Cracker Barrel loses almost $100 million.

[ozso]

Theres a lot of things I love about the USA and American culture. But our tendency to accept corporate garbage if its dressed up in enough mythic sentiment or nostalgia really bothers me.

(This applies similarly to political motivations, but we talk about that plenty in other threads. In this thread its about commerce, culture, and aesthetics).

So people only like restaurants because of mythical corporate garbage? Is there a particular method in which people are indoctrinated before or after eating in a restaurant, that controls how they feel about the place and what their experience is? Maybe subliminal messaging put into the muzak? Mind altering chemicals added to the food?

 

[BPPLEE]

Srsly tho, the new logo looks like a dog biscuit. A woke dog biscuit.

It looks like a belt buckle to me

 

[BeckyJ]

Our friendship is enforced by strict moderation protocols.

Friendship isn't "enforced by strict moderation protocols".
Our interactions in any Forum is enforced by strict moderation protocols.

 

[durangodawood]

So people only like restaurants because of mythical corporate garbage? Is there a particular method in which people are indoctrinated before or after eating in a restaurant, that controls how they feel about the place and what their experience is? Maybe subliminal messaging put into the muzak? Mind altering chemicals added to the food?

The restaurant doesnt implant a vulnerability to nostalgia and cultural mythology into its customers.

This particular chain restaurant takes advantage of a customer base whos already primed for that (by using decor, imagery, key menu words, architecture, the whole aesthetic package.) So... why are so many American customers feeling this way?

1. Perennial golden age mythology: everything was morally better in the past. This isnt particularly American. And its not at all particular to our time. . But I do think American companies leverage this better than any others.

2. Real negative reaction to the de-localizing of everything. More people than ever live in a suburban slop that feels placeless, and actually is culturally placeless. Oh for the days of the "Old Country Store" where you could see neighbors you knew by name and buy some wholesome ingredients for a homecooked meal prepare with love and care. (Absent any actual old country stores in suburban and near interstate-highway zones, people will play along - using the Chinese made junk and flavored sugar / corn syrup items).

3. Really big picture, Americans are generally good people (though that might be shifting a bit) and this character has been maintained by various myths that we cling to. (This absolutely includes Christianity - and making no claim to its truth value, its mythic values suffuse the culture even among non believers.) This is a positive, generally imo. But.... it and other myths takes up so much personal and cultural headroom that it doesnt leave enough space for the real, the facts of whats going on both over the horizon in the rest of the world, or even in front of our own faces. We shut our eyes a lot and prefer to run old time morality tale reels over and over in our mind. These work to the extent we can pretend the real world facts match the scenes contrived for us.

Of course some people just want a reliable meal after a long drive on the interstate. But thats completely aside from the "go woke, go broke" discussion about aesthetic changes. If it was just about a sturdy greasy meal, then why would removing old gramps from the logo matter one way or the other?

(Essay over)

 

[Nithavela]

Friendship isn't "enforced by strict moderation protocols".

Enhances it, really.

 

[Yarddog]

Like I said, the word lost it's original meaning when it was too widely applied by the left. Just like the left over-uses other words like racist.

It didn't lose it's original meaning the Right wingers started using it in disparaging ways. It still means the recognition of social justice to those that first used it that way but many on the right seem to only recognize the way far righties have twisted it to mean.

Christians should recognize the need for social justice. They should recognize that race means nothing to God. Christians should always treat everyone as equals.

 

[BeckyJ]

Enhances it, really.

lol, ok

 

[ozso]

The restaurant doesnt implant a vulnerability to nostalgia and cultural mythology into its customers.

This particular chain restaurant takes advantage of a customer base whos already primed for that (by using decor, imagery, key menu words, architecture, the whole aesthetic package.) So... why are so many American customers feeling this way?

1. Perennial golden age mythology: everything was morally better in the past. This inst particularly American. And its not at all particular to our time. . But I do think American companies leverage this better than any others.

2. Real negative reaction to the de-localizing of everything. More people than ever live in a suburban slop that feels placeless, and actually is culturally placeless. Oh for the days of the "Old Country Store" where you could see neighbors you knew by name and buy some wholesome ingredients for a homecooked meal prepare with love and care. (Absent any actual old country stores in suburban and near interstate-highway zones, people will play along - using the Chinese made junk and flavored sugar / corn syrup items).

3. Really big picture, Americans are generally good people (though that might be shifting a bit) and this character has been maintained by various myths that we cling to. (This absolutely includes Christianity - and making no claim to its truth value, its mythic values suffuse the culture even among non believers.) This is a positive, generally imo. But.... it and other myths takes up so much personal and cultural headroom that it doesnt leave enough space for the real, the facts of whats going on both over the horizon in the rest of the world, or even in front of our own faces. We shut our eyes a lot and prefer to run old time morality tale reels over and over in our mind. These work to the extent we can pretend the real world facts match the scenes contrived for us.

That's reading a whole lot into liking a place for it's food, prices and atmosphere.

