"It is not a secret that over the past decade, hundreds of large U.S. corporations have adopted woke policies, regularly injecting left-wing ideals into their products, services and employment practices," he begins in his column. "But some of these businesses have recently gone much further than merely promoting social justice causes; they have chosen to target conservative customers and employees, coercing or forcing Americans to abandon their deeply held beliefs in order to receive important goods or services or to stay employed."
Conservatives have frequently come across tales of corporate discrimination in recent times, but often find it challenging to keep tabs on which businesses have supported this movement and which have refrained from doing so, Haskins notes. To address this significant issue, a nonprofit organization called the 1792 Exchange has initiated a new project aimed at illuminating the matter.
The 1792 Exchange recently launched its Spotlight Report, which assesses over 1,000 companies’ "policies, practices, and other relevant criteria to determine the likelihood a company will cancel a contract or client, or boycott, divest, or deny services based on views or beliefs," the group notes on its website, adding that businesses are assigned one of three categories: "Lower Risk," "Medium Risk," and "High Risk."
Haskins explains that, per the organization's website, the "High Risk" companies are the ones that have typically terminated or denied business associations based on differences in opinion or pose an increased risk of canceling individuals and companies who do not align with their viewpoints. Among the over 1,000 companies evaluated, 147 are currently labeled as "High Risk," indicating that they are more prone to indulge in outright discrimination than other companies.
"Perhaps the most influential groups of woke companies in the report are banks. Numerous large banks are using their financial might to effectively force business customers into adopting climate change policies, even when it will require that those customers dramatically change their business practices," he noted.
"The 1792 Exchange determined that five large transportation companies fall into its 'High Risk' category — Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and XPO Logistics" he added.
The 1792 Exchange identified 15 major companies in the "Retailing" sector as "High Risk" entities, including well-known physical stores such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohl's, Lululemon, Macy's, Madewell, Target, and Walmart. The list also includes prominent online retailers like Alibaba, Amazon, Chewy, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, and Warby Parker, the analyst noted further.
The 1792 Exchange report classified ten large food and beverage companies as "High Risk" as well, including Altria, Ben & Jerry’s, Cargill, Coca-Cola, HelloFresh, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Starbucks, and the JM Smucker Company.
Haskins added:
Unfortunately, the 51 companies mentioned throughout this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Numerous other important corporations are also actively undermining conservatives and/or discriminating against families or businesses who do not share their radical views.
The 1792 Exchange outlined nearly 100 additional "High Risk" companies in its report, including some of the most powerful in the world, like Alphabet (the owners of Google), Disney, and Apple.
But he also noted there are solutions for conservatives who don't simply want to just 'take it' from these companies.
The initial measure is to spread the word about cases of woke discrimination and reports such as the one created by the 1792 Exchange with individuals who share similar opinions and values.
Conservatives can take action by identifying alternative businesses that offer similar products or services to those offered by the discriminatory companies and switch to them whenever possible. It's important to communicate with both the business being abandoned and the new non-discriminatory business about why the switch is being made, he recommended.
"Finally, conservative lawmakers need to prioritize policies that reject ESG social credit scores and other systematic attempts meant to coerce companies into embracing leftist causes. The legislation proposed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this month that would limit the use of ESG scores in banking is a great place to start," Haskins said.
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