From Reckless Brewing:
Yesterday I posted something and I am incredibly sorry. It was offensive to many people and I would do anything to take it back. That post is the result of me being stupid and clueless and ignorant as everyone is saying. I will accept that. But harming or offending people is truly the last thing that I intended.
I’ve never been like other people and it is a problem. I just don’t have the same ability to understand what is offensive to people the way others do. I am often socially awkward and just don’t understand people the way others do. Because of this lack of awareness I truly just didn’t understand how my post would be received. It didn’t occur to me that it would be hurtful or offensive. I definitely wouldn't have posted it if I had.
The fact that people are calling me a racist is hurting me to the bone because I have always treated and thought about all people with equal amounts of compassion and respect regardless of race. Some people who don’t know me may think that my post indicates otherwise, and I wish there were something I could do for you all to know me as a person so that you would realize that it’s true.
There is probably no coming back from this and I am thinking that my stupid inability to understand people will result in the killing of Reckless Brewing. If that is my fate then I will accept that someone like me just shouldn’t have a business like this. I’ve let down my customers and everyone associated with my brewery. I am sorry to everyone.
This is the worst day of my life and I seem to deserve it.
[Editor’s Note]” The twitter post has been removed.
These updates from Reckless Brewing’s FB page:
25 Mar 2019: It looks like we'll be open through April. Yes, we will still be closing despite the many people trying to change my mind and the many customers for which Reckless has become a beloved part of their lives. But at least you have another full month to enjoy Reckless before it's gone-, it turns out that there is a larger remaining beer supply than I initially estimated, so the current expected closing date will be the last day of April. I will update you all when I know anything more.
3 Apr 2019: (this post has also been removed)
This is Dave, the owner. I was talking to someone the other day about all the harm that facebook has done to civil discourse and understanding. I realized that I need to say something because what happened to me is a very good example of that and at least perhaps I can use the attention I got from it to do some good.
This is about the hate and judgment that people are so quick to embrace and the harm that it does. The bubbles that people live in within facebook might give them the impression that there is no other reasonable side to the story and that the right thing to do is to make knee-jerk judgments and then to do all you can to hurt the object of that judgment without trying to see that there is information that they do not have or to even really think about the situation that caused the judgment. This way to act does harm and serves no good. It does not decrease actual incidence of racism, by which I mean discrimination and bad treatment because of one’s race. It only hurts the goal of achieving a discrimination free world by making so many things labeled as racism. If everything is racism, then nothing is.
What I am asking for is compassion for your fellow humans, understanding that you might be wrong, and to withhold your judgment at least until there is enough information to make one.
My little episode all started when I made a post on facebook on Tuesday Mar 5 that offended some people. To paraphrase the thing I posted, I said that black beers were discriminated against and I thought it was unfair. I dreamed of a world where beers were judged not by their color but by the content of their character. So, I renamed one of my black beers Black Lagers Matter. There’s more but that’s the gist and I think contains the offending bits. The entire text is at the end of this if you are interested.
When I wrote this I had no idea that there would have been a problem. I used the Martin Luther King quote because I had always thought it some of the greatest words spoken by one of the greatest men to ever live. I used a reference to Black Lives Matter because it seemed like a good metaphor and gave me an opportunity to make a commentary on racism. Racist is a scourge upon the world and I hate everything about it. Drawing a metaphor to racism, I thought, would perhaps shine some light on discrimination and the fact that people can discriminate without realizing it. So, that’s what I thought. There was no intended mockery of anything or anyone . I intended nothing but respect.
When people started calling me racist my first response was complete bewilderment. So, sadly, my first action was to be defensive which is I think what most people would do if they felt like they said something perfectly innocent and it was horribly misconstrued. I re-read my post and still didn’t see what people would think was racist. But, I saw that people were offended so I realized that I had miscalculated. It is my attitude that there is no such thing as a wrong reason to be angry, upset or offended. .
Because, as people who know me well will attest to, I sometimes don’t have a good understanding of the way things will be received by other people, I owned my mistake and apologized and said, truthfully, that I had no idea that people would be offended and had no intention of doing so or of mocking or belittling Black Lives Matter or Martin Luther King. I blamed my own stupidity and ignorance, which is accurate because I just didn’t know.