Of course some people just want a reliable meal after a long drive on the interstate. But thats completely aside from the "go woke, go broke" discussion about aesthetic changes. If it was just about a sturdy greasy meal, then why would removing old gramps from the logo matter one way or the other?

(Essay over)

This seems to be a pretty good explanation:

 

[ViaCrucis]

Well then you'll just have to look it up and keep studying until the penny drops. Like with doctrine and theology, it helps to understand different views. Even if you don't hold to them, don't agree with them, or think they're nonsense.

When I look up what "woke" means, it doesn't look like anything the "anti-woke" folk say it is or how they use it.

I am quite familiar with the African American origins of the word and concept of "woke" and how it relates to the matter of systemic racial injustice.

But the way you are using it suggests complete incoherent meaninglessness. Something is woke because you don't like it, or because the politicians and media pundits you listen to use it to describe things they don't like, and to synthesize social narratives about all those "bad people" you aren't supposed to like who are doing things you should be upset about it.

Otherwise why should you, a thinking human being, care that a company changed its logo. How do you spin it into some larger social conspiracy? No, seriously though--how do you do it? And how do you decide when a completely innocuous and meaningless brand change is part of some evil "woke" mob operating in the shadows and when is it not? It appears to be entirely arbitrary, and thus it's all meaningless rage bait.

When I stopped seeing the "Got Milk?" commercials I didn't get irrationally angry and think there must be some kind of nefarious power at work behind the scenes. I bet you didn't either.

Hey, perhaps you have personal strong emotional and sentimental ties to Cracker Barrel, and so your sense of nostalgia is affected by this change. That's fair. I have often experienced that sentiment. That's a perfectly normal emotional response to seeing things you feel sentimental attachments to change, as you realize that you're getting older and the world around you isn't static--but constantly changing. I grew up on Squaresoft video games on the SNES, but then Squaresoft and Enix merged into a single company and the company became Square Enix. I still get nostalgic for the old Square logo when I insert the cartridge of Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana into the ol' SNES. But that change wasn't "woke". There's no nefarious power behind the scenes. Company logos change, companies merge, brands change, logos change, franchises come to an end. Toys R' Us was a huge part of my childhood experience, and they aren't even around anymore. Not because of a woke conspiracy, but because the company went under. Modern McDonalds look soulless to me, the ones of my childhood were colorful, with play rooms filled with bright weird characters. But it has nothing to do with "woke" that they changed.

Buckle your belt, hold your head up high, and realize that the world around you is independent of you--our sentiments don't control the world. I'm not the main character in the story of the universe, I'm just here the same as everyone else. This world was around way before I showed up, and it'll be here for a long time after I'm gone. And this short window of time where I am a part of the present universe I have a golden opportunity to choose how I interact with it. And maybe I shouldn't waste my limited resource of life on such trivial nonsense as a Cracker Barrel logo.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

It usually has correcting some perceived wrong involved. Eggs being replaced by rocks because using eggs exploits chickens or something along those lines. Gender neutral clothing being universal. Like this is how everyone needs to dress. All clothing must not denote gender in any way. Because anything gender specific excludes or marginalizes or whatever some social group. Burger King going totally meatless because meat exploits animals, contributes to climate change, distresses vegans etc.

Woke is mostly a short word for radical progressive liberalism.

So uh, I've been outside of my house recently and here are some things I've seen:

Eggs, clothing for men and women, and Burger King selling hamburgers.

I don't know what bizarro world you live in where eggs are replaced with rocks, there aren't gendered clothing anymore, and Burger King doesn't sell meat. But in the world I currently inhabit, those are all still normal things--and nobody I've seen or know is complaining about it. So if you know of some world where "radical progressive liberals" are out here stopping burger joints from selling burgers, it's completely foreign to the one I participate in every day here on Earth.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ozso]

It didn't lose it's original meaning the Right wingers started using it in disparaging ways. It still means the recognition of social justice to those that first used it that way but many on the right seem to only recognize the way far righties have twisted it to mean.

Christians should recognize the need for social justice. They should recognize that race means nothing to God. Christians should always treat everyone as equals.

If only that's where it stood. But it was taken a lot furher than that. The problem with social justice warring is the war is constantly refreshed by expanding it into more and more areas. It's a war that will never be over because people get such a charge out of fighting it. So instead of putting an end to the problems it was supposed to vanquish, it ends up perpetuating them. While continually finding new things to add to the mix.

 

[ozso]

So uh, I've been outside of my house recently and here are some things I've seen:

Eggs, clothing for men and women, and Burger King selling hamburgers.

I don't know what bizarro world you live in where eggs are replaced with rocks, there aren't gendered clothing anymore, and Burger King doesn't sell meat. But in the world I currently inhabit, those are all still normal things--and nobody I've seen or know is complaining about it. So if you know of some world where "radical progressive liberals" are out here stopping burger joints from selling burgers, it's completely foreign to the one I participate in every day here on Earth.

-CryptoLutheran

Those were analogies.

