Make no mistake, there are real problems in the world that require deep attention, real solutions and serious people to make sure that the mistakes that created them in the first place aren’t repeated.
In the span of last week, we had another mass shooting, and in this case, another shooter who was transgender. Interestingly, Minneapolis shooter Robin Westman wasn’t even the first trans shooter to have a grudge against Christians and the world they believed led them astray.
Now that there, that’s a real problem.
The trouble is, solving that issue is multi layered, complex and has to be navigated carefully to avoid political extremes that will make things worse than they were before.
A far easier problem to solve, that surprisingly has more social benefit than you might imagine, is shaming a company out of doing something stupid.
I’m referring of course to the whole Cracker Barrel fiasco, which consumed social media and brought the internet together to collectively derail the corporation’s attempt to change its logo.
Now on the surface, this seems like a small and petty thing for the Internet to be mad about. After all, companies change logos all the time, so what’s the big deal?
Of course, it’s a big deal because we live in a world where nothing is done just for the hell of it anymore. These things are frequently done with a nefarious purpose in mind, which when you look at the now faceless products that used to be home to figures like Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima, starts to become obvious.
So, of course Americans are on edge whenever a company begins trying to take on a new look or coin a new slogan, ostensibly for their own betterment.
Broadly speaking, the backlash to Cracker Barrel’s attempt to replace the iconic “Uncle Herschel” logo, and even the Barrel itself, with a bland and soulless knock off is not a reaction to ‘wokeness’ in the traditional sense.
Rather it’s a reaction to the very real idea that everything is getting worse and that everything that defined a better time is being consciously purged.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing and it’s deeply tied to our sense of admiration for tradition and the comfort of normalcy we all miss on some level.
Everywhere you look, things seem colder, less authentic, less vibrant and hollow in comparison to what came before. It’s a reality we have been living with here in America for over 20 years and it has gotten worse the longer it has gone on.
That’s really what this is about, especially when you consider that for a good chunk of Americans, Cracker Barrel used to remind them of being at an old relative’s home. The cluttered home that, before that relative passed away, used to be the reason everyone came home for the holidays.
That was part of the Cracker Barrel aesthetic, part of its appeal. It reminded you of a simpler time, in a simpler place where everything was warmer and more genuine...even if
we all understood that it was a comfortable illusion to get peo- ple to sit at its tables and spend money.
Anyone who tells you that the change is insignificant and that your nostalgia is misplaced, probably never had the pleasure of experiencing that good ol’ down home atmosphere.
You can always tell you’re dealing with someone who is either a radical progressive, or someone who simply doesn’t understand the culture wars, when they are immediately dismissive of the backlash.
I’m sure many of you have seen the pretentious comments on Twitter and Facebook from users pretending to be above the fray and acting as if the anger at the branding change is just a childish outburst.
I think we’ve lived long enough in this culture by now to understand that most of the things these major corporations and entities do are not by chance. And even those that are done carelessly, represent anoth- er troubling aspect to what has become all to common in the modern world.
Namely, most things we enjoy have degraded, specifically because people with no connection to the tradition or heritage of a property have seized control of it.
It’s very obvious from interviews that Julie Felss Masino, current CEO of Cracker Barrel, has no knowledge about the brand she sits at the helm of.
Not only does she have no connection to it, she also has no real fondness for it. I dare say she feels nothing at all.
And whenever someone like that is placed in the top spot, things inevitably take a turn for the worse until they collapse. It’s a trend that we’ve repeatedly seen at many companies and organizations over the last decade or so.
We have witnessed the constant elevation of interlopers to positions of power that have no business being there.
We’ve seen it in the movie industry, the comic book industry, the video game industry and many more. Beloved properties and industries, staffed from the top down by people who, at best, are ignorant of what makes their property great and, at worst, disdainful of them and actively working to arrogantly take them over and change them to fit a selfish vision.
In it’s own way, that trend has been destructive and demoralizing to a lot of people, including myself, and it has contributed to an overall sense of societal unease about everything we see, hear and experience.
It’s an issue that isn’t as pressing as, say, the spate of shoot- ings and the rise in transgender terrorism, but it remains a problem all the same and one that creates bad ripples across society at large.
That Americans have seemingly recognized this, made enough noise to upset and momentarily hurt the company enough to change course, means that more folks than me have reached a breaking point.
It’s a small, albeit satisfying, victory that I aim to enjoy and I hope we see more of.
Washington County native Arthur Howell is a staff writer at The Beacon. He can be reached via email at arthur@roanokebeacon.com.