{"id":343,"date":"2009-08-17T11:28:48","date_gmt":"2009-08-17T11:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/a-pagan-reason-not-to-shop-at-whole-foods.html"},"modified":"2009-08-17T11:28:48","modified_gmt":"2009-08-17T11:28:48","slug":"a-pagan-reason-not-to-shop-at-whole-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/a-pagan-reason-not-to-shop-at-whole-foods.html","title":{"rendered":"A Pagan Reason Not to Shop at Whole Foods"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Mackey, the dishonest CEO<\/a> <\/span><\/a> <\/span>of Whole Foods, has caused quite a stir
\nwith his foolish editorial <\/a><\/span><\/span>about why we do not need health care reform.  <\/span>Many people, myself included, have
\ndecided to boycott the chain until Mackey is looking for another job.  <\/span>We’ve had it with the idiocy, venality,
\nheartlessness, and greed of so much of the right, and don’t want to subsidize
\nthem  with our dollars.  When I shop there some of my dollars go to Mackey’s pay check. 
<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n


\nBut there is more to it than this, and I hope my reasons will
\ninterest Pagans.<\/p>\n

When Spirit permeates the world, all our relations with the
\nworld are in part relations with Spirit. 
\n<\/span>We do not live in a place where we go to an Esbat on the Full Moon (or
\nchurch on Sunday) and  <\/span>ignore our
\nreligion the rest of the time.  <\/span>Our
\nworld is not fallen and we are not freed from a nonexistent original sin just
\nby believing something.<\/p>\n

Our world makes a good deal more sense.<\/p>\n

Corporations are constitutionally incapable of acting in an
\nethical fashion.  <\/span>They are
\norganized only to be concerned with stock value.  <\/span>Crooked executives can steal a little on the side, but when
\nthe system is working it has all the moral sensitivity of a rational sociopath.<\/p>\n

This means that corporations cannot<\/i> treat the natural world
\nas a place of intrinsic value.  <\/span>A
\nfarmer may or may not do this, so long as it is dominated by the interests of
\nshare holders investing for money, a corporation cannot.  <\/span>Whole Foods is the pretty face of
\nindustrialized agriculture, where money is the only real standard, and whose
\ninner logic manifests as industrial hog and chicken factories and huge fields
\nof monoculture supported by political subsidies and life destroying
\nagricultural practices.<\/p>\n

Corporations can do good things that might not be entirely
\nbottom line related, such as WalMart buying organic food.  <\/span>They do so because it is so profitable
\nthat some conscientious executives can shave a little off and do the right
\nthing without starting a shareholder revolt. (From what I hear in WalMart’s
\ncase I think this is the case.  <\/span>But
\nI could be wrong.)<\/p>\n

When I buy groceries I shop at farmers’markets (which are
\nnot available year round even here in Sonoma County) and at locally owned
\nstores or the smallest chains I can find. Its both because there is a far
\ngreater likelihood that the organizations I shop from do not worship only
\nmoney, and may live in an ethically more complex world that John Mackey, and because it is a way to support where I live. I still shopped at Whole Foods very very occasionally, but now I won’t even do that until MacKey is fired.  .<\/p>\n

I would argue this kind of action is part of the only way modern society might come
\nto exist in a respectful way with the rest of our home.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Mackey, the dishonest CEO  of Whole Foods, has caused quite a stir with his foolish editorial about why we do not need health care reform.  Many people, myself included, have decided to boycott the chain until Mackey is looking for another job.  We’ve had it with the idiocy, venality, heartlessness, and greed of so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,109,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-environment","category-pagan-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nA Pagan Reason Not to Shop at Whole Foods - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/a-pagan-reason-not-to-shop-at-whole-foods.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Pagan Reason Not to Shop at Whole Foods - 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