably not. While reasonable people may disagree on the value of a particular boycott, people in a free society should be able to determine whether they want to intiate, participate, or ignore a boycott that reflects individual beliefs. Personally, I'm not in favor of this one, but since I don't shop at Whole Foods, no harm, no foul.

This must be an exercise.

The fact that we're even discussing what the CEO of Whole Foods thinks of anything indicates that this is the greatest country on Earth and we want for very little.

I am not versed in United States Law. I would not know if it contained lex scripta (statute) of compulsory medical aid. Though I suspect that it somewhere, somehow does. But there is lex non scripta (unwritten law) which compels society to render medical aid. That obligation is reflected in Canon law. That is why there are so many religious non-profit (free of charge) medical facilities here and abroad. In a more subtle (indirect) way we find lex non scripta in the Hippocratic Oath.

"In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.

This boycott is just another example to how IGNORANT those involved are! Obama is a manipulator. Did it even occur to all of you fools that you are putting 50,000 jobs at risk?! Now doesn't THAT make a lot of sense!

Until mention in this blog I had no idea who John Mackey (of Whole Food Market) was and what he said. I did not "boycot" the Fig Garden store but I stopped shopping there after some experiences with unwholesome quality of fish, dairy products, and A 30 cent price increase on a 90 cent can of cat food. I am sure it was not Whole Food's policy, but their butcher and dairy product stacker were irresponsible with the dating process. And that is the kind of corporate malpractice that causes jobs to be lost. I am not the only one in Fresno who dislikes old fish fillets, stale imported butter etc. etc.. And it does not make anyone a fool.

I think this whole thing is kind of uncalled for. The guy wrote an opinion piece with reasonable arguments. He didn't say anything outrageous in his column, where as Glen Beck said the president is racist. Now that is a statement worthy of boycott.

Joan Obra pretends to walk the neutral, journalistic line in her Food Section article on Whole Foods, but her motives are obvious with the following excerpt from the aforementioned story...

[quote=Joan Obra]...So isn’t it odd that Mackey, the public face of the Whole Foods brand, is telling us not to eat much of the food sold in his stores?

His arguments have worked on me. At the Fig Garden store last weekend, I saw the pizza and thought, “dairy … designed for disease.”

I considered a burger but thought, “animal foods … self-inflicted … heart disease.”

I looked at the wine and remembered, “minimal or no alcohol consumption.”

I lost my appetite after that. Since I’d already bought my produce at a farmers market, I picked up two limes, a bunch of cilantro and two avocados. My bill: $7.27.
[end quote]

As if Joan Obra is going to actually remove these items from her diet permanently. HA!

To further reinforce the Whole Foods bashing by Obra, check this excerpt from her blog on the same article:

[quote = Joan Obra]Well, just as Whole Foods thinks we have a right to labeled foods, many of its customers believe we have a right to health care - and they want to support companies with like-minded leaders. So calls for a boycott shouldn't be any surprise.[end quote]

It sure sounds like Joan's encouraging others to go elsewhere for their "sour grapes" in the future.

The comments here seem to mirror my own thoughts. Although I am still critical of Mackey for his underhanded tactics in anonymously criticising the management of Wild Oats at the same time he was trying to do a takeover of the rival company. Mackey's criticism of the plan for health care reform is justified, I believe; especially if the reform would make the Whole Foods insurance and HSA benefit plan non-conforming or otherwise non-qualified. Mackey's current plan gives all employees a high-deductible($2,500) insurance plan, PLUS a $1,700 HSA contribution. While I don't know the details, I suppose that the $1,700 HSA is an annual total. I think this is the ideal kind of plan, and that the stupid government needs to wake up and take notice. Instead of forcing the poorest Americans to purchase some "basic" and very watered-down health care insurance from the evil for-profit insurance companies, from which the great majority would derive little or NO benefits, at least Mackey's HSA's (Health Savings Accounts) would allow ALL of those low-income Americans who are forced to pay toward such a policy, to directly benefit by having dollars available to pay for ALL types of medical care, including sickness, well-care, dental care, vision and hearing, and physical rehabilitation, mental and drug rehab, etc.
These HSA's represent "first dollar benefits", and those dollars would go directly to the health care providers, and NOT to the private, for-profit health insurers -- which is the very LAST place we need to be sending money. My wife and I recently watched "Damaged Care", a older video starring Laura Dern, and reminding us of the case of "Baby James", who died because his insurance "manager" directed his parents to a hospital 42 miles away. In another case, Humana bid for, and took over a company account, and then sought to improve their profits by unjustly cancelling coverage for over 25, high-cost, disabled members. The video also referenced a social theory that argued that large corporations would morph into "evil" power centers -- so I think the "evil" description of private, for-profit insurers is well-justified.
I emailed similar comments to Senator Diane Feinstein recently, fully supporting Mackey's health benefit plan for his employees. Way to go, Mr. Mackey! Let's all support HSA's.