Maybe we should be boycotting DUCK TOURS, since it seems they are certainly chummy with WRKO’s homophobic right wing loon, Howie Carr, who refers to gay people like me as “sodomites”:
The following is from WRKO’s home page:
“Join us TODAY, July 29 as we celebrate Howie’s induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Howie and other supporters will be riding on a Boston Duck Tour as he makes various stops around Boston, including the steps of City Hall for his victory speech LIVE on WRKO! The Boston Duck Tour will start at Eastern Standard, 528 Commonwealth Ave in Boston and end at the same location for the remainder of his show. Congratulations Howie!”
I wrote to Duck Tours to tell them of my displeasure with their decision to have this hate-mongering individual on one of their Duck Tour Boats. I let them know that none of my family or friends will be riding on one ever again.
Please do the same!
I think you need to do some fact checking. The duck tours are very gay positive
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If they’re so gay positive, they wouldn’t have a jerk like Carr on their boat. He’s anti-gay marriage, anti-gays in the military, etc. For the opening of his show and throughout his show on many occasions, he’s makes fun of gay men and women with disparaging sound effects (i.e. a wolf howling when anything to do with lesbians is mentioned).
You may disagree with them providing him transportation, but that does not make them homophobes.
It’s them allowing themselves to be promoted along with Howie on WRKO. They are aligning themselves with a bigot.
They are being promoted by Carr on WRKO’s website, as shown above. And Carr is a hate-mongering a-hole.
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p>Nuff said.
Duck Tours should not be barring anyone from their vehicles based on political grounds or sexual orientation. You seem to be of the mind that if you are not pro gay marriage you should not be allowed to be on the Duck Tour. Is that your position?
Howie is engaged in hate-speech, not merely political views. Have you heard him? Have you heard the sound effects he uses when referring to gay people? He can disagree all he wants without the b.s. disparaging crap that he spews. He is a bigot, and Boston Duck Tours has no business dealing with bigots like him. They have every right to be promoted by a bigot and to have him on their boat as part of an event designed to promote his ilk, of course. And we have every right to do business elsewhere based on their decisions.
and you are right to question and inform Duck Tours with regards to their being used in a promotional for Howie Carr. I disagree with those who say that a company should not be held accountable for the political views of their customers. Oh yes they should! But they need to be informed first.
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p>But with regards to Duck Tours, I can tell you this, painted rainbow flags aside, and as someone who has been at every marriage equality protest/con con/anniversary etc at the state house and one who used to be responsible for securing the steps at 5:30am and stayed to midnight if necessary, Duck Tours had never been a problem.
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p>As a matter of fact, the Duck Tours would make their customers quack and wave at we LGBT protestors everytime they drove by the State House steps and on many many occasions, Duck Tour drivers would include what we were protesting for and the history fo same-sex marraige as part of their tour.
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p>I would watch and if any company truck for any contractor or shipping company or cab agency drove by and even gave us a “thumbs down” I would take the number of the car/truck, immediately research the company and lodge a complaint usign my cell phone. Duck Tours were never a problem, only a friend to LGBT.
Does Howie Carr like the Red Sox? I have tickets to a Red Sox game this weekend. And a lifelong love of the team.
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p>I don’t WANT to break ranks, but if it comes to the Red Sox, I may have to.
Howie “liking the Red Sox” or going to a game isn’t the same as them being associated with him as part of any type of promotion.
Howie Carr was in the booth with Dave O’Brien and Joe Castiglione for at least an inning during yesterday’s game, where they talked about his entering the HoF. And the game was broadcast on WRKO.
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p>Look, no one’s arguing that Carr isn’t a disgusting homophobe, but unfortunately, in today’s interconnected world you’ll have to look far and wide to find some public entity that isn’t somehow connected to one person or movement or another that we find offensive.
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p>Homophobia is alive and well and there are many battles to be fought. This isn’t one of them.
Maybe. More like a joke, though. Just like the idea of boycotting the Duck Tours.
Boston Duck Tours is actually a front for right-wing extremism! They did let Curt Schilling ride in a Duck Boat, after all.
Please. There are enough actual homophobes in the world, and dangerous ones at that. This is just another case of crying wolf.
…deserves derision. Carr IS an ACTUAL HOMOPHOBE and his type of speech deserves to be condemned. If Boston Duck Tours wants to do promotional business with someone like him who says the things he does about gay people, than they have allied themselves with an anti-gay jerk and they should be responded to in the negative.
Many more gay men in the South end than lesbians…
http://www.bostonducktours.com…
Make him ride in this boat. End of story.
…sorry, but this is a non-starter for me. I am all for refusing to do business with companies that actively support bigotry, but it takes it a step to far to refuse to do business with companies because they aren’t screening the politics of their customers. Howie Carr is an ass and a bigot as far as I’m concerned, but I would criticize Duck Tours for refusing to deal with him. This is a free counry, bigoted asses have a right to rent duck boats and Boston Duck Tours have an obligation to serve the entire public, not just the ones they are politically aligned with. If it is okay for Duck Tours to refuse to do business with Carr why isn’t it okay for Olde Towne Trolley not to do business with gay people? Businesses of general accomodation have an obligation to serve the entire pulbic. They don’t get to pick and choose. That, in part, is what the struggle for civil rights have been about.
