Scott Tibbs
The shameful behavior of Feed Store Beer
By Scott Tibbs, August 24, 2022
I sent the following open letter to
Feed Store Beer:
I am deeply disappointed by the nasty message you sent to State Representative Jeff Ellington last week. Jeff has been a friend of mine for 26 years, going back to when I was an undergraduate at Indiana University. You told Jeff he is not welcome in your store any more because of his vote on Senate Bill 1 making abortion illegal in the state of Indiana.
You say Jeff is out of touch, but the numbers show you are wrong. Donald Trump won 74% of the vote in Greene County in 2016 and 75% of the vote four years later. Jeff consistently won Greene County by a large margin in the 2016, 2018 and 2020 general elections. Jeff Ellington is not out of step with the people of Greene County. You are.
But this is not about politics. This is about the unity of the country and whether we can continue to live, work, eat and shop next to each other without seeing outbursts of anger, bitterness and hate. People like you are determined to destroy our national unity by making basic day-to-day interactions dependent on what people think about politics. Rather than serve all of your customers who want to do business with you and buy your products, you have told the vast majority of people in Greene County you do not want them at your place of business.
If we are going to maintain this nation as it exists, we need to re-establish the cultural value of free speech and the freedom to disagree about even hotly contested political issues. This means being willing to work with, shop with and live next to people who strongly disagree with us on politics or cultural issues without trying to punish them for disagreement. Your message to Jeff was not only divisive, it was petty and childish. You have proven a lot about yourself and your business, and none of it is good.
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