#rhinegeist

This sign was displayed in an Athens, Ohio bar over the weekend. Since that time, Rhinegeist announced that it severed all business ties with the bar and the owner of the bar has apologized for the message and is currently investigating which employee wrote it.

The backlash upset some people. Some of these people even threatened to boycott. Not the bar, but Rhinegeist—the brewery that withdrew its business from the bar. Rhinegeist is supposedly violating free speech. They’re too politically correct. If you want a safe space stay at home. That sort of rhetoric.

But honestly, why would you want this sign in your business? Why would you want this message attached to your product? What is the best possible interpretation of this sign? To me, the message this sign projects is, “if you’re being harassed in here then too bad.” If a male patron inappropriately touches a woman in that bar, then staff isn’t going to help her. The bar isn’t a safe space. If I’m getting called a “faggot” by another patron, why would the staff ask the other person to leave. The bar is not a safe space. Let’s flip the script, if Sarah Huckabee Sanders comes in and she gets shouted at for working with the current administration. Why would staff have to help her. The bar is clearly labeled not a safe space.

Safe spaces are given a ridiculous reputation for what they actually are. A place where you can go to be yourself and if anyone tries to take that away from you, that person is asked to leave instead of asking you to endure the hate and/or abuse thrown your way. People like to make fun safe spaces in colleges and universities. Those safe spaces aren’t padded rooms where individuals can’t be hurt. They aren’t rooms where they shut our dissenting opinions. It’s your LGBTQ+ groups so LGBTQ+ folk can be around each other, where people aren’t being called “faggots” by bigots. It’s where people can be open about their sexualities before they have to go home for the day and then right back in the closet. It’s where people will call you by your correct pronoun. Gay bars are a safe space because that’s where I can dance with another man, kiss another man, or just fucking hold another man’s hand and not feel afraid that someone is gonna come up to me and release a string of slurs.

If you’re a person of faith then you have these spaces too. Religious gatherings are safe spaces. A place where you can free express your ideology without getting weird stares. If you’ve ever felt slightly inhibited to express your faith in public then imagine that expand that inhibition to terror, because that’s how some people feel. Some people need these spaces to be themselves. So why should businesses be safe spaces? Why can’t I just make my living room my only safe space and invite people over to my place and we can all be fucking safe together? Because a business should want to cater to as many people as possible? Isn’t it as simple as that? A business looking to make a profit shouldn’t want to distance any potential revenue, I’m sorry, I meant customers. If a bar wants to market it as a non safe space then have at it. How long before the bar gets a reputation of don’t go there because I got harassed for being Muslim or I got harassed because I spoke Spanish or I got harassed for being gay or I got harassed for being a woman.

So great. You’ve become the business that’s hostile to certain groups and the business that supports the abuser. Why do I want to give you money? Who are the people that wants to give that business money? People who believe in being politically incorrect? What are you accomplishing by being politically incorrect? Are you trying to make it okay to harass people again? Is this because the cashier at Kroger will tell you Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas? (Again, it’s just attracting the most business. Say the thing that’s inclusive to the most amount of people because then the most amount of people might come buy your thing.) if you really want to take that stand of “It’s Merry Christmas or bust” then you run that risk of alienating people who celebrate other winter holidays. You’re not welcoming as much potential revenue.

Ohio Bar: “If You Want a Safe Space, This Ain’t It, Cupcake”

Broney’s Alumni Grill in Athens, Ohio lost one of its main vendors over a facebook posting of a chalkboard message placed in their establishment. The Ohio bar had this message writting on a Rhinegeist chalkboard:

“If you’re looking for a safe space this ain’t it Cupcake.”

Cue the offended cupcakes.

Rhinegeist announcedover the weekend on Facebook that they will no longer do business with Broney’s.