politics in business: Would you purchase from a store with overt politics you didn't agree with?

Well, I started this vox account to talk about politics.  I’ve often had the feeling that if people really knew about my political thoughts they would think I’m really weird.  Of course the truth is that I think I am weird.  And other people have often happily confirmed that impression.  For example: I’m a pacifist in a world that was all gung ho about invading Iraq only a few short years ago.  I won’t bother with any sort of “I told you so” because at the time with all the fever pitch media reporting I didn’t utter a peep other than around close friends and family.  Who wants to be the lone voice saying “oh leave him alone” when the world is crying “crucify!  Crucify!”  I still remember an interview with Saddam Hussein that I saw briefly before the invasion.  He said there were no weapons of mass destruction and chuckled at reports that there were.  What kind of strange irony proves that man to be the truthful one?  Yeah, and things went down hill from there, big surprise.

The thing is, I’m a business woman and I don’t want my business to suffer because of my unpopular opinions.  So I’m uncertain about where to draw the line.  I once had a group of women in my gallery and each one in the group had picked out a piece of jewelry with a price tag of around $100.  Someone in the group complemented a painting of a group of donkeys under a tree.  It was an excellent art piece, very well done and beautifully framed by Elaine Hurst who is an excellent pastel artist.  Well, I made some passing comment about that piece being a reflection of my politics, and every single one of those republican women put down the jewelry that they were carrying around and walked out without spending a dime.  It took me a moment to realize what had just happened.  I was absolutely shocked.  If I had kept my mouth shut I could have made somewhere around $600 from that group.  But I got nada!  My car with two political bumper stickers was always parked near the entrance of my gallery.  The one says “War is a failure of imagination” and the other says “I didn’t vote for his daddy either.”  I’ll never know if those two bumper stickers lost me money or not, but there were times when people mentioned them when they came inside and we would talk about politics for a while.  I guess there is a chance the people who share my perspectives might purchase my work out of solidarity.  I don’t think my work really needs a sympathy purchase, I generally thing it is valid in its own right, but hey, a sale is a sale. 

I actually find myself envying people who have an unusual perspective who really put themselves and their opinions out there.  However ill considered they are from time to time.  I actually heard a woman once argue that we didn’t need to keep the Sabbath because between the time of Jesus and our time someone certainly got it mixed up on which day was actually Saturday.  Hey, I thought that was one of the strangest things I’d ever heard, but she was very audacious with it.  There are charming little shops all over the place with a full tilt witchy vibe, run by women in overtly spiritualistic attire and jewelry.  They are audacious about their beliefs and apparently they don’t mind that there is a whole segment of the population who would not make a purchase from them on religious grounds and would also cross themselves after leaving a shop like that.  LOL!  I do find it very interesting what people are willing to be evangelists for.  Yet I’ve been pretty low key about the things I believe and I’m not entirely sure why.

Maybe I’ve become a wimp.  I don’t mind shocking people and enjoying an interesting argument as a result, but I don’t always have the energy for that.  I’d probably put my own perspective out there more if I weren’t such a wimp.  And with close friends we discuss politics, religion, art and deeper things at length (but most of my friends are as weird as me or weirder.)  I think it’s hard enough to get through life some days which some of my own unique quirks, why not be a little choosy about my battles?  Is it disingenuous to withhold information to avoid an argument?  I love peace, I love quiet, and I love to create and sell my artwork.  I basically want to be left alone.  But I also am finding that I really want to speak out about issues that are really important to me as well.  Not because I think I’ll change anyone’s mind, but more because I want to know I tried and was successful at effective communication on a number of important issues.

What about becoming more of an integrated person?  What if I didn’t segment off these little parts of my life?  What if I put my political opinions and my artwork on the same website and allowing people to know the artist and the work, side by side?  On the web that is different than it is in a bricks and mortar type store where you are actually risking overt rejection.  So maybe this is the time to try this on for size and see what happens.  I don’t know.  Is it even safe?  Is it a bad idea to have my name and phone number out there where people can put my politics and my artwork together with a phone number fairly easily?  I once got a call from an old boyfriend, one who had excelled in cruelty.  It was very easy to google my unique name and arrive at a phone number.  Oy!  Is it even safe to have one’s work, political views and contact information so readily accessible on the net?

How about you?  Do you make purchases at stores who show a specific political agenda or spiritual bent in the way they present their corporate image?  Would you ever avoid purchasing something from a place that had a different perspective on an issue that is important to you?  Have you ever purchased an item out of solidarity with the person who was selling it, especially something you would not have otherwise purchased?