“Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.”

“What giants?” asked Sancho Panza.

“Those you see over there,” replied his master, “with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length.”

“Take care, sir,” cried Sancho. “Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.”

Don Quixote thought he was the bravest knight in all the land when he attacked those windmills, but to everyone who had a clearer perception of reality, he looked like a massive idiot. It’s a well known story, and one that apparently Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, hasn’t read.

You’ve seen the reports by now. Riding on the coattails of events such as the Ferguson fiasco, Starbucks decided they were going to initiate the uncomfortable conversation that they felt needed to happen about race by writing “#RaceTogether” on coffee cups served to their customers. Baristas were even encouraged to begin talking with customers about racial topics. Starbucks board member Mellody Hobson said, “If we truly believe in equal rights and equal opportunity, we can’t afford to be colorblind. We have to be color brave.”

First off, it’s one thing to begin a sensitive conversation with a stranger who has no idea who you are, and another to be a billionaire telling others to start a sensitive conversation with strangers. It’s not brave to put people into a situation where they have to be brave. Secondly, there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and pushing something heavy on someone before they’ve had their morning coffee is definitely the latter. I don’t even want to communicate via caveman grunts with you in the wee hours, much less talk about race.

The main thing to consider here is that Starbucks has a loyal customer base that primarily consists of middle class folk and up. If there’s two things this base has in abundance, it’s white people and white guilt. White guilt is the mentality that due to your white skin color, you’re entitled to more societal benefits than other people with skin colors that people with your skin color used to own over a century ago. The concept is about as confusing as that last sentence. It doesn’t matter if you abhor the thought of malicious racialism, or if you’re ancestors ever participated in it, you’re guilty just by looking the part.

Starbucks’ problem is that the “feel bad to feel good” mentality isn’t a popular opinion with everyone, and to many, “racism bad” is a concept most Americans are well aware of and agree with. Been here in America for 31 years and I can honestly count the actual racist people I’ve met on two hands, and not all of them are white. I don’t care what Sharpton says, we are not a racist country. A bloody war was waged with slavery being a key issue. White people fought alongside black people during the civil rights movement in order for everyone to find true equality. We elected a black man as President.

But here’s the kicker, and it’s something that no one considers when waving the “racial equality” flag. What Starbucks is promoting isn’t a better understanding of race. They’re promoting an acceptable prejudice against white people. With every racial grandstand a business, group, or high-profile figure does, they are giving weight to a patently false message that says “white people despise you, and need to be corrected.”

I look around and I see mixed race couples. I see babies in mixed race families. I see close friends that sport all different kinds of ethnicities. I see people of all colors helping the just as diverse less fortunate. I see people enjoying the cultures and cultural products of countries they aren’t from. For the sake of these people, who make up a vast majority of people in America today, who live the least race concerned lives…

Shut. Up.

Shut up. We don’t want you to preached at us. We don’t want to hear about your attempts to raise awareness. We don’t think you’re brave. We don’t appreciate your “good intentions,” and we sure as hell don’t like you pushing your social concerns on us in order to look good to people who speak with more volume than sense.

Even if finger wagging at whitey was not your intention, that’s your effect. It’s easy to imply charges of racism so long as that implied racism rests solely on the shoulders of white people. Starbucks, or many other public figures for that matter, wouldn’t dream of calling out Azealia Banks for her racially charged rhetoric. They would b-line at warp speed in the opposite direction if they were asked to defend the two white students kicked out of a conference at Ryerson University because they weren’t “racialized.”

No. That would require actual bravery. See, brave would be saying the Ferguson rioters are wrong. Brave would be saying that what racism does exist isn’t exclusive to white people.

But overall, I don’t want companies to be “brave.” If you make coffee, then your job is to serve coffee, not to lecture me about social issues. In an interview, Van Jones said “If we don’t tamp down the backlash against [the] Starbucks ‘Race Together’ campaign, I fear that no major corporation will even try to talk about race again – for maybe 10 or 20 years,” To that end I say, “excellent.” Rich people in boardrooms should keep their personal opinions out of their customers’ lives. Just make me a Venti peppermint mocha with extra whipped cream. Hold the social justice.

Starbucks, you received so much backlash from your customers, not because the subject is a difficult one, because you insulted them. You’re shouting from atop a high horse at people who just want a frappucino, and styling it as bravery. Stop tilting at windmills and just serve the damn coffee.

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Brandon Morse has been writing about politics and culture across many websites for the last six years, with a heavy emphasis on anti-authoritarianism. Aside from writing articles, he is also known for voice acting and authoring scripts. He is an avid gamer, dog person, and has a bad habit of making vague references to things no one has heard about or seen. Follow him at @TheBrandonMorse on Twitter.

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