My Responce to Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com
Dear Mr. Byrne,
Thank you for having the courtesy to respond to letters sent to you by Ron Paul supporters angered by the attempt of Fox News to silence presidential candidate Ron Paul. I also want to thank you for your donation to the Ron Paul campaign, and your letter in support of our protests to Fox News.
I know that there are many ethical and moral questions that a person in your position must ask, and I am sensitive to those concerns. Mixing business and politics is often a bad thing. Every time you take a stand, you are apt to offend someone.
I believe that there are times when we need to make exceptions to the rules, and take a stand. I firmly believe that this is one of those times.
This isn’t the first of Fox News’ offenses. I stopped watching the channel nearly a year ago when their broadcast personalities openly made light of torture and extraordinary rendition. Indeed, Fox News is now populated with pro-war sycophants and pro-torture deviants. Forget the politics for a moment - as a CEO, is that the type of message you want the Overstock.com brand associated with? Really?
If so, I can only tell you that, as a consumer, I can’t patron your company anymore. I cannot, by sanction of my dollars, support a message that is so derogatory and destructive to American ideals and modern human civilization.
I hope that you will reconsider your support for Fox News and that I will once again be able to shop at Overstock.com with a clear conscious. There are times when we all must take a stand and say, “enough is enough”. This is one of those moments.
Sincerely,
Gary R. Schor
libertysentinel.org
"The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." ~ Dante Alighieri.
Overstock.com responds to Ron Paul boycotters
January 5, 2008
Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, writes:
Dear Customer,
Because Overstock advertises on Fox channels, Overstock has been receiving calls and email messages about Fox News decision to exclude Dr. Ron Paul from the upcoming January 6 forum in New Hampshire, a decision that seems especially rank given the fact that in yesterdays Iowa Caucus Dr. Paul out-polled Mayor Giuliani by a factor of 2.5:1. I always enjoy hearing from our customers, particularly those who display political commitment of any flavor, and I thank them for their calls and emails.
In October Dr. Paul came to Utah, and he and I visited for an hour in my office. After that meeting, I gave him the largest donation I could under federal law: it is rare to meet a politician who understands the Constitution, and rarer still to meet one who thinks it binds the government meaningfully (I would give Dr. Paul more were there not now a federal blackout on free speech known as ?McCain-Feingold?). In a television interview last week I stated that, while for the first time in my life I felt there are several candidates qualified to be president, my #1 choice would be Dr. Paul.
That said, I believe that pulling Overstocks advertising from Fox would represent an inappropriate conflation of my personal politics with my corporate responsibilities: thus, fellow supporters of Dr. Paul, my answer to you is, ?no.? However, I have contacted Fox and told them that, as a major advertiser, I believe it is unconscionable of them to exclude Dr. Paul from participating in this forum on January 6, thus denying our polity the opportunity to make an informed choice.
Respectfully,
Patrick M. Byrne, Ph.D.
CEO, Overstock.com
When will you learn
As we flood people with mail, calls and email they will all produce a "canned" response..No way do CEO's sit down and respond to this stuff.....Secretaries and aides take this initially to respond and then when it overwhelms them they produce a form response...I used to get responses from my Senator, Specter of Pa., now all I get is
"Thank You For Your Comment"
OVERSTOCK CEO LYING
FELLOW PAULITES -- THIS IS A FRAUD --
The CEO of Overstock.com did not donate to Dr. Paul, calling into question his supposed meeting with Dr. Paul in the first place. As you can see from his donation record (http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search_hp.asp?txtName=byrn...) He gave the maximum donation amount, $2300, to RUDY GIULIANI, and is trying to give us the run-around. According to his Wikipedia article, he is already in trouble the the SEC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_M._Byrne), and appears to be a member of the CFR (http://www.cfr.org/bios/3218/dr_patrick_m_byrne.html).
He is lying to us. BOYCOTT OVERSTOCK.COM.
4th Quarter Donations not reflected yet
I checked, and OpenSecrets.org does not yet have 4th quarter donations reflected in their results. It's too soon to say that he's lying.
I think Mr. Byrne's response
I think Mr. Byrne's response was completely understandable. His job as CEO is to do what is in the best interests of his company. He shouldn't let his personal feelings interfere with that.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson
I loved that site! But I now will not purchase from them!!!!!!!
Ron Paul for President!!!
I loved that site but I will now not purchase anything from until they pull their advertising dollars away from fox. I believe overstock.com have every right to run adds, but I have the right not to purchase from them if they do that!
You wrote a concise and on point letter and I am with you!
Boycott overstock.com and get a list of the other company's and boycott them also!
There are more of us than there telling us and we will prevail!
I will join you
My house is furnished by Overstock.com. 12 pieces of my furniture and 3 of my appliances were purchased from them. All of my linens came from Overstock as well.
I will join you in withdrawing my patronage until they pull their adds from Faux
this IS the market taking care of it
This is a very well thought out letter. The only way any CEO can justify pulling advertising to his shareholders is by providing them with evidence that continuing to do business as they are now is hurting profits. The only way he will have this evidence is by our boycott being effective. (I notice a lot of people here really like to shop there, so I suggest we boycott them hard so that it is quickly noticed and acted upon so that we can all resume shopping with good conscience) There are no short-cuts to freedom. Sometimes we do have to make hard choices.
We can't just boycott the companies that we don't care about! I guess we should be glad that we don't need to place our lives and personal fortunes on the line like the Revolutionary patriots did. What is Liberty worth?
