Still wondering how the latest round of Black Lives Matter fervor got a record number of businesses to bend the knee in record time?
It’s simple: because in just a few years, the Left has grown exponentially more aggressive in the amount of pain they’re willing to threaten and dish out to anyone who doesn’t comply.
The New York Post reports that, following over 300 Red Bull employees signing an open letter blasting the energy drink company’s “public silence” about BLM, someone leaked an image of a satirical map describing the company’s various global sales regions in very politically-incorrect terms:
Advertisement - story continues below
“America!!! We’re #1!!!” is emblazoned across the United States, while an arrow pointing to the Caribbean says “cruise ships go here.” Canada to the north is labeled “Uninhabited.” Mexico and South America are marked “coffee comes from here I think.”
Across the Atlantic, Europe is labeled “p—ies” and Africa is marked “zoo animals come from here.” Farther east, the Middle East is labeled “evil doers” with an arrow pointing to the region saying “bombs go here.” Russia is “Communists,” while China was labeled “they make our stuff.” Japan has an arrow pointing to it, saying: “TVs and cameras.”
Stop the censors, sign up to get today's top stories delivered right to your inbox
Australia was labeled “kangaroos” and Antartica was “cold.” An oblong landmass that could be Greenland or the Arctic Circle is labeled “Santa!”
Here’s the leaked racist map that got Red Bull execs fired Africa was tagged “zoo animals come from here”. The Middle East was labelled “evil-doers/bombs go here” pic.twitter.com/hUxMwDglaq
— Samer (@SamerMohamid) July 16, 2020
Advertisement - story continues below
It’s unclear if the map was intended to mock those countries, if it was intended to mock the sort of American who would make such jokes about those countries, or if it was simply someone’s idea of humor. But it sparked complaints to HR, which fell on deaf ears, and was reportedly leaked by a pair of executives who had “lobbied in recent weeks for more diversity.”
Both were fired after the leak, as was the employee who reportedly created the slide.
“We reject racism in every form, we always have, and we always will,” the company said in a statement from the board. “Red Bull has always put people and their dreams and accomplishments at its core and values the contribution of each and every person – no matter who they are. We want everyone who feels this way to be welcome in Red Bull.”
Putting aside the eternal humor vs. oversensitivity debate, it’s pretty clear that the person who created the map should have expected it to go public. This is 2020 America, where everyone has a camera on their phone, privacy is an empty word outside of abortion, and there are no lines whatsoever that social-justice warriors won’t cross to get what they want.
That being said, it would have been incredibly easy, and was no doubt tempting, to swear allegiance to BLM as the quickest, surest way to appease the faux-offended. But Red Bull didn’t. Instead, it simply issued a simple, unobjectionable, non-political statement rejecting racism and embracing equality. Just like every company should have been doing from the start.
Advertisement - story continues below
Granted, it’s still relatively early in this fight, and Red Bull could still cave any day now. But for the moment, the company deserves our thanks — and needs to hear those thanks from those of us who want mainstream brands to stay above the partisan fray. Because if the woke mob are the only ones companies hear from, of course theirs is the only path companies will follow.