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David Hogg’s Assault on Publix Not Exactly the Victory He Expected

May 29, 2018 - 6:00am
David Hogg's Publix Die-In
David Hogg's Publix Die-In

The local media have been in a delirious cycle of reporting regarding the teenage Parkland activist, David Hogg, and his latest target of activism -- Publix Supermarkets. Hogg’s overblown outrage at the Lakeland-based company was due to a very weak connection to his gun activism -- the company made donations to Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, an avowed supporter of the Second Amendment and the NRA -- and Hogg went into full-throated outrage anyway.

Encouraged by a story from the Tampa Bay Times, inside a week Hogg went from personal protest to public boycott. Still not a big enough reaction for this attention-loving young man.

So, on Friday, he went for the home run, trying to extort $1 million from the state's largest employer, for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund. Publix was told to comply, or he would orchestrate die-in protests at the company's stores. Well, to its credit, the supermarket never capitulated.

Hogg kept his promise, went out to the store location nearest the school, where he and other students laid down in the parking lot so they could draw outlines of their bodies.

This action was completed with the aid of a public artist, because frankly when it comes to stringing up police tape and drawing stick figures on the asphalt, it requires the skills of a professional artist. The 17 figures in front of the store, one for each victim of the Feb 14 school shooting, were created with the intention of making a connection to the store that has never made a donation to the NRA or to the Parkland tragedy. 

Not being an activist myself, I will leave it to others to measure the success of messaging in drawing chalk outlines during tropical depression, 100-percent-rain conditions. But tellingly, there were copious media on site to cover what was described as a very dramatic “art installation.”

That afternoon Hogg and fellow students and supporters occupied the store. They sprawled out on the floor, and it led to gripping imagery -- dozens of kids on their backs, as David intoned messaging via bullhorn, while numerous shoppers stepped over the “corpses” as they went about their task of selecting items from shelves, ignoring their drama. That visual apathy, however, was not enough, and the company buckled to Hogg’s demands -- in a sneaky, not-really sort of way.

On Friday the company issued another statement, this time addressing its position regarding donations in general.  “We regret our contributions have led to a divide in our community,” the store wrote.“We would never knowingly disappoint our customers or the communities we serve. As a result, we decided earlier this week to suspend corporate-funded political contributions as we re-evaluate our giving processes.”

A comical and hollow ending for Hogg. No money for the school's Victims Fund, the company has already donated to Putnam anyway, and the Hogg protest ended in a whimper.

Given that supermarket ownership is rethinking its “giving processes,” this means just as Hogg was demanding a donation, the response to his strong-arm tactics was the store curtailing donations. Putnam gets no more money, but neither will his cause. Maybe going forward, this will encourage the teen activist to rethink his aggressive strategy, and maybe work to convince others, not coerce them, to his cause. 

Following the Publix announcement, Hogg tweeted out this message: “Together we can do anything. Together the young people will win by choosing love.” Apparently “love” entails threats, extortion, and trespassing in order to get your way. I wonder how much more of this affection the community is willing to tolerate.

Brad Slager, a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer, wrote this piece exclusively for Sunshine State News. Slager writes on politics and the entertainment industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.


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David Hogg, Accidental Champion of Gun Interests

Comments

Hogg is an attention wh*re! Publix should not have moved an inch.

Just read the other posts below, ROTFLMAO!!!!………..What a bunch of losers, especially our local admitted racist, cbreeze, with their inciteful posts. ;^))

Ahhh "jerry",.. 'tis the "graduation season"; apparently you never experienced it.... (BUT I wouldn't ever LMAO over a poor misinformed soul, such as yourself; that would be too cruel...)

Hogg is a communist activist punk. A political correctness thug with a pencil neck and arms. As soon as the DNC and other communist organizations are through paying him he will be another suicide statistic. Obvious result of liberal parenting, pathetic.

So ... you a Trump relative, or what? And, no doubt you're an apologist for Joe McCarthy and Tricky Dick, too? Right? Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle!

Talk abut fake news and propaganda spin!! ………………... Fact is Hogg was wildly successful as these kinds of thing almost never get any results...……………….. And Publics got caught by Opie's switch from a decent person to a rabid right winger when he said he is a proud NRA sellout and says he back severe abortion limits, lost him the general election and put his supporters like Publics in a bind as most of their customers are women...……… And women are pissed at both state and Fed republicans along with many other groups...…….. See you in November!! ;^))

Oh? Are these those same women who would never vote for Trump if their lives depended on it? Those same women who would never vote Republican again? How did that work out for you?

Yes, making such a difference isn’t it? Keep screaming and making a clown of yourself, what does it accomplish? Have gun laws changed? Sure is a lot of arrogance coming from a group of people who lost all branches of government. I wonder how many smiley faces you posted before November 2016. Enjoy that Supreme Court. Clearly you are slow to learn the lesson that having a Pravda media echo your own self-righteousness back to you does not translate to true sentiment.

You accuse me of fake news and spin, then you rant on without disputing a single fact in the column. Just SOP with you Jerry? Accuse w/o attribution. But you really nailed it with the abortion talk ... which has Zero to do with the story.

Looks like David made a difference. Sure got the attention of this bunch.

Looks like the "Hogg" is in dire need of a good meal,... Maybe "Winn-Dixie" or "Piggely-Wiggely" will take pity on the emaciated Hogg... ("Too much, too soon for this barefoot boy with cheeks of bullhorn..", ...and schoolboy aspirational dreams of 'inner city community organization')

Good thing you aren't a fish, "C Breeze".

The media needs to stop giving him air time. The Publix protest I believe was at one store, in Orlando. Not in Marion County, went shopping that day. Not a one kid laying on the floor. Boycott Hogg... stop listening to him.

Little boy Hogg is nothing but an attention-seeking, spoiled twit with delusions of grandeur. His “followers“ are spoiled and entitled children who probably couldn’t last a day without their double lattes with soy milk served in a baby bottle.

Once again David Hogg proves he's not an activist, he's a terrorist and a blackmailer. Funny the police didn't arrest anyone. I guess they are afraid he'll protest them too!

I repeat the old "down home" adage: "Piggs eat, and Hoggs are slaughtered.."

You sound like more like a Russian troll every day, "C Breeze".

Oh "Robbie-boy", you're so chronically bereft of formal didactics ...

You lost him at Oh! He has absolutely no idea what you are talking about .

This is criminal trespass, protesting without a license they need to be rounded up booked and arraigned. Imagine if pro-life protesters went into Planned Parenthood and did this, what would the police do?

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