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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHobby Lobby cotton display goes viral for being 'racist'
Crafts store Hobby Lobby is taking serious heat for a store display that one woman is calling racist.
On Thursday, Facebook user Daniell Rider posted a photo to Hobby Lobbys Facebook page, of a vase of cotton flowers displayed in a Texas store. She captioned it, This decor is WRONG on SO many levels. There is nothing decorative about raw cotton A commodity which was gained at the expense of African-American slaves. A little sensitivity goes a long way. PLEASE REMOVE THIS décor.
The $29.99 stems (marked down to $15 on the company website) was shared more than 15K times and earned 169K comments, an overwhelming majority of which ridiculed Rider for being too sensitive and a few that defended her stance.
dhill926
(16,302 posts)it's ugly as hell...
fleur-de-lisa
(14,624 posts)but individual branches are really pretty.
I went to college in northern Mississippi and I would stop by the fields just before harvest to swipe a few to put in a vase. They have a kind of stark beauty to them.
OregonBlue
(7,753 posts)I thought it was beautiful then and still do. Sometimes a branch of cotton is just a branch of cotton.
Response to dhill926 (Reply #1)
cyclonefence This message was self-deleted by its author.
GoCubsGo
(32,073 posts)Which is where the real outrage lies. Did people actually pay full price for that thing?
sarisataka
(18,470 posts)I have noticed a trend. Prices tend to be ridiculously high but they are marked half off from something outrageous.
GoCubsGo
(32,073 posts)Fifteen bucks for a couple of branches of cotton bolls, a cheap glass vase and a ribbon? There are people who are willing to pay it, though. I am not one of them. I refuse to shop there.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)Of course, l've never been in a Hobby Lobby store.
GP6971
(31,101 posts)walked in, looked around and left. Didn't spend any money and was not impressed. Looks like overpriced crap.
3catwoman3
(23,939 posts)...made in China.
GoCubsGo
(32,073 posts)What over-price waste of our precious resources would Jesus buy?
linuxman
(2,337 posts)Squinch
(50,901 posts)of Hobby Lobby. Because I don't see this as racist. Any more than wearing cotton clothing is racist.
Though I do agree with Dhill926 who says it's fugly.
TCJ70
(4,387 posts)Response to TCJ70 (Reply #5)
maryellen99 This message was self-deleted by its author.
JustAnotherGen
(31,775 posts)My second oldest Aunt - the grandchild of slaves - has been selling wreaths of cotton for years on Etsy. She plants just a few in Alabama to make them. I have one in my dining room. Good bad indifferent - I come from slaves. It's heart space.
Aunt Dees clients are almost all black folks thanking her on her website.
Oneironaut
(5,479 posts)Basically, you get people trying to "out-ridiculous" each other for attention. Normal silliness doesn't cut it anymore.
maryellen99
(3,785 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,814 posts)In the university president's context it did seem like one of many insults.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)THAT'S fucked up . . .
Context matters.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Luciferous
(6,077 posts)milestogo
(16,829 posts)Skittles
(153,104 posts)this makes her look utterly foolish
exboyfil
(17,862 posts)I am not going to write it since I don't want to be banned.
tavernier
(12,364 posts)He was hard core racist. My husband the exact opposite. They both passed away within the last year. I'd be interested to hear their conversations now.
dembotoz
(16,783 posts)cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)and while I agree with those who think the stalks are beautiful, as a white woman I do not have the right to determine what is offensive to an African-American. I tend to believe that Hobby Lobby (fuck them) didn't intend the display to be offensive to anyone (what retailer wants to drive away customers? Money isn't black or white--it's green)* but I do think that they should have removed the display once the complaint was made.
The times we live in, when cops shoot and kill African Americans without suffering any consequences, dictate that a retailer--or any public concern--should be sensitive to this kind of thing, perhaps more than ever before.
Because of what I've been reading and thinking about recently, the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the photo of the display was indeed slaves picking cotton. YMMV.
*and answering my own rhetorical question: Hobby Lobby wants to drive away gay customers, so hold your water.
Igel
(35,268 posts)was Kazakhstan and the Aral Sea and the ecological disaster that's inevitable when the government both controls production, the motives for production, and the regulations on production.
