Noticing Roy’s Opinion Piece on Hapeth Hall “Girls School” this morning, it is worth noting that we are having our own battle with “woke” here in Chattanooga in a place least expected and for a reason that makes no sense.
This weekend the Volkswagen plant is purporting to celebrate and highlight the accomplishments of women at Volkswagen. At this annual event at their plant in Hamilton County, they will spotlight the achievements of women at VW in this traditionally male-dominated industry. A noble and deserved endeavor to be sure. However, do you know one of the highlights of this celebration designed to bring awareness to women’s accomplishments at their auto plant is to sponsor a drag-queen show at their Aug. 20 luncheon? That’s right, Volkswagen is celebrating women’s accomplishments by sponsoring a show of men whose seemingly only accomplishment is pretending to be women. Talk about tone deaf (and more like tone blind!) And that’s not even getting into the whole debate about sexuality and immorality in the workplace. How in the world do you celebrate women by demeaning them with a display of craziness like this? That would be like celebrating Black History Month with parades of whites wearing blackface and wildly dancing in the streets. It is so unintelligent on so many levels, and it flies in the face of honoring or celebrating anyone, let alone women. But this is what the Woke agenda is: a nonsensical, illogical, backward-driving agenda designed to undermine anything truly worthy of celebrating or championing.
And what about the Chattanooga community? Volkswagen is the recipient of some of the most lucrative tax credits Tennessee has to offer, totaling last count somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That means that while the taxpayers of Hamilton County are underwriting Volkswagen, VW is choosing to spit back in their faces with the implementation of a thoroughly Woke agenda right in the midst of their community. According to voting patterns and election outcomes, Hamilton County (and indeed Tennessee) is not a community to embrace woke-ism. For Volkswagen to import this degenerate world view to a city and county that embraced them so enthusiastically is the corporate equivalent of giving us the finger. Perhaps Volkswagen has not been paying attention to their corporate peers who have recently shifted away from Woke zealotry back to market agnosticism.
Hopefully they will learn the financial lesson that most consumers do not subscribe to the insanity that is called Woke. VW would be smart to take note, but then again, a company headquartered in Wolfsburg, Deutschland, may not have it in their corporate DNA to listen to the voices of concern and reason from the Southern community in which they now find themselves. Perhaps we should let them know that Chattanooga does not appreciate (and will not tolerate) using a supposed celebration of women in the workplace as an excuse to force woke-ism down our throats.
Rita Lawrence
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Dear Ms. Lawrence,
Thank you for sharing this circumstance at VW. As you have pointed out in a well written way, VW is the recipient of vast taxpayer support through bond issues, PILOT, land gifting, and exemptions from darn near everything the regular citizens pay. It highly appropriate to discuss VW’s lack of thoughtfulness to women in the industrial sector.
Instead of VW presenting the historical momentum of women working in industry and manufacturing that gained large momentum during WWII, the women of VW will get a drag-queen show. This circumstance exceeds tone deaf, and misses the mark of honoring the achievements of women in the industrial sector.
What the heck does the story of women in manufacturing have to do with drag-queens?
I would like to hear VW explain the female industrial worker relationship to drag-queen.
Did VW ever consider that employees may be offended at workplace drag-queen shows? Drag-queen shows are a display of sexualized and flamboyant behavior of men dressed up as women.
VW decision making is bizarre. I keep hoping this circumstance is untrue.
April Eidson
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I want to join Jay Reed, Ralph Miller, Rita Lawrence, April Edison, Roy Exum and all the others that I might have missed, that recently have spoken out against the ridiculous, upside down things going on in this country today. I mean really, a "drag show" to honor women's accomplishments in manufacturing?
A couple in Nashville suing the school district so their 3rd grader can use the bathroom of their choice? What is a 3rd grader, 8 or 9 years old, plenty old enough to make life changing/ruining decisions, right?
Good luck to the parents of "girls" at Harpeth Hall, that now could be facing "boys" being accepted because said "boys" think they're girls and evidently the school administration agrees.
Now that being said, maybe you don't want your girls there after all. Who knows?
We are living in the most common sense defying period of my life.
Sam Lewallen, Jr.
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As new employees, we all have to watch or read the rules and laws in regard to sexual harassment and ethical behavior at the workplace. How does VW accept a drag show?
I find myself dumbfounded by this news about VW but not surprised. The corporations have to keep up with this fallen woke world to make their buck.
Like it says in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun, all is vanity. A chasing after the wind”.
The best a person can do is fear God and obey Him and enjoy one's short stay here.
Our judgment is near. I pray all be in Jesus Christ before that day arrives.
Michael Burns
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Each of the many voices in any part of the world can be frightened by change. Each and every news article that appears differing from the "norm" or whatever that is, screams and wonders, often out-loud, what the heck just happened?
Introduction of the concept, woke, actually stirred the hornet's nest enough to hear the screaming and they are screaming. What is the world and society coming to when we hear of men dressing up as women and men marrying men and women marrying women. Some of the religious right and even some of the locals here think the country and better, Chattanooga, is going to heck in a basket.
Homosexuality exists in the animal world and as far back as humans have walked on two feet there are men that like women and men that like men. Now imagine this if you will, the cave man dressed up in drag for show among other cave dwellers. It's entertaining. Is that wrong?
My trips around the country and one to Iceland gave me the opportunity to witness gay pride parades in major cities. There was no bloodshed or gunfire and those that participated appeared to be having a good time.
My question to the few that think the country is failing morally is this, how does dressing up in drag hurt you besides your feelings? Might it be that we are a healthy nation when we accept the differences among people?
Robert Brooks