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The Cracker Barrel flap was not about being woke

j brown's body

"A Soros-backed animal"
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"..if we are going to talk about the restaurant chain, I’d rather discuss the quality of its biscuits than the tiresome question of whether Cracker Barrel has gone woke....Surely we have something better to do with our vacations than debate the strategic choices of a casual-dining franchise.

I don’t blame Cracker Barrel for this sorry state of affairs. The company is a victim of the internet’s endless search for something to be mad about. During L’Affaire Sausage, I pointed out that very few people were actually mad that Cracker Barrel had added a meat substitute to its offerings; copy-hungry journalists had scoured the company’s Facebook page and plucked a few lunatics out of the much larger number of vegetarians thanking the company for catering to their needs....

Alas, I was shouting into the social media void, because here we are again, trying to turn a struggling restaurant chain into a metaphor for American politics. This time, the president’s son has joined the unhinged, retweeting a post from an account called Woke War Room that had, for some unaccountable reason, gotten mad about the change. This was followed up by our poster in chief himself, who advised Cracker Barrel to restore the old logo. On Tuesday, the company announced it was taking this advice. And thus we had a week of discourse about what it all means."

Link

Clueless conservative journalist Megan McArdle puts all the pieces together here, but can't seem to draw the obvious conclusion: conservatism has been taken over by Qaonon imbued, conspiracy driven right-wing that takes its cues from the disinformation-laden social media. And it's not just the fringe, but promoted by people at the higgest levels of power.

These are the same people who believe that there is an Epstein file/list that only Trump has the guts to release, who believe that black people are so dumb they need DEI to get jobs, that the Trump/Russia collusion is a hoax and who are cheering the banishment of science from HHS.

Admit it Megan, your side has gone insane.
 
  • “They basically did the Washington football team to white people.”
  • “The CEO said something to the effect of, ‘MAGA doesn’t have to eat here. We’ll respect their decision not to.’ I don’t know what the question was that led to that answer. I’mma throw it out there, and I could be wrong, but I do think they were the only ones eating there. That would be like the dude at the Red Hat Company being like, ‘We don’t need MAGA.’ Unless there’s a new baseball team, I think you might.”
  • “There were people genuinely being like, ‘This is an erasure of American culture, and it’s an erasure of white culture, like white heritage and everything.’ I’ve been to a Cracker Barrel, and yes, it’s very white. But if you’re concerned with white heritage, Cracker Bell should be so low on that list.”
  • “I’ve grown up around white people. I know white people my whole life, and very few have ever mentioned Cracker Barrel when it wasn’t at the next exit. Like I didn’t know it meant this much to white people. That’s ignorant of me. I’m sorry to be walking around in America of all places, not knowing how important this was to your heritage and culture.”
  • “They know where to put the Cracker Barrel. You either eat now, or you wait 35 minutes until the saddest McDonald’s.”

~ Josh Johnson

Cracked
 
Why do you think they wanted to change the logo in the first place? What would motivate them to even consider it? The guy was supposed to represent the company's founder.

It doesn't seem like that big of a leap to figure that some woke idiot must have thought that person represented the "cracker" part of Cracker Barrell. Same kind of thinking that believed Aunt Jemima was racist, just because it had an old black woman on the bottle. Some of the places where wokeism is somehow able to see racism is just plain dumb, and this appeared by all indications to be just more of the same kind of dumb.

There's nothing wrong with calling out racism wherever it exists, but there's a lot wrong with inventing racism where it doesn't exist. It's literally a barrel of soda crackers next to a generic depiction of the company's founder. Someone apparently decided that it must be racist because "cracker". People are getting tired of that crap.
 
Binary_Digit said:
It doesn't seem like that big of a leap to figure that some woke idiot must have thought that person represented the "cracker" part of Cracker Barrell.
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It's a good, and easy, joke, but a sad commentary that gets more true each day.
 
I would just like to live in a country where 30% of the population doesn't act like monkeys throwing their own poop at cages when stuff like this happens. WHO GIVES A SHIT?
 
Companies change logos all the time, for a variety of reasons.
Updating an old image in order to modernize and reach new customers is an age old marketing tactic that works.
This is much ado about nothing.
 
The Brad Dad said:
I would just like to live in a country where 30% of the population doesn't act like monkeys throwing their own poop at cages when stuff like this happens. WHO GIVES A SHIT?
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CB was the place that never complied with safety protocols when Covid was raging everywhere. So all the MAGA ate there.
I'm sure many caught Covid, and several died.
So, MAGA have it in their hearts that this was the place that they saw Cleetus for the last time, cause he caught the fake virus and died.
 
multivita-man said:
Anyone who self-identifies as a conservative these days is probably a moron.
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I still like to distinguish between what we used to know as conservatives and the MAGAverse. The latter includes the conservatives who sold their souls to a person and a movement that is not conservative in the traditional sense.
 
