In yet another example of America’s blind and socially isolated rich trying to interfere in citizens’ rights, Toms Shoes’ founder Blake Mycoskie has gone from shoe salesman to gun-control activist—donating $5 million to anti-gun organizations and launching a campaign against firearms.
Mycoskie’s latest bid for attention is Toms Shoes' “End Gun Violence Together Campaign”—which his company touted in a Jan. 3 statement as an evolution to its “brand’s giving model.”
With what almost sounds like an advertisement for a new pair of shoes, Mycoskie is walking in on the gun-control debate—sending 700,000 postcards—holding rallies and funneling customers’ dollars to anti-gun groups. Every dollar that goes to Toms will go to support unconstitutional infringements on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Many Toms’ customers are not happy.
On social media, many formerly loyal customers of Toms are denouncing the shoe brand and its founder for meddling in politics and telling Mycoskie to stop trampling on their rights.
On Toms’ Facebook site, one outraged customer said: “Loved my TOMS until you decided to jump on this band wagon. Your advocacy adds to the problem. You just lost yourself a high volume customer.”
Another wrote: “Wow! I was just getting ready to purchase a pair of shoes from you. I then read about your blatant political bias. It’s not a good business model to alienate 1/2 your potential customers. I wouldn’t spend one dollar at Tom’s now.”
A third warned: “Take a look at Dick's sporting goods on what happens to your business when you turn your back on the 2nd amendment.”
Blake Mycoskie is a businessman—not an elected official or a legislator. He has no understanding of law, governance or public service. He has no professional experience in any field other than developing ways to further enrich himself. Has anyone voted for Blake Mycoskie to represent their interests?
Mycoskie is an impostor. He boasts of his commitment to help “communities of color” from gun violence, yet he lives in isolation from the people he claims to want to protect. Mycoskie does not live in a ghetto or in low-income housing. He has no real experience of poverty or racism. Neither does Mycoskie have any concrete understanding of the experiences of America’s gun owners, their situations or needs. His reckless actions are hurting some of America’s most hardworking citizens—who depend on firearms to earn their living, to attract tourism to their areas, and to feed their families with wild game they lawfully hunt on their lands. How can an inexperienced and sheltered person such as Mycoskie presume to properly address the needs of others?
Mycoskie lives in a world of assumptions—which unfortunately, due to his immense wealth, is a world of privilege. He blindly believes his money can solve any problem he wishes to fix. It is common for the rich to willingly use their money as a tool to control other people, but rare for these pretend do-gooders to be willing to provide unconditional financial help to those in need.
If he truly wants to help people in America, let him part with his money—no questions asked and with no conditions imposed—to meet the most basic physical needs of citizens of every color and in every situation.
Let him give something to the world, instead of trying to deprive others of their legal rights and meddle in situations that he has no understanding of.
Americans should protect themselves from the unwelcome interference of rich hypocrites like Mycoskie who seek to meddle in politics and legislation.
We can all teach Mycoskie and others like him a lesson by not buying their company’s products or supporting their company shareholders so that these pampered pests can feel what it is like to work hard to earn a living.
