“Color” Them Bad: Restaurant Shakedown Group Suddenly An Expert On Ethics

Openmarket.org

There’s a hilarious sketch in the comedy show “Portlandia” that features a painfully liberal couple attempting to order a meal in a restaurant. Unfortunately, their earnest desire to be politically correct in all things thwarts their efforts as they barrage the flummoxed waitress with a flurry of questions about the food on offer:

Is the chicken organic? Is that U.S.D.A. organic, Oregon organic, or Portland organic? How big is the area where the chickens are able to roam free?

And on and on…

The sketch, like the show, is a good-natured ribbing of left-wing concerns, a reductio ad absurdum of the liberal mind. Unfortunately, as so often happens, real life threatens to out-satirize even the best satire, as The Huffington Post brings us news guaranteed to warm the hearts of Portandia’s socially concerned couple:

Following their mission to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce, ROC — the Restaurant Opportunity Centers — have launched the ROC National Diner’s Guide to Ethical Eating, a yearly publication that puts labor issues at the forefront. The rating criteria include wages, benefits (including health insurance and sick days), and opportunities for professional advance and internal promotions.

 http://www.openmarket.org/2013/02/06/