Just don't watch
Just don't watch the channel. If consumers don't like what they're seeing on Fox News Channel, rating will go down and they'll lose ad revenue until it improves its programming. This has already hurt its public image and they'll suffer as a result. I'm not going to sacrifice myself by limiting whats goods are available to me just because of Fox news. I'm not going to let them stop the way I live. So what if Fox is news is biased? Let's keep things in perspective. There are competitors. It's not like they have a monopoly. The media has never had so much competition has it does today (as Paul himself pointed out in the Moyer's interview) CNN? MSNBC? The internet? Surveys show that most people get their news from the internet, so let's not blow this out of proportion.
I will do both.
Boycott and not watch. I guess I care enough that I will let this change the way I live. I really don't see this as a huge sacrifice.
Great (not good, GREAT) response to Overstock.com
You guys are awesome!
GREAT letter!
We can't get business owners in my area to post RP yard signs because of this same ideology! It's maddening!! They say they will vote for him, but I take that as lip service. Where did all the men go??
PS. We finally purchased a billboard....His word will be heard :)
I agree with you.
If enough people boycot Overstock.com, then he will simply have to answer to his shareholders.
Too much to ask
You're asking him to reduce his companies profits, which hurts his employees, ability to satisfy consumer needs, and harms the economy. I don' t think that's a responsible request by you. I think you should be more respectful to his responsibility to the shareholders. He has an ethical responsibility to maximize shareholder value. If he pulled the ads based on politics, investors will realize that he he's foregoing profitable opportunities and therefore sell off the stock. That would hurt everyone.
If viewers of Fox news start sensing that Fox is unfair, they will start watching other channels and Fox will start losing ad revenue. This happens naturally in the market without having to go through all this intimidation. The market takes care of it. I don't see any reason to try to use what amounts to a type of passive-aggressive extortion against an honest businessman who is just trying to doing his job.
I stand behind with Patrick Byrne with his decision.
Actually
Personally, I am not asking him to do anything. Simply telling him what I am going to do, depending on what he decides to do. He still has his free will, I still have mine. Communicating with him is not hurting anyone, it is simply telling him that his people might get hurt since his profits will go down with Fox. Does he want to maintain his position or not. Just tells you what a guy is made of. I have seen many, many less than courageous people since I have gotten to know what real courage is-take a look at Dr. Paul's courage. He lays it all on the line and doesn't care who understands him and he does it with respect. True conviction. I want that kind of courage.
Either Way
Either way, he's in a bad position. I won't do business with supporters of Fox News. That's my right. So he loses my business. If this is just a matter of math, he could simply insert the number into his formula and come up with the right answer.
I think this is a moral question that goes beyond profits and numbers. Any business that goes along with Fox at this point may have to go down with them too.
Moral question?
I don't see anything immoral about making as much profit as possible. I don't think Fox is doing anything immoral either. If they're biased, that's their right. All of us our biased in some way. I don't see the exercise of free speech as being immoral just because it's pushing a particular point of view.
Fox IS doing something immoral
They are advocating for the continuation of a war and occupation that broke all precedence of preemptive war in this country and was done outside the rule of law of our Constitution, as no declaration of war was made.
Perhaps in your world or relative ethics, such actions are not immoral, but in the world of morality defined by life and liberty, these actions are unabashedly immoral.
I will boycott Fox news, boycott Fox's sponsors where I am aware of them existing, and applaud those who advocate for boycotts of this organization.
The free market solution to faulty business practices is the dual activity of boycotts and protests.
Devon - all I have seen from you on this site is a defense of Fox News. That's crap.
These folks have ZERO care for our Constitutionally Limited Republic or the rule of law as laid down by the U.S. Constitution. They need to be criticized roundly.
_________________________________
Freedom - Peace - Prosperity
"I don't see anything immoral?"
Hi Devon,
I'm a Milton Friedman/Ayn Rand lassie-fair capitalist. But long-term, reputation is essential to a healthy business. Ethics takes over where law ends, and just because we can do something doesn't mean we should do it. I also get to enforce my morality over the companies I do business with. I'm pretty wide open. I do draw a line at torture.
"I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law." - Aristotle
"I don't think Fox is doing
"I don't think Fox is doing anything immoral either. If they're biased, that's their right. "
Actually, I question this statement. In a TRUE free market, I'm with you 100%. Part of their license is to abide by specific guidelines others have outlined on here. Many feel they are not meeting that obligation.
Again, in a true free market... I'm with you.
Paul would disagree
Paul would disagree. He doesn't want the government to regulate the media. He wants the FCC abolished. And just because someone may have to get permission to start a television station, Paul does not say that therefore the government should regulate their content. That would be very unlibertarian. Media should have the liberty to be biased and unfair.
Well
Then they should be sued for false advertising with their tag line of "Fair and Balanced".
In a free society you are allowed to be biased, but not commit fraud.
_________________________________
Freedom - Peace - Prosperity
Interesting
Thanks for posting. Overstock will have to stay on my boycott list. But it is his choice and it is my choice. Dr. Paul says to be willing to take responsibility for our choices. It is fantastic that he supports Dr. Paul and I hate to boycott Overstock, but half way across the street doesn't get you to your destination. Throwing a wad of money at someone and saying, "You go do the hard job. It would be an inappropriate conflation for me ." That doesn't cut it with me.