But, a bunch of people did not accept my apology. In fact the attack kept coming with hundreds of angry comments from people who had never met me or been to Reckless. Some of these people wrote negative reviews on yelp and other formats with statements like I am “the worst kind of racist”. To that criticism I can only say that these people need a little history lesson or a little perspective. I would personally have said that the worst kinds of racism are slavery and genocide. To put my faux pas in the same category as slavery and genocide demonstrates a huge lack of knowledge and perspective.
So, let’s analyze the post a bit. First of all I don’t mention black people at all. But, I talk about black beers. My description of black beers is that they are just as good as other beers and often times better. My description of the discrimination is that it’s a bad thing to draw conclusions without having actual information. So, what’s the problem? Mockery? Disrespect? Show me where.
Having spoken to many people about this I gather that some people thought it was offensive because I used something like Black Lives Matter in something that was meant to be humorous or something that was part of a business. I understand that now, but how this equates to racism in someone’s mind is puzzling?
I had always considered racism to be when a person discriminates, treats poorly or thinks negatively about another person or group of people because of their race. I hadn’t done that and don’t think I’ve ever done that. It seems to me that there is plenty of actual racism in this world that needs to be fixed and to label this racism serves to minimize the hardship and suffering caused by actual racism. .
So, why does this happen? I have a theory. There is this psychological phenomenon in which people, instead of using their ability to analyze something thoroughly, use rules of thumb whenever possible in order to save effort and time. We do it naturally. Evolutionarily this makes sense, but it’s also a main explanation for things like racism because it’s way easier to use a rule of thumb than to actually think about every individual you meet. This, I think, is the thought process of these people who are quick to hate and judge. They see a white guy talking about Black Lives Matter. Boom! Must be racist. Other people calling him racist. Boom! Must be racist. No more thought required. No analytical reasoning needed. I’ll just hate him.
Then there’s this other psychological phenomenon in which once a person makes such a judgment they are almost literally incapable of processing information to the contrary. They will argue their point even when there is no justification just because they feel like they must be right because they’ve decided so. This is why none of them will be apologizing to me.
So, this is what I think goes on in the minds of these people and I want to implore you guys to try to stop doing that.
I was hesitant to oppose these people initially because we are actually on the same side. I want a world without racism and I assume that they do too. It’s unpleasant to go to war with people that are trying, misguidedly for sure, but trying to improve things. So, for the Facebook haters and judgers I just ask you to perhaps stop and think about what you are saying. We’re on the same side, for god’s sakes! And you attack me for this? The amount of human effort you guys put into attacking me could actually be used for some good purpose. I am opposed to judging people at all because everyone has a reason to be the way they are, but if you must judge, for god sakes actually expend some thought and analyze what you are judging, please. Actually use your ability to critically reason and see who is actually deserving of your hate and who is not. Yes, it will require a little bit of work, but doesn’t it make sense to think before throwing stones?
There are many more things to discuss surrounding this thing but this is long enough already. Here is the initial post. Judge for yourself.
I have something very serious to talk to you about today. It’s about the discrimination that I have observed in the craft beer industry. Specifically, the discrimination against black beers. There’s this one beer that I have at Reckless, by the name of Sultry Black, and it’s quite frankly one of my favorite beers if not the best beer I make, but it has been neglected most likely because it’s black. It’s dark as the sky on a moonless night and it’s hoppy and wonderfully delicious. People typically don’t even give it a try. They see that it’s black and they just make assumptions about its character without giving it a chance. It may be because of where they grew up- perhaps in a place where you just don’t see black beers, or perhaps from their parents- and black beers weren’t even spoken of and when they were it was the type of beer that ‘those other people drink.” You can call me an idealist but I have a dream. I have a dream of a world where beers are judged not by their color but by the content of their characters. Now, I know many of you may be thinking that you are open-minded and don’t discriminate, but if you really look into your hearts, is that really true? Have you ever ordered Sultry Black? If the answer is “no”, then you may be an anti-black-ite. Unfortunately you would not be alone, but it’s possible to change. And, it's time to change now! And to do my part to try to help to change minds, I am renaming Sultry Black-Black Lagers Matter. Black Lagers Matter is on tap again this week at Reckless. Reckless Brewing- the most woke brewery in town.
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