Samadhi Cushions and Store: Meditation cushions and benches made here in Vermont. A nonprofit carrying incense, gongs, books, cds, and other meditation supplies.
Boycott Whole Foods? No Way, says Way.
So, have you decided to boycott Whole Foods because the very green grocer's Libertarian founder John Mackey sounded off against universal health care in the Wall Street Journal? If you haven't yet decided, you should read what our favorite green Buddhist has to say first. The Elephant Journal's Waylon ("Way") Lewis made it pretty clear over at the Huffington Post last week that things are never as simple as they seem. Take a look—Way has initiated quite the lively exchange.
Why am I writing about this now? Well, for one thing, he's garnered hundreds of comments and they keep rolling in. And for another, I'm overworked and had a chance to read his post only with the arrival of EJ's newsletter, which you should subscribe to if you haven't already—it's, free, has tons of green info and provides lots of irreverent fun.
Love Ben Wyskida.
Mr. Mackey's approach to health care reform is an elitist pile of rot that benefits primarily those at the top, especially those running insurance companies and large corporations who would love to cut costs on employee benefits. If you would like further analysis, check out my recent blog piece on Mr. Mackey's commentary.
http://dangerousharvests.blogspot.com/2009/08/whole-foods-us-health-care...
As for boycotting Whole Foods, I'm not sure that will really make an impact on the health care debates.
Thanks, and don't forget Ben Wyskida's earlier piece at the Huffington Post on same.
You should check out Buddhist teacher Ethan Nichtern's better-argued take on Whole Foods in Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-nichtern/whole-fodsceo-john-mack_b_2...
I think if you read what John Mackey has to say, you would realize that it's not about NOT having health care reform, it's about having the RIGHT health care reform. People are in such a hurry to reform it, that it's going to end up backfiring on us, and being worse in the long run. I am not going to boycott Whole Foods. In fact, I may shop there more. I think Mr. Mackey makes perfect sense. In my Buddhist practice, I believe that people are responsible for themselves first. Mr. Mackey is just calling for more individual responsibility. Isn't that how the whole "green" thing is supposed to work? If everyone is responsible for themselves then everything falls into place. Let's not breed more anger and negativity by boycotting a place that does good in the world, just because it might be difficult for us to take responsibility for our own health and well-being.
I think it's absurd that anyone would consider boycotting Whole Foods because its CEO expressed his opinions about the more effective way to provide health care in America. His intentions and his goals are noble. We should be having a discussion and debate in America about the best ways to achieve our shared goals. Frankly, I think the Singapore model is the best way to provide access to health care for the people and that Universal Health care has serious flaws that make it a less ethical alternative than others. We should respect diversity of opinion and maybe learn something from what he has shared, rather than seek to destroy anyone who deviates from "politically correct" speech. I will go out of my way to shop more frequently than usual at Whole Foods in response to this effort to boycott the store.