Proposed Ban Roiling Park Slope Co-op
A neighborhood institution known for its earnestness and political correctness, the Park Slope Co-op now finds itself at the center of a mounting media circus revolving around a recent proposal by a member to ban products from Israel as a statement of protest against the state’s recent actions in Gaza. About 10 people reportedly support…
A neighborhood institution known for its earnestness and political correctness, the Park Slope Co-op now finds itself at the center of a mounting media circus revolving around a recent proposal by a member to ban products from Israel as a statement of protest against the state’s recent actions in Gaza. About 10 people reportedly support the measure; the Co-op has about 15,000 members. While on a practical level all that’s at stake here is a few boxes of peppers and persimmons, the symbolism is causing controversy throughout the neighborhood and beyond. There are so many Jews who shop there, there are so many Israelis who shop there, there’s a huge number of frum people from all over Brooklyn who shop there, said Rabbi Andy Bachman of Beth Elohim in the original article in the Jewish Daily Forward, so my guess is that if it passes, and I want to emphasize that I don’t think it will, they will lose a lot of members. Assemblyman Dov Hikind echoed these sentiments: “[The co-op would] lose a great number of people,” he told The Post. Even TimeOut New York has chimed in: “The motion feels born from the very stiff and self-righteous soapbox awareness that many naysayers feel makes the Co-op unpalatable under normal circumstances,” writes TONY, making to sure to add “we support the Co-op’s open forum for this kind of divisive dialogue.” Still no word on where Adrian Grenier stands on the issue.
Food Fight: Brooklyn Co-op Mulls Israel Ban [Forward]
Park Slope Co-op to Ban Israeli Products? [TONY]
‘Ban Israel’ Bid Mushrooms Into B’klyn Food Fight [NY Post]
Photo by pseudoreal
I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of co-op members aren’t self-righteous, “trying to feel better about themselves” park slope stereotypes. They’re mostly just people who’re looking to get decent food at a decent price and don’t mind donating a bit of their time each month to do so.
It’s goofy the way this kind of stuff gets blown out of proportion. Ten people out of 15,000? Seriously? You can probably find a larger percentage of people at the co-op who believe the holocaust was faked, or that all Mexicans should be deported, or that there’s a big magical man who lives in the sky and controls our fate. 😛
It’s a non-issue being raised by a tiny group of people who will have no actual impact on the co-op’s policies.
“but if you don’t belong to the Food Co-op then you probably don’t have any idea how this place operates. full of colorful characters, and it’s practically a platform for making statements”
Which is why those of us who don’t belong find it so utterly ridiculous & laughable. Who wants to listen to that shit all day when you’re there…New yorkers are annoying enough without giving them a soap box for whatever pops into their neurotic and paranoid heads.
Freedom of speach means that you can say whatever you want, but it also means that I’m free to call you a dumbass when you say stupid ass shit like this….
bxgrl – i know what freedom of speech is. but if you don’t belong to the Food Co-op then you probably don’t have any idea how this place operates. full of colorful characters, and it’s practically a platform for making statements. the people making the statements to which you obviously disagree are entitled to freedom of speech as well.
I have a magazine where there’s a story (but mostly pictures) of an Asian guy with a persimmon!!! I kid you not.
they said they were in the banned aisle with the chocolate suede sofas, ditto? 🙂
DIBS- so I see. I should be getting blasted out of the water any moment now 🙂 the TONY article is very funny! “Scuse a moment- i have to go mark my door with some lamb’s blood just in case.
tiptoe- we aren’t doing anything about the co-op but discussing it. i think that’s called freedom of speech.
I asked if they had any persimmon-colored duvets at the Atlantic Mall and …
Any of you guys actually belong to the Food Co-op? These kinds of global issues are raised often (witness: banning bottled water, banning plastic bags) and there’s a whole process before anything gets passed. Just because someone suggests something you don’t agree with, doesn’t make it wrong. This suggestion will either get quashed or put to a vote, in which case it will get quashed. The end.