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7/8/2008
Burri: Selective outrage is not heroism
As long as heroism means grabbing the low-hanging fruit, that is. The safest way possible. If that’s how you define heroism, then I agree. They are heroes.
Principled! Heroes!
The story: Epic Health Systems, a Madison-area company that creates and supports computer systems for hospitals and such, declared last week that they will “try not to” do business with members and supporters of Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce (WMC). The reason: WMC's role in Wisconsin’s recent Supreme Court elections, which Epic’s statement describes as “a travesty of ethics.”
Epic’s decision was quickly followed by a resignation from WMC’s board: a construction company, which is already working on an enormous contract for Epic.
Like I said: heroes! Epic is risking everything by taking this principled stand.
Or, well, they’re risking a couple of things.
Something? Anything?
It’s possible. Epic does need things, just like other companies. Paper, chairs, computers, etc. Maybe they contract out for human relations, or for cafeteria service. They depend on other businesses, which can, if they choose, make the same Heroic Declaration of Principle in reverse.
If I ran…oh, say a paper products business: I might find it amusing to make Epic a really good offer, only to mention later that I’ve just joined WMC.
Or, perhaps, I could announce that I won't do business with…oh, I don't know…just to pick any liberal activist group at random…One Wisconsin Now or their supporters. Oh, whaddayaknow? Epic’s CEO donated $24,000 to OWN.
Ha. I kid. If I ran a business – any business – I’d never chase business away like that. Whether I’d let myself be bullied into giving up my right to association…well, that’s another question.
And here's another question: whether Epic even faces that possibility.
Epic deals in computerized information systems for hospitals and other health care providers, worldwide, big and small. Their list of potential clients is targeted – limited. They’re not just a general computer company, they're niche. They specialize.
Thus, the potential downside is, for them, also limited. They can make this threat with little fear of reprisal.
Not to mention, they seem to be suffering from an acute case of selective outrage.
Other groups also took part in the election. WEAC, for example. They sponsored a TV ad that the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign – no conservative bastion, them – called “pure sleaze.” The Greater Wisconsin Committee – a shadowy interest group if there ever was one – spent $1.4 million on the race. About a third of all third-party expenditures.
Epic’s outrage is, however, directed only at WMC. Not at WEAC, nor at GWC, whose money would easily have “bought” the election, had WMC's not evened things out.
Of course, expressing outrage at those groups would be a meaningless expression of outrage. How does one “boycott” WEAC? Refuse to do business with anybody who pays school taxes? With anybody who sends their kids to Wisconsin public schools? With anybody who graduated from Wisconsin public schools?
How does one “boycott” GWC? We don’t even know who they are.
One doesn’t boycott them. That’s how. Because one can’t. There’s nothing to boycott. WMC, on the other hand…we know who they are. They’re businesspeople. They’re the creators – the ones Winston Churchill described as the horse that pulls the wagon.
So: Epic courageously “tries not to” do business with WMC members and supporters, knowing that those members and supporters are unlikely to reciprocate even if they have the chance, but ignores groups on the other side that perpetrate the exact same "outrage" that got Epic mad at WMC.
If this is what “heroic” means today, then the word means nothing at all.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.
COMMENTS
My husband is a member of WEAC, not that he likes them. He's forced to pay union dues anyway, so why not be a member and see what they're up to?
We are "outraged" every election at the junk we find in our mailbox, from them. (Don't watch TV, so can't comment on ads.) And he asks himself, "THIS is what my dues go to pay for?"
For that matter, why is he forced to pay union dues anyway? Why can't he boycott THEM, with their cushy offices and salaries? And their agenda that they keep push-push-pushing? Oh, I forgot--Wisconsin is "for the workers"...therefore we have high taxes, and closed-shop politics.
emily matthews (Tue Jul 08 10:10:53 2008)
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