The Brad Dad said:
I would just like to live in a country where 30% of the population doesn't act like monkeys throwing their own poop at cages when stuff like this happens. WHO GIVES A SHIT?
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"Social" media has made everything, no matter what it is, vitally "important"! The reality, and only significant thing, is the billionaires have found their duped customers.
Having said that, a forum like this is not any different.
 
Binary_Digit said:
Why do you think they wanted to change the logo in the first place?
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Because the company is on the back foot, and is doing everything it can to refresh the business.

The rebrand was a 100% normal everyday change. It's the reaction against the logo change by conservative snowflakes that is utterly nuts, and completely disconnected from reality.

Binary_Digit said:
It doesn't seem like that big of a leap to figure that some woke idiot must have thought that person represented the "cracker" part of Cracker Barrell.
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Or... Not everyone is so insanely partisan that they see simplifying a logo as a Woke Takeover.

No, the guy in the old logo wasn't the founder, it was a relative of his. No, no one thought that Uncle Herschel is a "cracker." No, "cracker" in "Cracker Barrel" is not the anti-white racial slur that no one seems to find particularly insulting.

I mean, really. Did you see any social media posts attacking CB for its old logo or its name? No? No.

Binary_Digit said:
Same kind of thinking that believed Aunt Jemima was racist, just because it had an old black woman on the bottle.
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Nope, totally wrong. The problem was that the woman depicted was based on a decades-old racial stereotype.

Binary_Digit said:
Some of the places where wokeism is somehow able to see racism is just plain dumb...
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Or, some white people are unable to see past their blinders of privilege and white grievance.

What I think is utterly hilarious, though, is that you're doing exactly what you accuse "wokes" of doing. You're losing your mind over completely fabricated conspiracy theories about "woke activitsts" in... the corporate boardroom of a totally mainstream US company? WTF. Get a grip.
 
BabaVoss said:
Companies change logos all the time, for a variety of reasons.
Updating an old image in order to modernize and reach new customers is an age old marketing tactic that works.
This is much ado about nothing.
Click to expand...
"Modernize"? By removing a racist undertone that didn't even exist? That sounds more like "pandering" and "virtue signaling" than anything else. Hence the reason it was a dumb move and why there was pushback to revert the change.
 
Visbek said:
Because the company is on the back foot, and is doing everything it can to refresh the business.
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By removing the "cracker" from their logo when it was never racist to begin with? Brilliant move. How "inclusive" of them lol.

Visbek said:
The rebrand was a 100% normal everyday change. It's the reaction against the logo change by conservative snowflakes that is utterly nuts, and completely disconnected from reality.
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The reaction was due to the nature of the rebrand. They removed the "cracker" from their logo when it was never racist to begin with. Obvious woke pandering.

Visbek said:
Or... Not everyone is so insanely partisan that they see simplifying a logo as a Woke Takeover.
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Most people didn't view that logo as a racist "cracker", until the company themselves decided to treat him as such.

Visbek said:
No, the guy in the old logo wasn't the founder, it was a relative of his.
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It was neither. He was a fictional character meant to depict the founder.

Visbek said:
No, no one thought that Uncle Herschel is a "cracker."
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Not until the company itself decided to treat him as such.

Visbek said:
I mean, really. Did you see any social media posts attacking CB for its old logo or its name? No? No.
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Exactly, yet he needed to be cancelled anyway?

Visbek said:
Nope, totally wrong. The problem was that the woman depicted was based on a decades-old racial stereotype.
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People seeing racism where it doesn't exist is insufferable.

Visbek said:
Or, some white people are unable to see past their blinders of privilege and white grievance.
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People seeing racism where it doesn't exist is insufferable.

I personally had very little to say about this topic until this post that claimed that it wasn't about being woke. I get why people think it was about being woke. They cancelled a "cracker" who wasn't a "cracker", inventing racism where it didn't exist, and people rightly thought it was a dumb move in an obvious attempt to pander to woke ignorance.
 
It was a boring new logo. Regressives just wanted to be mad.
 
Binary_Digit said:
"Modernize"? By removing a racist undertone that didn't even exist? That sounds more like "pandering" and "virtue signaling" than anything else. Hence the reason it was a dumb move and why there was pushback to revert the change.
Click to expand...
Your interpretation, while interesting, has no basis in truth.
CB had very good reasons for rebranding. Traffic was trending downward. Lots of issues to address.
However, the conservative backlash, fueled by trump and his childish insult comics routine, led people like you to do a performative cancellation of CB in social media.
You guys fear change. generally speaking.
The problems are likely to remain, regardless. Casual dining is a tough market, and CB may well go under as so many have.
Especially considering rising costs, inflation, and the shrinking of the US economy that may well happen as a result of King Dimwald's trade war with the world.
If CB does not change, the anti-woke vengeance of the trump conservatives will leave them alone.
Then they will eventually die.


.
 
BTW:
Visbek said:
Nope, totally wrong. The [Aunt Jemima] problem was that the woman depicted was based on a decades-old racial stereotype.
Click to expand...

