I’m going to take the in between- the taboo on Chick-Fil-A remains, but had it been an in group member someone would have thrown them a lifeline. So: Ingroup person 1 says: “Chick-Fil-A” and Ingroup person 2 jumps in: “You mean back before we knew they were homophobes” and Ingroup 1 immediately corrects: “oh, absolutely. Sad, because the sandwich WAS good- but now I really enjoy the grilled seitan at Lenwich” (upping the ante- see I’m even better - I like the VEGAN one now) and receives approving coos from everyone in the room.
"I think that if it had been anyone else answering this question, there would have been no such thing as a Wrong Sandwich."
No. If a liberal in (previously) good standing had picked Chik-fil-A it would have marked that person as either a traitor or Not Getting It or some other bad Not Really One Of Us status. Chik-fil-A has been enough of a high-profile culture war flashpoint for a while that the sorts of people who scold and shame about it would expect a Right-Thinking Person to know better, and would regard it as a transgression. They'd start wondering if the liberal who eats the Jesus Chicken is secretly one of those Heterodox types or something. Do they listen to Jordan Peterson too? Do they read Quillette? Do they read Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog? WE MUST FIND THEIR OTHER HERESIES!!!!
A liberal in good standing would have known to couch the answer in “i know, I know, I’m so sorry for this, but I can’t help it, it’s just so good”, which might have been enough to give them a pass.
I agree. If a liberal had said they liked Chick Fil-A they would have been assumed to be in need of educating (if they were from a small town or lower class) or they would have been marked as suspicious for sure.
Can the chicken just be chicken? Like it's good chicken! I think too many are fixated on meeting in-group demands by internalizing perceived sociopolitical stigma to people please.
I don't think it's that anyone finds it hard to believe; it's that it's a lot more likely that someone would make it up. Liberals can be relied upon to chide but not so consistently as anyone who styles themselves even mildly 'anti-woke' can be relied upon to fantasise about being chided.
Update: It looks like DeWitt Bukater might be a double surname after all - both IMDb and Wikipedia have Rose’s mother’s name as Ruth DeWitt Bukater.
Unless Ruth was born Ruth DeWitt, which changed to Ruth DeWitt Bukater when she married, and Rose was given Rose DeWitt Bukater as first, middle, last.
He'd need a Kissinger to strategize it, though. "Today, vicious canceler so-and-so arrived at the NYT with advisor Henry Canceler in tow to discuss chicken sandwiches...."
I'm going to disagree. I'd bet good money that mentioning Chick-fil-A positively, by anyone, would be treated as a, well, turd in the punchbowl situation. The liker of the Chicken Restaurant That Shall Not Be Named would be under some suspicion from then on. I grant that I know nothing of the NYT or the East coast in general, though.
Now I want to go get a spicy chicken sandwich, because I'm contrary. But I think it's at least 2 hours away, so never mind.
You may very well be right in your theory. It sort of reminded me of what Jesse had pointed out with Drew Magary and the old Deadspin/Gawker crowd avoiding cancellation for their past articles/comments because they were part of the media Twitter in-crowd.
But I also think people are also just wildly inconsistent about these sorts of things. I'm a movie nerd. I ran screaming from online cinephile groups in 2016 partially b/c you would be met with angry screeds if you wanted to discuss certain films b/c of problematic directors or actors. That's annoying enough but what was worse is that the preachers never had anything resembling a consistent standard. And I think Chick Fil A was just the cause du jour the way some problematic movie folks get more flack than others. A full-timer at a lifestyle mag I freelance for told me the staffers had a soul-searching office-wide discussion about whether or not it was okay to include Chick Fil A's sandwich in an article on the best chicken sandwiches in the city.
I know a lot of people who call Chick-fil-A "Hate Chicken" and refuse to eat it. All the right people know that it is both bigoted and declasse, God you might as well eat at Arby's you fascist.
Fun fact, my ex got the only Chick-fil-A in New Hampshire to sponsor a pride parade in like 2014.
Not only is Chick-Fil-A better tasting than anything one can get at Russ and Daughters, it's better than anything at Shake Shack, or any bodega near Times Square or any twee coffee place like Joe or Blue Bottle, not to mention Eleven Madison Park.
I said it.
Plus, Barney Greengrass is better than Russ and Daughters.
Listening to you on The Fifth Column podcast. Stopped to read some of your work. You're brilliant! If there is an ancient goddess of sanity, she has gifted you, your mind and voice to the human race.
I’m going to take the in between- the taboo on Chick-Fil-A remains, but had it been an in group member someone would have thrown them a lifeline. So: Ingroup person 1 says: “Chick-Fil-A” and Ingroup person 2 jumps in: “You mean back before we knew they were homophobes” and Ingroup 1 immediately corrects: “oh, absolutely. Sad, because the sandwich WAS good- but now I really enjoy the grilled seitan at Lenwich” (upping the ante- see I’m even better - I like the VEGAN one now) and receives approving coos from everyone in the room.
