THE GREAT SALENA – AT 2:48 P.M. ET:  We are great fans of Salena Zito here.  Based in Pittsburgh, she has emerged as one of the few national reporters who goes out and talks to real people.  She probably has never attended a Georgetown cocktail party, and I doubt if she'll ever be invited to give a commencement address.  But she knows, in the best sense of that word.  This column is based on an interview with an ordinary guy named Sam.  From the New York Post:   

After 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Florida high school on Feb. 14, a slew of big-name corporations, including Best Western, Delta Air Lines, MetLife, the Bank of Omaha and the Avis Budget Group, have terminated their promotional programs for NRA members.

Not because the NRA had anything to do with the shootings, but because an organized campaign to boycott the gun organization appeared on Twitter within hours of the shooting. As the hysteria rose and thousands of activists bullied companies allied with the NRA, corporations panicked and canceled their affiliate programs. The left cheered and the rest of the country bristled as politics suddenly invaded the once-innocuous world of corporate discounts — yet another sector of America formerly untouched by activism.

Sam is perplexed that NRA members have become the target of so much hate, given that the very institutions employed to keep people safe in Parkland failed that day. But he is far from angry.
“I’m not furious, not at all. They made a business decision. I get it. They want to step out of their non-political lane and become corporate activists. I can calmly step out of my lane, too. And given every chance I get, I will not use their products,” he said.

Because the bulk of corporate CEOs or PR teams for these companies live in Westchester or Los Angeles or San Francisco, they forget that many of their regular consumers who live Akron, Ohio; Westby, Wis.; or Baldwin, Mich., do not share their point of view. When you’re a national brand, you have to sell your product nationally. You can’t be ignorant of the cultural divide...

...Last fall even the NFL — the strongest brand in America — suffered a ratings hit when players refused to stand for the national anthem. Annoyed that the NFL did nothing to stop politics and division from invading the national pastime, consumers found other ways to spend their Sundays. According to Nielsen, the average football audience was 14.9 million in 2017, compared to 16.5million in 2016.

Now banks, hotels and rental cars are picking a side, and they are all starting to take a hit. A Politico/Morning Consult survey of US adults conducted Feb. 23-25 found that consumers felt more negatively toward businesses after they learned they had cut ties with NRA members...

...One of the few companies that got it right on the issue was FedEx. On Monday, they proved it with a statement saying that while they oppose some of the NRA’s policy positions they refuse to change their discount policies because they value their customers for more than just their politics. (Meanwhile, both Apple and Amazon have remained silent while continuing their discount programs.)...

...The sad thing is, our national divisiveness appears to have no end, hurting not just corporate bottom lines but society, too. We are split in two more than ever — and the chasm just keeps growing.

COMMENT:  Well said, as always.  I'm not an NRA member, but the smears against that organization are worse than the worst of McCarthyism.  Yet, the mainstream media has no problem with the tone of the anti-NRA campaign.  It is, after all, an outgrowth of the tone on American college campuses, the home base of today's "journalists."

March 4, 2018