Which goes to show that what's offensive is personal, and if something like cotton bolls can be offensive for such two entirely different reasons almost anything can probably be offensive. What's left is for those like me at the extremes of what's offensive to recognize that I'm an outlier and, in other words, I have to remember to accept that the majority might not agree with my idiosyncrasies and that they're in no way wrong for being the majority and not harboring my particular sensitivities.
If it's not offensive to the majority it's not offensive to the majority, and if the reason is that they have a completely innocuous interpretation then that's their interpretation. They do not have to bow to my dictates as though I were some petty cast iron Stalin. Since I've mentioned the Aral Sea. (RIP)
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)I understand your point about majority rule outweighing our personal feelings, but this seems to me to be different from that. The majority is often wrong, most particularly in matters of morality and ethics.
Slavery was not offensive to the majority of voters in states where slavery was legal--what to make of that?
I read several posts from African Americans who celebrate the cotton boll in wreaths etc. but these are people who have decided on their own, have made the object their own, have turned it to an object of beauty and pride, and that's wonderful. But there exists at least one African American woman who is offended by it. If someone who is a member of a substantial part of our population says she is offended by that display, then I have no quarrel with her, and I think the store should remove it.
What's the downside of taking the damn thing out of the window? If it's causing pain to one single person, and that pain can be relieved so simply and with no effort, why not do it? Or are we so cruel that we can't perform this small act of kindness and understanding?
christx30
(6,241 posts)If one person's pain is the reason that an entire company makes a change, when 99.99999% of the rest of the population doesn't care, then why make the change? I'm one person. No one should have to give a rip about me or my views. If I find something, not directed toward me offensive or hurtful, is anyone obligated to remove it? Can we get 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' or Real Housewives cancelled?
And it doesn't sound like the person in the OP was hurt. Is a company required to bend to every passive aggressive note that comes across social media? Find another arts and crafts store.
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)It's not the entire company making a change, and the change is to take two branches of cotton bolls out of the display window. It causes (at least) this woman pain--who knows if there are others who are offended who have not complained publicly--where's the harm in addressing her concern? It isn't some elaborate arrangement the store has created; it's essentially two sticks in a glass jar.
If you had on your windowsill, so that it was visible from the sidewalk, some decoration that disturbed a neighbor--even if it was the most innocent thing in the world--wouldn't you remove it? There are people who collect primitive art, for instance, which might offend some ignorant person. If you had such a piece in your window, and your neighbor told you it made her uncomfortable to pass by it, would you try to educate her about art, or would you just move the piece away from the window?
I simply do not see any reason not to honor this woman's request.
I also don't see any reason to feel a line needs to be drawn. This just isn't that big a deal.
Life is hard enough. A little kindness goes a long way.
christx30
(6,241 posts)was a Kim Davis type of Christian, and the decoration was a rainbow flag. Would you honor that person's request?
And for my one neighbor, "if you don't like it, don't look at it. I don't complain that you haven't mowed your lawn in 2 months."
kcr
(15,313 posts)sarisataka
(18,470 posts)If it was anything but the cotton in the plain vase, say something was adorned with the Confederate flag or even decorations suggesting pre-1860 South, I would think there is a point, but since there isn't it appears to Simply Be cotton in a vase. I cannot see that in and of itself any more offensive than the cotton jeans I am wearing at this moment.
If we are going to be that hypersensitive what will be next? Are we going to remove race and watermelon from grocery stores so as not to promote stereotypes? Should Volkswagen change its name to avoid offending any Jewish person with their connection to German history?
As one famous Republican requoted, You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you cant please all of the people all of the time
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)First, I don't understand why people are reluctant to let other people define what is offensive to them and to speak out about it, requesting redress
Second, I don't understand how this is a slippery slope of some kind. Just take the fucking sticks out of the fucking display window--what could that possibly hurt, and it will answer this woman's grievance.
You and I don't have the right--I'm assuming you are white, as I am--to decide what is offensive to African Americans, and I think we'd better start paying attention. In fact, here's my slogan suggestion for the Democratic Party--
Vote Democrat--now 40% less racist!
sarisataka
(18,470 posts)Fiirst this one person seeing it is racist. There is no growing movement for this, even here on a very diverse and liberal website the majority, even POC, are saying get over it.
