Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant entrance sign, near Boise Idaho. (Photo by: Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Opinion

WALSH: Cracker Barrel Apologizes For Racist ‘Noose’ In One Of Its Restaurants. It Was Just A Cord For A Soldering Iron.

DailyWire.com

When I go to Cracker Barrel, I am focused on stuffing as much chicken pot pie or meat loaf as possible into my face. But customer Alfonso Robinson, on a recent trip, was apparently more concerned with finding something, anything, to be offended by. And of course he found it — in the form of a cord hanging from the ceiling.

Robinson, deciding that the cord had a sinister look to it, sent out an outraged tweet declaring that “someone at Cracker Barrel” needs to “explain” why there were “nooses” adorning the restaurant. The answer is that there weren’t any nooses. The “noose” was in fact the cord of an antique soldering iron, which had been there, says the store manager, for 22 years.

Over the course of two decades countless customers came and went, and none of them, so far as we know, found any reason to be concerned about the soldering iron display. I suppose it is possible that thousands of other Cracker Barrel patrons have been traumatized by the cord as well, and perhaps by any number of other items in the gift shop, but have chosen to suffer in dignified silence. However, I feel safe in assuming that Robinson was the first to raise this objection. But one objection, as we have seen, is all it takes these days.

Cracker Barrel apologized profusely, conceding that the object “should not have been displayed.” But a mere apology was not enough to heal the wounds caused by the illicit cord. The next day, the store manager met with local activists and took them on a tour of the facility so that they could point out any other innocuous items that might offend them. No word on whether the activists decided to be offended by the triangular peg game that sits at every table. Pegs and triangles can be rather volatile objects, we must admit.

And even this was not enough. As the Daily Mail explains, more must be done to heal the wounds caused by the cord:

PowerUp-Manchester founder Keren Prescott met with Smith and she said she had a “positive” and “constructive” conversation with him. Together they went inside the restaurant to see if there was anything else that could be viewed as offensive.

“At one point the manager said, ‘you might notice things that I don’t,’ which I really appreciated because as white man, he might not view certain things the same as a Black person would,” Prescott said to the Journal Inquirer.

Now social media users are calling for the chain to assess its decoration at all its locations and share a timeline for a review to make sure nothing offensive is on display.

Prescot says she plans to reach out to Cracker Barrel’s corporate office to determine if there are similar decorations at other restaurants.

Cracker Barrel is following the lead of many other corporations by caving immediately to the absurd demands of an extremely small minority of emotionally unstable whiners, despite gaining nothing financially from doing so.

If Cracker Barrel had simply ignored the tweet from Robinson, the story would have gone nowhere and nobody would have cared. If, in my fantasy scenario, they had responded by saying something along the lines of, “It’s just a cord, you ridiculous baby,” they would be heroes in the war against Cancel Culture and the vast majority of their customer base would love them all the more for it.

But this path, that of spinelessness and self-abasement, is the worst of all worlds. They are disappointing a great portion of their customers for the sake of satisfying a much smaller portion that cannot actually be satisfied anyway.

That is what surrendering to the Woke Squad gets you. A whole lot of downside, and no upside.

More from Matt Walsh: Trump Massively Exceeded Expectations With Minority Voters. Here’s How He Did It.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Already have an account?

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  WALSH: Cracker Barrel Apologizes For Racist ‘Noose’ In One Of Its Restaurants. It Was Just A Cord For A Soldering Iron.