I saw this on one of my LinkedIn discussions and just had to share. Apparently a conservative journalist name of Todd Kinsey out Oakland way spotted a sign in a Men’s Warehouse that, well, irritated him. He then returned the suit.
A friend of mine decided to let the Men’s Wearhouse know how he feels about their support of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. He returned a bag full of suits that he had purchased from them and captured the entire episode on video (see below).
As you can see from the photograph, the Men’s Wearhouse in Oakland, California decided to place a sign in their window showing their support for the OWS movement. According to an article by Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air.com, Men’s Wearhouse founder George Zimmer is financial supporter of President Obama and the socialist Democratic National Committee.
This may come as a surprise to many since Zimmer is obviously a capitalist and has made a considerable fortune hawking suits and other assorted men’s apparel. In fact, the menswear mogul has a net worth close to a billion-dollars according to Celebrity Networth.com. Not too shabby in global recession.
I decided to dig a little deeper and found that in 2011 alone, Zimmer has contributed $22,900 to left-wing Democrats such as President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Dianne Feinstein according to Open Secrets.org.
Well George, I can tell you one thing, I won’t ever set foot in another one of your stores, I guarantee it!
Check out his site with accompanying video here.
I love the hypocrisy here as well. A capitalist billionaire who made his fortune supplying business apparel to other capitalists is now supporting a system which would literally cut his head off given half a chance. Basically, these guys are not just hypocrites but stupid as well. They’re riding the tiger and that never ends well for anyone but the tiger.
Patrick, maybe you and your fellow PJ Media editors and pundits ought reflect that more-and-more America CEOs are speaking-out, not against principled conservatism, but against a willfully ignorant false conservatism that is recognizably by its embrace of slogan-shouting, cherry-picking, and witch-hunting.
Here’s another prominent CEO speaking out:
Patrick, does PJ Media stand for a principled conservatism resting upon solid foundations in moral responsibility, intellectual honesty, and scientific reasoning?
If so, America’s CEOs will stand solidly with PJM.
Or does PJM represent a false conservatism of slogan-shouting, cherry-picking, and witch-hunting?
If so, America’s CEOs will stand solidly against PJM.
It’s PJM’s choice, Patrick. “By your fruits we shall know you.”
——————————————–
Letter from the Entergy CEO
URL: http://www.entergy.com/our_community/environment/ceo_letter.aspx
Thread jacking again. What, do you think I won’t notice?
Bryan, I’m collecting essays written by American CEOs who stand against fake “conservatism” that is mainly slogan-shouting, cherry-picking, and witch-hunting.
As it turns out, that’s most CEOs (except for Big Carbon, that is).
Because successful CEOs place reality ahead of ideology.
Perhaps PJM editors ought to meditate upon this?
You’re free to collect whatever you want. That’s what Big Green rent-seekers do. You’re not free, however, to keep thread jacking after I’ve repeatedly warned you to stop.
John, I’ve warned you on several occasions about staying on topic. Now you’ve got the Tatler editor-in-chief warning you.
Are you trying to get banned?
Charlie, it all depends on what PJM wants its new slogan “Voices from a free America” to mean …
(1) PJM editors only? (plus those readers who agree with them)
(2) Versus free voices of editors and readers alike (including CEOs).
Which choice do *you* think best reflects conservative principles?
C’mon Physicist, you have to admit that being a “professional againster”, a person who is contrary for the sake of being contrary, has no credibility. You can’t accuse one choir from within your own choir.
John, you can easily publish anything you like: get your own blog.
Otherwise, follow the rules or get banned.
Yo Johnny: You’ve been calling your own shots and writing your own criteria-and changing them at whim-here as long as I’ve been aware of your posts.
I think PJM needs to have a talk with your department head and university president about the inordinate amount of time you waste here, when you’re supposed to be making new medical devices or suchlike.
Maybe you’re lonely for human contact? Ivory towers can be very isolating, where only mental contact is made, but that’s not satisfactory for human beings. The more I consider your case, the more compassion I feel for you. Maybe do some volunteer work or something where you’ll feel you’ve made a contribution that others appreciate?
Given this fool’s incoherent rantings, not only should you contact his superiors about his ‘internet hobby’ of posting lies, maybe we can get him removed from his teaching position. The fact that this moron is allowed near college students seriously disturbs me.
