Steaming hot: Temper tantrum on coffee machine only deprives the smasher

Don't throw the coffee out with the coffee maker.

Well, you can if you want, but you already paid for it.

Perhaps by now you have seen the videos of coffee drinkers smashing their Keurig single-cup coffee makers. Apparently there is nothing wrong with the product itself, it works just fine. The coffee pot killings are in response to the manufacturer pulling its sponsorship -- along with several other companies -- from the Sean Hannity show after the Fox News and talk radio show host offered his support to Senate-hopeful and former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore.

Moore, now 70, is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact or relationships with at least five teenage girls while he was in his 30s back in the 1970s.

Moore, who denies the allegations, offers vague memories when asked about the accusations of maybe having known some of his accusers, or their parents, in an interview with Hannity. The ones he does recollect having known he describes as "good girls."

The long and the short of it for Moore is that he is being pressured to drop out of the race in favor of a write-in candidate to be named later, or if he should stay in and win, the GOP-held majority in the Senate is being pressured to not seat him as a U.S. senator.

Time will tell which way that all goes, but for now Keurig owners who also watch and listen to Hannity are either smashing their coffee makers or throwing them out of their windows. Some are videoing the effort to send a message to the manufacturer.

The hashtag #boycottkeurig has also been making the rounds on social media.

While there is nothing funny about sexual assault, the ridiculousness of a K-cup boycott backed by the physical destruction of a coffee maker is at least comical. So maybe these people will now switch back to the old fashioned whole-pot brewers. Or they will pick up a cup of joe on their morning commute for a while. But the convenience factor that drove them to buy the Keurig in the first place cannot so easily be dismissed.

Besides, it's a little difficult to boycott something you have already paid for. The company has your money. What does it lose out on, the K-cups? There are so many various brands of those now it's a watered down market. You might say the boycott is quickly losing steam.

More ridiculous still was the Alabama state auditor's comments in support of Moore. Jim Zeigler said that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a teenager and her husband Joseph was an adult carpenter. That analogy drew Zeigler a bit of criticism as having been blasphemous. But more to the point, wasn't he a little off the mark? That is, if you believe in the Immaculate Conception, wasn't Zeigler truly drawing a blasphemous comparison between Moore and somewhat of a Higher authority?

And sure, boycotting church is an option, at the risk to one's own soul depending on his or her denomination. But be cautioned, smashing a church to pieces could be looked on as a hate crime.

Published in Editorials on November 14, 2017 11:17 PM