It’s about them allowing themselves to be promoted by him via the event.
….allowing themselves to be promoted by the event? Are the Boston Duck Tour people the thought and speach police? Do they get to tell Carr what to say and when to say it. If I say “David in Chelsea responded to my comment supporting a homophobe” does that mean you are promoting homophobia?
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p>Chill out. They rented the guy a vehicle. He said he’d be on the vehicle he rented. That is it. That is what they do. The rent space on vehicles. You are acting like they issued a press release endorsing the guy’s politics. They didn’t. Newsflash, Boston Duck Tours are the good guys.
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painted in gay pride colors. Me thinks they are not. It was a business transaction. Howie paid to rent a boat. They made money. Nothing to see here. Check your hate at the door.
They should have Howie ride IN the rainbow-colored boat!
…what’s your stake in this, EaBo? Judging from the consistently anti-gay stance of your party and your own opposition to gay marriage, you’re hardly a friend of the gay community. Why do you care? (No snark, seriously curious).
This is the same logic that insists that Barack Obama agrees with the rants of his former Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
They are being promoted, obviously with their knowledge. And if somehow they didn’t know it, they know it now, since I wrote to them to express my displeasure with their decision to be part of a promotion for a bigoted scumball like Howie Carr.
It is the same sort of logic that has us asking questions like, “Why was Reverend Hammond (of the Ten Point Coalition) being honored at an event which is chiefly sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, the Museum of Fine Arts and others?” (this actually happened)
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p>Yes, The Ten Point Coalition does amazing work for inner city children, no one will argue with that. But Hammond testified in front of Congress for the Marriage Amendment claiming that same sex marriage is responsible for fatherlessness in the Black Community. He is an ignorant, self-serving bigot…
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p>So, BC/BS Foundation honoring a man who does good for inner city kids… Duck Tours selling space to a man who is a talk show host/columnist…
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p>hmmm? I agree to say Duck Tours is homophobic is too strong. But Duck Tours should be made aware of people’s discontent over Howie Carr’s bigoted rhetoric yes!
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p>Issues such as marriage equality and other civil rights issues will not be and were not won without the line being crossed to get the conversation going in areas that many would consider taboo–business, church, schools, cocktail parties, board rooms, private clubs, and boards of directors, to name a few.
Ok this is the kind of thing that really makes people hate Liberals. As much as you hate to admit it, Howie Carr is a local celebrity with allot of listeners. How can you expect the Boston Duck Tours company to pass this up considering the amount of free publicity it gets. I don’t see one of the Duck Tour Boats driving around town with a Swastika for gods sake, they were just trying to do what any smart business owner does. Should people who oppose Gay Marriage boycott them also for providing a gay themed vessel. I see not fault at the company, they were hired to carry a popular radio show host around, I am sure if they denied him the wingnuts would probably burn their boats down.
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p>I personally find Howie Carr both entertaining and disgusting at the same time. I agree with his criticism of Menino and the gang of crooks at the State House but hate the way he disrespects immigrants like my wife. Still, its a free country and I would rather allow him the right to spew his nonsense because if he is silenced I am sure we all would be soon.
This free speech thing so often gets brought up when radio/TV personalities are offensive. Howie Carr has more speech than entire small cities. Yes, he has a right to free speech. But no, he does not have a right to be broadcast to thousands and be paid to speak.
Feel free to correct any misinterpretations on my part, but what I gather from your comment is the following, some stated, some implied:
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p>1) Ten Point Coalition works with/advocates for inner city at-risk youth.
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p>2) Rev. Hammond is part of said coalition.
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p>3) BC/BS and MFA honored Rev. Hammond and TPC for their aforementioned work.
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p>I believe in keeping different aspects of people’s lives and actions separate, unless there was actual wrongdoing. In other words, it sounds like Rev. Hammond’s work being honored has nothing to do with his views on gay marriage. Now if a civil rights organization were honoring him that would raise my eyebrows to say the least.
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p>There are those who believe that we should not acknowledge, let alone celebrate, the great contributions people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson made to the founding of this country because they (gasp!) owned slaves. That’s what this is starting to sound like and it strikes me as rather ridiculous.
Essentially what David in Chelsea is doing by alerting the general public about Duck Tours and Howie Carr is creating a “score card” like we do with public officials.
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p>By making us aware of connections and cross-promotions we are being informed and we as “knowledgeable” participants, chose to boycott (which I already said in this case is harsh), to say something to Duck Tours (which is always my personal favorite), do nothing, or take the opposing side like you did Christopher.
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p>I would like to think that Jefferson’s owning of slaves does affect his “score card”, though his well-published personal issues with slavery may help.
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p>I wonder, is there any public figure that you would take issue with Duck Tours if they used him/her in cross promotions and advertisements?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m no fan of Howie Carr, but I can understand congratulating a local personality for getting into the Radio Hall of Fame. It makes more sense if you’re upset with him to go after the radio station and newspaper that employ him since they have an ongoing relationship and media have some responsibility for what is said either on their airwaves or in their columns. At the moment I honestly can’t think of an answer to your last line, but I suspect it would have to be someone who is egregious in the extreme and is known for nothing else.