Second, it sets precedent. When some guy walks into, obviously, a different store and says he finds the rainbow flag decals offensive would that store be obligated to remove them based on the president of removing the cotton display? *Just take the fucking stickers out of the fucking display window--what could that possibly hurt, and it will answer this man's grievance. *
The question of who decides what is racist is an interesting one. Most of the family members on my wife side or 75 + percent Native American. With one notable exception they have no issue with sports teams names such as Chiefs or Indians. So who is correct the one or the three dozen? (ironically the one who thinks the names are racist has among the least Native genes.)
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)so I don't care if people want me to "get over it"--one of the most insulting things you can say to someone you don't agree with, btw, and a favorite fall-back for Republicans who don't have a good argument. There's always the "ignore" option, and using that doesn't constitute an attack on a fellow Democrat.
And second, how in the hell does it set precedent? Will a ukase be issued?
We learned that "Zero Tolerance" doesn't work--trying to fit every situation under one code of conduct, as you seem to be suggesting with your rainbow flag example, leads only to unfairness and cruelty.
I do not believe there is much to debate about what is racist. IMO the person who is offended is allowed to judge sports teams' names or anything else to be racist. That your relatives don't feel that way is fine with me, although I disagree with them.
I'm working really hard to be polite and kind in this thread (not totally successfully), and I won't respond to people who are ugly about this. We ought to be able to discuss anything here without denigrating other posters. In fact, I think that's part of the TOS.
sarisataka
(18,470 posts)Statement at you, but summing the opinion towards the facebook poster.
I don't think this is zero tolerance but I may misunderstand your usage here. It is a precedent since if we are going to accommodate one person's reaction to one display, what grounds do we have to deny one other person's reaction to another display? I selected rainbow flags specifically since we know many people find them objectional. If our sole criteria for offensive is how the person complaining subjectively views the object, we have no grounds to refuse to remove the flags just as we did with the cotton. Our only reason to act on one complaint but not the other is we agree with one but not the other.
I expect there to be discussions, sometimes heated. I will, at times, play devil's advocate and challenge a person to defend their position, even when I agree with it. I expectthe same in return however no offense is ever intended. At the end of the day we are all entitled to our own opinion whether it is in the majority, minority of unique to ourself
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)(at this point, I shouldn't be posting; my Trump drinking game is quickly getting me drunk), but I still don't see why acceding to this one woman's (really quite simple) request means we therefore have to accede to every other request, like removing a rainbow flag. Of course we don't.
By "zero tolerance" I mean a policy that was put in place in many schools and other public institutions, largely I think in response to drugs, that no matter the degree of the infraction, the infraction will not be tolerated. Every action of the same I don't know--genus? would be judged the same as any other action of that same genus. For example, a child who kissed another (unwilling) child in school would be subjected to exactly the same treatment as the child who raped another child in school because both were of the genus sexual assault. I suggest that you are putting the cotton protest in the same genus as a protest against a rainbow flag, and they're not, at least not in my opinion. Basically, removing the cotton hurts no one; removing a rainbow flag in response to protest hurts all of us, but especially gay people.
sarisataka
(18,470 posts)That's dangerous
Now I see how you are equating the policies. I am in agreement that zero tolerance is simply zero thinking and a refuge for administrators afraid to make a decision.
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)fucking idiot
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)Insensitivity to racial matters is not a new response to protests about hurts we don't understand.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)I wonder how you build a cotton free safe space. I guess all of the satin pillows need to be stuffed with guinea pig hair, but that may offend the people of New Guinea
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)equates to needing to create a "cotton free safe space." What is the downside? This woman is hurt by the display, and we have no right to tell her she should not be offended, so why not simply remove the sticks?
White privilege has many faces, and one of them is feeling empowered to judge what should and should not offend African American people.
And btw, if we really want to win some elections, we'd better get a little more attentive to what people of color are telling us. The Republican party has gone full-on white supremacist, and this is our chance to win elections and do the right thing at the same time.
PS If you think I'm not serious enough to respond to without laughing at me, maybe you should investigate the "ignore" feature.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)would defend here here.
And yes, these because this is some hilarious shit, just FYI.