 

[ozso]

When I look up what "woke" means, it doesn't look like anything the "anti-woke" folk say it is or how they use it.

I am quite familiar with the African American origins of the word and concept of "woke" and how it relates to the matter of systemic racial injustice.

But the way you are using it suggests complete incoherent meaninglessness. Something is woke because you don't like it, or because the politicians and media pundits you listen to use it to describe things they don't like, and to synthesize social narratives about all those "bad people" you aren't supposed to like who are doing things you should be upset about it.

Otherwise why should you, a thinking human being, care that a company changed its logo. How do you spin it into some larger social conspiracy? No, seriously though--how do you do it? And how do you decide when a completely innocuous and meaningless brand change is part of some evil "woke" mob operating in the shadows and when is it not? It appears to be entirely arbitrary, and thus it's all meaningless rage bait.

When I stopped seeing the "Got Milk?" commercials I didn't get irrationally angry and think there must be some kind of nefarious power at work behind the scenes. I bet you didn't either.

Hey, perhaps you have personal strong emotional and sentimental ties to Cracker Barrel, and so your sense of nostalgia is affected by this change. That's fair. I have often experienced that sentiment. That's a perfectly normal emotional response to seeing things you feel sentimental attachments to change, as you realize that you're getting older and the world around you isn't static--but constantly changing. I grew up on Squaresoft video games on the SNES, but then Squaresoft and Enix merged into a single company and the company became Square Enix. I still get nostalgic for the old Square logo when I insert the cartridge of Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana into the ol' SNES. But that change wasn't "woke". There's no nefarious power behind the scenes. Company logos change, companies merge, brands change, logos change, franchises come to an end. Toys R' Us was a huge part of my childhood experience, and they aren't even around anymore. Not because of a woke conspiracy, but because the company went under. Modern McDonalds look soulless to me, the ones of my childhood were colorful, with play rooms filled with bright weird characters. But it has nothing to do with "woke" that they changed.

Buckle your belt, hold your head up high, and realize that the world around you is independent of you--our sentiments don't control the world. I'm not the main character in the story of the universe, I'm just here the same as everyone else. This world was around way before I showed up, and it'll be here for a long time after I'm gone. And this short window of time where I am a part of the present universe I have a golden opportunity to choose how I interact with it. And maybe I shouldn't waste my limited resource of life on such trivial nonsense as a Cracker Barrel logo.

-CryptoLutheran

I meant look into it from the perspective of those using the term woke as a negative. Then you'd understand why they see things the way they do. That doesn't mean accepting any of it, it just means no longer being stumped by it.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Those were analogies.

So instead of providing a meaningful explanation of "woke" you provided absurd hypotheticals?

Okay.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Tuur]

Sounds like the things that had actual value were already lost, then.

The current changes are an effort to reverse loosing customers. The last time I ate at Cracker Barrel was breakfast at least four years ago. Was traveling with some older family members, and one insisted on Cracker Barrel. Nothing against that idea, just I'd prefer to get something quick and be on our way. What sticks out in my mind was the insistence we had to eat there.

Note: I'm old enough that I've seen some of the "antiques" on display at Cracker Barrel in actual use. Occasionally you'll find something interesting, like those wooden forms used to make sand cast molds for cast iron stoves. That nostalgia is/was a definite draw, from the some of the items in the store section to the things hanging from the walls.

Anyway, I can't comment on shrinking portion sizes. Being that's standard to try to defer inflation costs, it's very likely. Since the daily specials usually meant faster service, tended to go for that.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I meant look into it from the perspective of those using the term woke as a negative. Then you'd understand why they see things the way they do. That doesn't mean accepting any of it, it just means no longer being stumped by it.

And when I do that, the only consistent meaning of "woke" I see is, "Thing I don't like".

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ozso]

So instead of providing a meaningful explanation of "woke" you provided absurd hypotheticals?

Okay.

-CryptoLutheran

You can do this without being so rude and hostile. Is vitriol really necessary?

 

[ViaCrucis]

You can do this without being so rude and hostile. Is vitriol really necessary?

I give up.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Tuur]

Stuckeys are still around. I saw one just the other day going out of town. They still sell their pecan logs and such in other stores as well. The Cracker Barrel the next town over is always packed from my observation. What’s happening across the board, I have no idea. As I said, I’m not one of their customers. Never heard of a Sreak and Ale.

The original Stuckeys sold out to a large corporation. Think it was Pet or the company that owned Pet. The factory, in a small Georgia town, closed not long after. So did the first Stuckeys, which was next door to the plant.

Years after that, saw a small version of a Stuckey's Pecan Log on sale at a small grocery store. Didn't get one so can't say where they're made now. Do happen to know that a completely different business was supposed to set up shop at the original plant, but that fell through. Couldn't tell you if another has opened there or not.

It's good to know that the brand isn't completely gone, even if it's a shadow of it's former self.

 

[ozso]

And when I do that, the only consistent meaning of "woke" I see is, "Thing I don't like".

-CryptoLutheran

Yes but the key to understanding is the why. Why certain things are not liked.