Family Of Woman Who Portrayed Aunt Jemima Speaks Out About Quaker Oats's Rebranding Decision

While descendants of Lillian Richard, who portrayed Aunt Jemima, support the company's decision to rename the brand, they want to ensure her legacy lives on.
www.wbur.org

Everyone seems to think that was racist...except for the people who were (not) most directly impacted. Saviors saving non-victims from problems they themselves invented in their own imaginations.
 
BabaVoss said:
Your interpretation, while interesting, has no basis in truth.
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It's about optics. That's where the pushback came from. It's not hard to see it as possible or even likely pandering, which a lot of people are sick of.

BabaVoss said:
CB had very good reasons for rebranding. Traffic was trending downward. Lots of issues to address.
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Agreed. But they apparently thought removing the "cracker" would make them seem more inclusive. All it did was make them look like they thought it was racist when it wasn't.

BabaVoss said:
However, the conservative backlash, fueled by trump and his childish insult comics routine, led people like you to do a performative cancellation of CB in social media.
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It was fueled by people getting tired of wokeism going too far and being ridiculous. They seem to see racism everywhere they look, because they're seemingly trying to find it even when it's not there. It's insufferable.

BabaVoss said:
You guys fear change. generally speaking.
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I'm a left-leaning NeverTrumper who would like to see a LOT of changes around here, so "you guys" doesn't apply to me in this case. Change wasn't the issue, it was the nature of the change that was problematic.

I hope they stick around. This was never going to affect my willingness to eat there, but I get where the outrage and pushback was coming from. The wokes need to stop crying wolf over mundane bullshit and stick to what actually exists and needs to be addressed.
 
Binary_Digit said:
By removing the "cracker" from their logo when it was never racist to begin with? Brilliant move. How "inclusive" of them lol.
Click to expand...


Again... The decision to change the logo had nothing to do with politics. It's just insane MAGA snowflakes shrieking about perceived slights.

Binary_Digit said:
The reaction was due to the nature of the rebrand. They removed the "cracker" from their logo when it was never racist to begin with.
Click to expand...
And they didn't remove it for any reasons connected to racism. How did you miss that bit?

Binary_Digit said:
Most people didn't view that logo as a racist "cracker", until the company themselves decided to treat him as such.
Click to expand...
NO ONE saw it as racist.

Binary_Digit said:
It was neither. He was a fictional character meant to depict the founder.
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No... it's a depiction of a relative of the founder.

Binary_Digit said:
Exactly, yet he needed to be cancelled anyway?
Click to expand...
He wasn't "canceled."

Binary_Digit said:
People seeing racism where it doesn't exist is insufferable.
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People seeing Wokeism where it doesn't exist is insufferable.

Binary_Digit said:
People seeing racism where it doesn't exist is insufferable.
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...except that it often DOES exist in places where Wypipo don't want to acknowledge it.

Binary_Digit said:
I personally had very little to say about this topic...
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Binary_Digit said:
...until this post that claimed that it wasn't about being woke.
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It wasn't.

Again: No one was protesting, no one was complaining, no one gave a s***.

Further, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to think that they removed a depiction of a totally normal white dude because "people thought he was depicting a cracker" AND KEPT THE NAME "CRACKER" IN THE COMPANY NAME AND NEW LOGO while also thinking "omg we can't be associated with a racial slur!"

You don't even seem to understand the MAGA objection. They weren't mad because CB was wringing its hands of being accused of being anti-white racists. MAGA thinks CB is trying to appeal to minorities by removing the white guy from its logo.

Yeesh.
 

The right-wing has paranoid conspiracy theories to explain just about everything.
 
Helix said:
It was a boring new logo. Regressives just wanted to be mad.
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It's not only that, but the comedy of errors that this started because some X yahoo poster scouring to rage against "woke" framed it that way and Don "The Lesser" Jr. amplified it despite that not being the reason the change was made.
 


Your attempts to quote mine are denied. From that very same article:

Aunt Jemima portrays the white, romanticized notion of an Antebellum “mammy,” detached from the cruel reality of enslavement during the late 19th century. The inspiration for the character came from the song “Old Aunt Jemima.” Starting at the World's Fair in 1893, a formerly enslaved woman named Nancy Green was the first to travel around the country wearing an apron and bandana as Aunt Jemima.

The family wasn't giving y'all a pass on the racism involved. They wanted their relative recognized for her work... which ended in 1948.

And no, just because you think you can twist this situation to your advantage, that doesn't mean they are the "most directly impacted." Again, Lillian Richard stopped playing that role 77 years ago. The family wasn't receiving any royalties. She was just one of 12 women who played a racist part, because she needed the work.

Binary_Digit said:
Saviors saving non-victims from problems they themselves invented in their own imaginations.
Click to expand...
Your self-criticism is noted.
 
People see what they want to see.

Binary_Digit said:
I'm a left-leaning NeverTrumper who would like to see a LOT of changes around here, so "you guys" doesn't apply to me in this case.
Click to expand...
I’m surprised to hear that.

Binary_Digit said:
Change wasn't the issue, it was the nature of the change that was problematic.
Click to expand...
Your imagination tells you I that.

Ok
 
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