I have an idea for you. Why don't you get a hold of Rachel Dolezal and ask for her opinion of this. Then get back to us LOL
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)I like the way you didn't bother to answer any of my points.
christx30
(6,241 posts)She doesn't have the right to NOT be offended. She doesn't have the right to force someone to change to accommodate her. No one is obligated to change. She can either not look at the one display, or she can shop at Michaels or Tuesday Morning. JoAnns has some good craft stuff too. It just depends on what she's looking for.
All Hobby Lobby is obligated to ask is "how many of these have we sold this quarter?" and "If we take these off the shelf, will this one customer generate enough in sales to make up for it?"
In short, none of us are special. We all have the right to be offended at anything we want. But no one else is under any obligation to do anything about it.
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)because I had gathered from the information posted here that it was a *window display* the woman objected to, not the fact that they were selling (faux) cotton in the store. Your response prompted me to read the original story online, and I stand corrected. I don't know why I didn't realize this before; I don't *think* any earlier responses corrected me on the fact that it wasn't just a window display--hence all my "I don't understand" posts!
I stand by my point that no one gets to decide what someone else is offended by (but I guess nobody really disagrees with that) and that we need to be kinder to each other.
If there were a "sheepish" emoticon, I'd post it here.
OTOH I was playing a drinking game with myself this morning during DT's speech at the UN, and maybe the alcohol clouded my thinking and/or reading ability.
So you guys are right and I was wrong--well, I think I was right about what I thought the problem was, but it wasn't the real problem, so if you're right about something that's wrong, I guess you're just plain wrong.
And thank you for presenting the argument in a way that impelled me to look it up for myself.
Extra appreciation for people who were gentle in their disagreement with me. I really am a nice old lady.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)Why am I not surprised that this idiot who thinks an banal decorative item is wildly offensive but is just fine spending her money at a company that hates gays? #CluelessTwit
spooky3
(34,399 posts)To deny certain medical care coverage to women.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)Sometimes hard to keep track of all the various flavors of hate.
fleur-de-lisa
(14,624 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Warpy
(111,115 posts)It's a display of cotton bolls that have popped open, ready for harvest. WHAT THE FUCK IS RACIST ABOUT THAT?
I am so sick of hypersensitive, hysterical fuckwits who go around trying to smell shit where nobody has farted for years.
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)That backpack wears a Lisa Simpson Stay Woke patch to feng shui all that negativity away
Oops, inappropriate cultural appropriation of feng shui.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)Get a life.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)ProgressiveValue
(130 posts)1) She is trolling those who get offended over every little thing.
2) She is playing the "see how liberal I am game" by going out and looking for anything to be "outraged" about.
Either way, it doesn't help. There are enough real things in the world that are offensive and dehumanizing to deal with without going out and making them up in order to "out liberal" each other.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Do I need to throw out my cotton socks and underwear? I really do like my Egyptian cotton towels and sheets. Should I burn them now?
Pisces
(5,599 posts)kcr
(15,313 posts)Oh, there's some troll bait alright.
csziggy
(34,131 posts)As noted by several DUers they are cotton bolls.
Here is a cotton flower:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gossypium_herbaceum
Tanuki
(14,913 posts)were under the impression that they came from a type of tiny sheep that they heard grew on trees!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton
"During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories, Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as GermanBaumwolle, which translates as "tree wool" (Baummeans "tree"; Wolle means "wool" ).. Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie [sic]."
Laffy Kat
(16,366 posts)But cotton is pretty and it would never occur to me that this is racist. That said, I am not a person of color and will respect that opinion.
WillowTree
(5,325 posts)SharonClark
(10,014 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,073 posts)NOW, not over a hundred years ago. If this dipshit showed the same outrage over them as she did the grossly over-priced (even on clearance) branches of cotton slapped into a cheap glass vase, she wouldn't have even stepped foot into that junk shop.
dawg
(10,621 posts)Not too many liberals wandering around Hobby Lobby to begin with.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... someone who doesn't know how to pick their battles wisely.
underpants
(182,574 posts)mia
(8,358 posts)sarisataka
(18,470 posts)Of any articles about people posting on Home Depot's page that their cotton racist?
mia
(8,358 posts)Walking past, I made a note to stop in when I saw it: a huge tin bucket of cotton stalks displayed outside the store. Understand, despite gentrification, Black folks were still in the neighborhood and many of us lamented the overnight influx of White people and all that came with it high rents and food prices, the entitlement, colonization, pricing out, amped up and overaggressive policing of people of color, and complaints about how loud and long our church services are. So I stood frozen, mouth gaping outside the shop next to a chalkboard listing prices of various kinds of plants. A Black man walking by popped his head in the doorway and yelled: Yall on some shit! You in a Black neighborhood sellin cotton. Thats that bullshit right here.