Funny, Entergy. How much tax money has Entergy received for his “green” operations? When will the EPA descend on Entergy like they have done to the Texans if the CEO hasn’t “spoken up”? There are so many laws and regulations for any govt agency to choose from to “nail” anyone they don’t like. How many “laws” have you violated without knowing? Like Gibson Guitar? One of these days, if you’d done something to irk someone, you would be caught with some obscure “law”.
Oh, greenie Soros has gotten $20 billion for his Petrobra to exploit deep sea oil off Brazil. Those nice clean air will only be polluted by American big oils, the globe will only be warmed by American factories.
Btw, that NASA climate guy, Hansen, got pay by the Global Warm-mongers to say what he said.
He is positioning the company to be a beneficiary of more crony capitalism or at least avoid a future shakedown by the Obama administration.
I bet you loved Enron too. They were the pioneers of using bogus science to cash in using crony capatalism.
Entergy owns/runs the Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City. Here in Westchester County, the cause celebre of the local green organizations and activists is, first and foremost, shutting down Indian Point. Making up the lost 15% of local electricity generation capacity? Hell, they’ll cross that bridge when they get to it. You do the math.
Perhaps you should look past the pablum that the CEO of Entergy states and see how his company will benefit from green energy support. Cap and trade, settled science, blah blah blah, he sounds a lot like Al Gore. And need I remind you that Al stands to make a lot of money off of his green energy investments (but only if the government forces it on the citizens). Obama says that his policies will bankrupt coal companies. If Entergy supports this then either it can easily pass on costs to consumers OR it has invested in those technologies that will greatly benefit with the demise of coal (technologies that would not be profitable UNLESS the government can regulate them out of existance).
Any time you see a business that truly supports the policies of the government you can be guaranteed of two things – as a consumer you will be screwed by higher prices and as a taxpayer your tax dollars will go to support the companies screwing you with higher prices.
“Zimmer has contributed $22,900 to left-wing Democrats such as President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Dianne Feinstein according to Open Secrets.org.”
Billionaire Zimmer bought a protection package on the cheap, ergo, their windows were smashed. If Zimmer had not “contributed”, his Wearhouse would be torched.
That Gibson Guitar man had not “contributed”, his Guitars were “torched” by the Justice Dept goons. His Democrate rival was not affected. There are lots of ways to skin the “capitalist” cat who’d not paid up.
I will never buy anything from that place again. I guarantee it!
I don’t wear suits if I can avoid it to start with, they give me hives, but I certainly won’t be buying anything from his company in the future.
I learned long ago, back in college—at a time when people of college age normally wore ratty bluejeans—that you can get away with a lot more if you’re wearing a suit and tie; the presumption of respectability is in your favor. If on top of that you can say “sir” without gagging and with sincerity when accosted by someone in authority, you can get away with even more.
Too many people for too long have internalized an “Occupy Wall Street” attitude where suits are concerned. As a result, they own perhaps one suit, and wear it seldom except for Special Occasions like weddings, funerals, and job interviews. The result is that they are wearing something which probably doesn’t fit very well (it was bought before they gained all that weight) and in which they are, therefore, visibly uncomfortable—which, of course, confirms their dislike of “suits” in general.
If you buy a couple of suits and wear them frequently, so that they are well broken in and you are as comfortable in them as you would be in a pair of slacks and a casual jacket, you are instantly one up on the special-occasion suit wearer: if the special-occasion wearer is not wearing a suit, you are better dressed than he, and therefore command deference; if the special occasion wearer is wearing his seldom-worn garment (and therefore writhing and fidgeting uncomfortably in it), you will be visibly more at your ease than he—and thereby command deference.
None of this has to do directly with Men’s Wearhouse, of course; I hope they suffer for their shortsighted and self-destructive policy. But I think that someone should speak up for the poor, over-maligned suit.
In my line of work Buzz, a suit is often contraindicated, especially working in a small farming community.
I show up in a suit to most interviews and my sources will clam up. There’s a time and a place for a suit, but it’s not everywhere.
And they still give me hayfever…
Understood, Patrick—but I still had to speak up for the suit.
