As I recently wrote for Insight, the Wuhan plague has at least shown me just who the bullies, bootlickers and snitches are. Conversely, it’s also shown me just who are the precious few in politics and business who are committed to freedom.
The list is growing.
The owner of a high-profile restaurant chain has refused to open his doors until December because he doesn’t want to force his staff to police Covid vaccine passports.
Rashays founder Rami Ykmour on Monday said he wouldn’t re-open his NSW branches until December 1 – when Premier Gladys Berejiklian has vowed all residents will have the same freedoms regardless of their vaccination status.
Tick one for freedom.
Despite the mainstream media trying to frame Ykmour’s decision as capitulation to big, bad “anti-vaxxers”, the businessman is clear that freedom is at the forefront of his thinking.
‘I’m happy small businesses can open up from October 11, including Rashays,’ Mr Ykmour said in a TikTok video shared on Monday evening.
‘But unfortunately we’re taking a stance not to open up until December 1 because we are all about being inclusive.
‘We are all about being inclusive. My staff have been trained for years to open everyone with open arms.’
A rare politician is also unwaveringly committed to freedom.
His stance follows NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham hitting out at the NSW government’s vaccine passport scheme in a column for Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
‘The Berejiklian/ [NSW Labor leader] Minns policy sets up a scenario by which someone can turn up at a pub sneezing and spluttering, show their vaccine passport and gain entry, while an unvaxxed patron who has passed a rapid antigen test is turned away,’ the politician wrote.
‘The vaccinated have nothing to fear from unvaccinated people, as they have gone out and got their best protection.
‘There is no reason for treating the unvaccinated as lepers.’
Then, along comes a bog-standard corporate bully.
Hungry Jack’s boss Jack Cowin though has flagged he will fully re-open his stores as soon as he is allowed and predicted anti-vaxxers will ‘cave in’ once restrictions ease […]
He said he tells unvaccinated people he knows: ‘How are you going to get on a plane and go overseas or go to a restaurant or pub, how do you feel about that and how strong is your conviction?’
The Daily Mail
I wonder if he tells them to take their “place” at the back of the bus, too? Will, he set up separate drinking fountains at his restaurants?
I’ll leave aside the irony of a mogul who peddles greaseball burgers from one of Australia’s worst-ranked junk food chains, lecturing people about their health. Word to the wise: if your fare is even unhealthier than McDonald’s you might be better off putting a set of scales at your front door, rather than a snitch-app scanner.
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