"I think that if it had been anyone else answering this question, there would have been no such thing as a Wrong Sandwich."
No. If a liberal in (previously) good standing had picked Chik-fil-A it would have marked that person as either a traitor or Not Getting It or some other bad Not Really One Of Us status. Chik-fil-A has been enough of a high-profile culture war flashpoint for a while that the sorts of people who scold and shame about it would expect a Right-Thinking Person to know better, and would regard it as a transgression. They'd start wondering if the liberal who eats the Jesus Chicken is secretly one of those Heterodox types or something. Do they listen to Jordan Peterson too? Do they read Quillette? Do they read Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog? WE MUST FIND THEIR OTHER HERESIES!!!!
A liberal in good standing would have known to couch the answer in “i know, I know, I’m so sorry for this, but I can’t help it, it’s just so good”, which might have been enough to give them a pass.
I agree. If a liberal had said they liked Chick Fil-A they would have been assumed to be in need of educating (if they were from a small town or lower class) or they would have been marked as suspicious for sure.
Can the chicken just be chicken? Like it's good chicken! I think too many are fixated on meeting in-group demands by internalizing perceived sociopolitical stigma to people please.
This is the first time it’s occurred to me that Rose DeWitt Bukater is first, middle, last, not first, double surname.
I have no idea why anyone would find the “chicken story” hard to believe, and I’m amazed that this is even a controversy.
They believe it. It's just too embarrassing to admit that they behaved in such a way. Or that people they "side with" behaved that way.
I don't think it's that anyone finds it hard to believe; it's that it's a lot more likely that someone would make it up. Liberals can be relied upon to chide but not so consistently as anyone who styles themselves even mildly 'anti-woke' can be relied upon to fantasise about being chided.
Update: It looks like DeWitt Bukater might be a double surname after all - both IMDb and Wikipedia have Rose’s mother’s name as Ruth DeWitt Bukater.
Unless Ruth was born Ruth DeWitt, which changed to Ruth DeWitt Bukater when she married, and Rose was given Rose DeWitt Bukater as first, middle, last.
Checked if "we don't do that here" is not just a Black Panther meme, and found this 2017 blog defending its usage to impose order.
https://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html
When trying to enforce a culture of groupthink, nothing beats a thought-terminating cliche.
Allusions to the Underpants Gnomes and Teri Hatcher’s memorable appearance on Seinfeld in a single post?! Terrific post!
Only Nixon could go to China.
Only a liberal in good standing could bring Chick-Fil-A to the NYT newsroom.
He'd need a Kissinger to strategize it, though. "Today, vicious canceler so-and-so arrived at the NYT with advisor Henry Canceler in tow to discuss chicken sandwiches...."
I'm going to disagree. I'd bet good money that mentioning Chick-fil-A positively, by anyone, would be treated as a, well, turd in the punchbowl situation. The liker of the Chicken Restaurant That Shall Not Be Named would be under some suspicion from then on. I grant that I know nothing of the NYT or the East coast in general, though.
Now I want to go get a spicy chicken sandwich, because I'm contrary. But I think it's at least 2 hours away, so never mind.
You may very well be right in your theory. It sort of reminded me of what Jesse had pointed out with Drew Magary and the old Deadspin/Gawker crowd avoiding cancellation for their past articles/comments because they were part of the media Twitter in-crowd.
But I also think people are also just wildly inconsistent about these sorts of things. I'm a movie nerd. I ran screaming from online cinephile groups in 2016 partially b/c you would be met with angry screeds if you wanted to discuss certain films b/c of problematic directors or actors. That's annoying enough but what was worse is that the preachers never had anything resembling a consistent standard. And I think Chick Fil A was just the cause du jour the way some problematic movie folks get more flack than others. A full-timer at a lifestyle mag I freelance for told me the staffers had a soul-searching office-wide discussion about whether or not it was okay to include Chick Fil A's sandwich in an article on the best chicken sandwiches in the city.
I know a lot of people who call Chick-fil-A "Hate Chicken" and refuse to eat it. All the right people know that it is both bigoted and declasse, God you might as well eat at Arby's you fascist.
Fun fact, my ex got the only Chick-fil-A in New Hampshire to sponsor a pride parade in like 2014.
Not only is Chick-Fil-A better tasting than anything one can get at Russ and Daughters, it's better than anything at Shake Shack, or any bodega near Times Square or any twee coffee place like Joe or Blue Bottle, not to mention Eleven Madison Park.
I said it.
Plus, Barney Greengrass is better than Russ and Daughters.
Listening to you on The Fifth Column podcast. Stopped to read some of your work. You're brilliant! If there is an ancient goddess of sanity, she has gifted you, your mind and voice to the human race.
Thank you for your work.
Such a good piece, your writing is so funny and great at pointing at the layers of wrongness of the incident. Thank you!!