The funny thing is, people tend nowadays to think of the suit as “elitist” wear—but if you spend any time looking at old pictures or films you quickly realize that the suit was actually a leveling garment. It made rich and poor more or less equal, to outward appearances. As long as you had a reasonably neat and pressed suit, you were fit to be employed anywhere, if you could convince someone to give you a chance. The suit, usually grey or blue, was the default garment for anyone working in the boardroom, in the laboratory, at the drafting table—and, with coat, tie and (sometimes) collar removed, on the factory floor or digging a ditch.
Nowadays, instead of everyone accepting the fundamental equality of this basic uniform, we have “individualists” who disqualify themselves from employability via inappropriate dress without even realizing they’ve done so.
– that Mr. Z’s causes have been well-known in the Bay Area for some time.
Did the guy in the video actually get a refund? It looked like he handed it to the manager and left. I would have pressed for a refund, particularly since redistributing wealth seems to be a key goal of Men’s Warehouse.
I will never patronize MW again. And, looky here–http://foxnewsboycott.com/fox-news/response-received-from-mens-wearhouse/
Thank you for contacting Men’s Wearhouse and bringing to our attention your concerns with Fox News. While we support free speech and do not make advertising decisions based on our own personal ideologies, after reviewing Glenn Beck’s recent incendiary comments we have decided to remove our advertising from his program. We hope that this decision will allow you to continue to patronize Men’s Wearhouse. I would encourage you to please share our decision with anyone else who may have expressed a similar concern.
Sincerely,
Matt Stringer
vp marketing/creative services [of Mens Wearhouse]
We need to take a page from the Left’s playbook.
The ban hammer has come down. “A physicist” will no longer be joining us.
Thank you, Bryan!!!
Sincere thanks. I don’t mind reading different viewpoints. I despise ad hominem attacks and his endless circular logic. Plus the over-the-top thread jacking. We couldn’t discuss men’s suits without him starting his bull? I am surprised that he didn’t point out that the Navy was planning on the NW passage being ‘ice free’ year round.
I gotta say I’m not in favor, particularly, of a boycott of Men’s Wearhouse or anyplace else, unless they do something a lot more objectionable than this. Before you all get upset, let me lay out my objections:
First, we don’t know that Zimmer is behind this. Sure, it’s his store, but it *could* be an assistant manager or something behind this, taking the initiative to keep the store from being attacked (which didn’t work, from what I understand).
Second, it’s the hypocrisy that’s most startling here, as a number of people have pointed out. Boycotting the business, if it’s completely successful, will leave Zimmer sitting on a (presumably) enormous pile of cash, while a lot of other middle-class sales clerks will be out of work. I am not particularly invested in punishing them for the politics of the guy they work for.
Third, since hypocrisy is the issue, a bunch of conservative guys not shopping at some stores is probably not even going to make a ripple in the public consciousness. What might, however, is someone publicly calling the guy out. It’s going to take, on his part, signs in more than one store. I explained above that this could just be a fluke; it’s possible that he didn’t even know about the sign when it went up. Even if he *does* know, the best solution (to my mind) is to humiliate him into retracting it, so that he’s chastened and thinks next time before doing something like this.
Boycotting him probably won’t have the desired effect. Boycotts are usually bad ideas, because they strike at the wrong targets. I don’t buy suits (thankfully) but when I buy clothes in general, I go where I’m satisfied the price, workmanship, and style are all appropriate for me. Translated, that means I buy cheap clothes except when I need to have something in an unusual size, which unfortunately happens too often. If it comes down to it I’ll certainly patronize Mr. Zimmer’s store.
Oh, and I gather this physicist idiot was plugging AGW. I don’t follow the comment threads *that* closely, oftentimes, so I wasn’t aware of this sort of silliness…but if you’d asked me, I would have told you to ban the guy a long time ago. I used to work for a physicist, and they’re the most arrogant, egotistical, and annoying people you’ve ever met. Smartest guy in the room, that sort of thing. The one I worked for made an ass of himself *constantly* and couldn’t be told that he was wrong, because after all he was a GENIUS. They get that smart and it’s impossible to confuse them with facts that contradict their theory, and they just sail on, oblivious to those who disagree with them.
The guy always brought to my mind Ronald Reagan’s line about the guys (Ronny was speaking about economists, but the line works with any sort of scientist) who see something work in practice and wonder whether it’ll work in theory. And now, with my post, we’ve officially spent too much time talking about him!
He isn’t a hypocrite or stupid.
He is the business side of fascism, just buying his dispensations and toeing what ever line the governement side draws in the dirt.