No, Whole Foods Market didn’t honor Mitch McConnell
by digby
This is a good example of one of those times people don’t use their common sense:
Hi there. Whole Foods Market is not affiliated with Whole Foods Magazine.— Whole Foods Market (@WholeFoods) November 28, 2019
WholeFoods has been publishing since 1984. According to its site, it’s the “longest-tenured media outlet of its kind in the natural products industry.”
It is not affiliated with the Whole Foods Market Inc., the popular multinational supermarket, which has sent a number of tweets reiterating that point in response to outrage over the decision.
One might have asked why Whole Foods Market would consider it a smart thing to honor someone the vast majority of its customers loathe. Yes, it is owned by Amazon, which makes it a corporate villain, but McConnell is no friend of Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, either.
That should have made people at least take a second look before deciding that they should boycott Whole Foods over this.
Here’s the story of why WholeFoods magazine did what it did. They should have thought twice as well:
WholeFoods Magazine has been publishing since 1984. According to its site, it’s the “longest-tenured media outlet of its kind in the natural products industry.”
It is not affiliated with the Whole Foods Market Inc., the popular multinational supermarket, which has sent a number of tweets reiterating that point in response to outrage over the decision.
McConnell worked with Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to introduce a bipartisan bill to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp. The legislation was later included in a farm bill that was signed into law by President Trump last year in an effort to boost the agriculture industry.
On a page announcing the monthly national trade magazine’s decision to name McConnell “Natural Products Person of the Year,” editor-in-chief Maggie Jaqua said “the end of ‘hemp prohibition’ has been a boon for many in the industry.”
All of us have to make sure our bullshit detectors are turned up to 11 these days.
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