I started a thread the other day in regards to fees that are charged to food companies by a certain religous organization, it was almost immediately
struck down as being a "thinly veiled hate thread" by one of the moderators, so I am reposting it and presenting my information from less
"inciteful" sources in the hopes that we can discuss it here on ATS. I am not anti-religon whatsoever, nor do I believe in hatred for any group or
nationality, religous or otherwise, period. This is not a hate thread, it is a question. The last thread I started on this topic was much more
specific and my apologies for my vagueness here but I really would like to debate this topic without somebody jumping out of their chair calling me a
"*&^Hater". If this is something we can't discuss on ATS, then why?
Rather than posting a direct link to any one source, which apparently was a no-no, I will simply provide a search link and let you guys do your own
homework...
www.google.com...
That said, here is a hypothetical situation for you...
Let's say that your religous doctrine would not allow you to eat cheetos, so you send representatives to various food companies and tell them that
you can't eat any cheetos and you want to inspect their facilities to make sure they aren't putting any Cheetos ingredients in with their product
FOR A FEE, if they agree to allow this inspection and pay you a fee, you allow them to use a trademarked symbol to tell the consumer that that product
has received your organizations blessings for being cheetos free. Now if they don't pay the fee, you threaten to boycott their product very PUBLICLY.
Now, in this meeting you also express your conerns that their suppliers might be using cheetos products and for you to carry that symbol, your
suppliers also must pay this fee for inspections. Let's say hypothetically of course, that the idea catches on and next thing you know, even
companies that make products like bleach and scrub pads or window cleaner which have nothing to do with Cheetos whatsoever come into play and your
inspection process turns into a multi-billion dollar industry. Sound fishy? Well, let's say also just for fun, the federal government dissolves the
seperation of church and state for your organization and manifests a federally mandated oversight commission to make sure your group is getting paid
this fee. Now lets say the idea really catches on, and some other in your group get the same idea and go the same companies saying well your group
certified it, but theirs didn't, they have to pay another fee...This raises some questions, if the fee is to make sure that you don't get any
cheetos in the food, why would you charge comapnies that make scrub pads or bleach? Why would the federal government subsidize and enforce it when it
is a religous institution? Why are you charging a fee to food companies instead of appealing to a market which would cater to that interest like all
other special interests? And really the big question here is, who actually pays this fee in the long run? The consumers that don't know anything
about cheetos do. Is it really about cheetos, or is it about money?
Lots of money....