James Riley Responds

To Our Friends..

Due to the kindness of our guests, Riley’s Farm has grown substantially.  All successful enterprises have their detractors, and ours is no exception. In our case, the detractors have taken it upon themselves to post shameful and downright false comments about my character based on their reading of tweets taken out of context.  I’m beginning to understand why some comedians are avoiding college campuses: we’re losing both our sense of humor and our ability to exchange ideas.

In any event, my political and spiritual convictions are precisely that: mine. They don’t affect adversely the way the apples grow on the trees or the content of our living history programs. I routinely purchase products from people who have dramatically different perspectives on the world, and I serve people, with love and respect, even when I don’t agree with them. We are proud of hiring a very diverse group of people with a very wide range of political and spiritual beliefs.

It is both amusing and sad that some people’s sensibilities are so delicate that they feel they cannot tolerate opinions that vary even slightly from their own, and further, that they feel the need to attempt to destroy those who differ with them. H.L. Mencken said “Puritanism [is] the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” If the new “puritans” out there want to waste their time trying to stamp out all who disagree with them, then so be it. But that seems like a lot of work, and it doesn’t sound like the sort of tolerance they claim to be seeking. We here on Riley’s Farm will continue the far more profitable, worthwhile, constructive, and fun pursuits of making people happy.

Categorised in: News

This post was written by Jim Riley