THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Don Lebold
A bowling alley owner’s decision to air his opinion about the landmark Supreme Court marriage equality ruling drew fire from offended members of the community recently. The sign outside Town and Country Lanes in Keizer, Oregon, read, “Judges making decisions contrary to the word of God will they themselves be judged,” reports local station KATU. But by the time the news station’s reporter arrived at the scene Wednesday, the sign had been changed. It seemed to be a play on the Gospel verse that teaches “judge not lest you be judged.”…. People outraged by the sign went to Town and Country’s Facebook review page to put in their own two cents…. “For such bible thumpers, I find it strange that they have poker machines in the facility,” wrote Amanda Baker. “Oh no wait, that brings ‘them’ profit so who cares right. No, I care because the crack heads who spend their money are addicts and thieves and just not very ‘Godly’. I guess in today’s society, you get to pick and choose what ‘sins’ are ok or not.”
Ya just gotta love the 1st Amendment, right? I mean, how could you not love a country in which you’re free to make a total ass of yourself by displaying your bigotry and cherry-picked hyper-Christian intolerance for all to see? Don Lebold may believe himself when he says he’s “not a sugar-coater,” which appear to be his self-serving way of claiming (inaccurately) “I’m not a bigot and homophobe,” but the words he had put up on his bowling alley’s marquee speak volumes. Not only is it a textbook case of someone so arrogantly tone-deaf that they can’t understand why the words are offensive, it shows what can happen when you mix business with a conveniently self-serving and cherry-picked religious faith. Not surprisingly, a large number of current and potential customers vehemently disagree with Lebold’s display of bigotry…something that can be very costly in an era when the power and reach of social media can make or break a business.
The words on the bowling alley’s marquee were bad enough, but what makes Lebold truly worthy of being “The Worst Person in the World” is that he left his employees, most of whom strongly disagreed with him, to take the not inconsiderable heat. Employees who were simply doing their job were lambasted and harassed by people who were justifiably angry…just not at the right person.
Yes, Don Lebold sure is a classy guy…and now he’s heavily invested in doing some major damage control. Seems it’s much easier to reveal yourself to be a bigot than to put that genie back in its bottle.
“Thanks for posting your support of inequality,” wrote Sam Novak. “Saves you the trouble and expense of buying a white hood.”
Glenda Beckintard chimed in with, “I hope their business tanks because they think they should play the role of God, which I doubt he appreciates!”
“Come for the dirty bathrooms and depressing ambiance. Stay for the bigotry and to stand with the owner on the wrong side of history,” Andrew Smith added.
“A shitty bowling alley full of sanctimonious charlatans living in a very small bowling bubble. A side of Jesus comes with the nachos,” Curt Struebin wrote.
Turns out that people generally don’t like being preached to…especially by someone whose cafeteria Christianity is so clearly cherry-picked and intended to support his prejudice. Lebold is certainly free to his beliefs, his prejudice, and his hypocrisy. When he weaves those things into a marketing campaign, he can’t claim surprise when the blowback is fast and massive.
What’s truly sad about this story is how clueless and lacking in self-awareness Lebold seems to be. A later photo showed the bowling alley’s marque bearing this message: “Message on sign misinterpreted, owned T&C 47 years & never accused of discrimination.”
Right; I suppose there’s a first time for everything, eh? Except that there’s no credible way for anyone to seriously believe Lebold kept his own counsel for 47 years. It’s very likely that he’s been doing this sort of thing for 47 years, just without the self-awareness to recognize and/or own up to it…and that’s why he’s today’s Worst Person in the World.