Ashton seemed shaken. Jenny stood next to a pair of orchids looking like she had just been street-harassed.
I strolled into the store with a smile on my face. Ashton and Jenny looked cautiously hopeful, as if they expected me to assuage their emotions in the wake of the mans cursing. I said in a tone that was both sharp and gentle, The cotton is not such a good idea in this neighborhood. Youre right next door to a Black barbershop. Might want to bring the bucket inside and put it in the back. Out of sight. Ashton swiftly did so.
After my recent Brooks Brothers incident, I wondered which other stores might include raw-cotton displays in their décor. The list that came up included Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Cracker Barrel, and Jo Ann Fabrics. When called to ask about this practice, only Hobby Lobby and Michaels responded, both saying that they sell cotton stalks in their stores. The public-relations reps did not have definitive answers about the use of cotton in displays or décor.
Rowdyag
(105 posts)With a cotton farmer.....kind looks like money to me.
I bet the folks that depend on a cotton crop as a livelihood feel the same.
It's kind of pretty too....a field full od cotton ready to pick is really beautiful.
Zambero
(8,962 posts)Decorative cuttings of a plant species in an unmarked container leave much to the imagination, although the regressive policies of this closely held company are a very ugly reality.
Bettie
(16,058 posts)There is virtually nothing in existence that won't offend someone, somewhere.
Bengus81
(6,927 posts)Gawd,seriously lady?? Hell,I might buy one and I usually don't shop there.
Fla Dem
(23,562 posts)It's things like this that the RW gets to point out when they want to demonstrate the absurdity (at least in their minds) of charges of racism. Some clerk was probably asked to put out a display and they randomly selected the cotton balls.
I don't support Hobby Lobby ever since they sued to be allowed not to provide contraceptives to their employees through their insurance. Haven't been in a store since.
kcr
(15,313 posts)otherwise, they'd completely understand and be totally not racist. And Hobby Lobby has NEVER had a racist display before, so this is a ridiculous accusation, of course. That picture of the cotton isn't suspiciously cropped at all! I think I maxed out on the amount of sarcasm allowed in one post.
Fla Dem
(23,562 posts)I NEVER said there was no racism or that racists are "totally not racist". I never said anything about the picture being cropped. As far as the display itself, it may or may not have been created as a racist statement. But in the scheme of things, there are a lot more overt acts that can be used to point out racism other than a display of cotton balls.
Fire away, I'm sure you have a few more bullets left in your sarcasm gun.
Orrex
(63,165 posts)And Hobby Lobby's share price will jump as his drooling acolytes rush to enact his will.
Baitball Blogger
(46,671 posts)Response to sarisataka (Original post)
catrose This message was self-deleted by its author.
jalan48
(13,836 posts)edbermac
(15,933 posts)Bradical79
(4,490 posts)I could fill a thousand phonebooks with Facebook comments about people being upset at random things. Why does this get a story in a national news outlet?
I feel pretty confident that I know why, and it's more racist than anything Hobby Lobby did here. I notice on Facebook lots of these get shared pretty widely often showing someone of color, or a liberal/progressive, being outraged at something that will seem ridiculous to most. It's about making complaints about real social injustice seem vastly overblown, and play into the pc, snowflake, offended at everything liberal narritive that's been pushed by the right for decades. It's part of a right wing propaganda effort, imo.
Edit: And it's very good propaganda. Look at how many of us here play into it too. I was ready to say something ridiculing her myself.
Dart_Thrower
(8 posts)Yes! Let us all count the ways... !!!!
ileus
(15,396 posts)Dem2
(8,166 posts)Is this really how low we've fallen as a country?