I just realized this. Even if these companies wanted to make their buildings generic looking, they don't need to use a brutalist design. I'm sure there are other options.
"This is why all you have to do to convey 'this person is stupid' in mainstream America is to affect a Southern/country accent."
And you know what's sad? While the South certainly has its problems, some of them serious, I can FEEL the kindness in the air even in day-to-day interactions when I'm down there in North or South Carolina, even rural Virginia, where I'm from originally. International friends who've traveled the USA have remarked to me that their favorite region of the country to visit was the South because of how nice and earnest almost everyone was to them. Yes, the accents are endearing, but it's more than that; it's the little things they noticed. It makes it all the more cruel that some of the sweetest, most wholesome people in the nation are demonized as backward, unenlightened dolts by the tastemaker, laptop class. Many southerners would literally give you the shirts off their backs if they could.
One has only to look at the Texas flooding and how so many people from adjoining states flocked to our ravaged cities and towns to help their neighbors. It was heart warming, to say the least. And they are still here, still helping, giving these people who have lost everything, the shirts off their backs and more.
Having spent the first nine years of my life in California, I visited relatives in southeast Texas with my dad in the summer of 1963. Even as a child, I noticed how much more friendly and kind people were, both cousins and strangers, than what I was used to.
I've never set foot in an Apple store, and I intend to keep it that way. I remember walking by them in the mall back while they were still relatively new and they gave me the creeps. Something about the huge open space and minimalist merchandising rubs me the wrong way. I imagine it would feel like a deer standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods and the wolves are watching you from the trees...
You have often commented on the appalling lack of beauty and whimsy in almost every facet of our modern man made environment. You made me more aware of something I had noticed myself but not to the extent you pointed out. Individuality, spontaneity, playfulness-these all are suspect in today’s world.
When I was a kid in school in the '60s, I remember the prevalent message being that we were all unique individuals, and should think for ourselves. Today everything seems to be "teamwork", a modern-day euphemism for "groupthink". The elementary schools have banners reminding children to always think together, work together. Individualism is considered subversive.
Thanks Josh - another banger. In re "now he was understanding that ordinary people are tired of being told they're trash and stupid and unsophisticated by mainstream culture" I have a bit of a different take:
It's not labels like stupid, or unsophisticated, or (exactly) trash that offend me the most. It's when they imply that conservatives are the evil ones, and they're the righteous. Trans-ing kids, de-policing, flooding the country with illegals, and their myriad other positions (AND actions) are the polar opposite of righteous.
I don't care if you think I'm stupid or a knuckledragger, but when you tell me I'm rotten at the core, it's on.
The pastor of my church (Presbyterian) is clearly liberal/leftist and includes some of these leftist positions in his sermons pretty regularly as example of what Jesus would want. It’s pretty tough to take.
My contention has been that disconnected elitists are unaware of the power and value of tradition. Sometimes change isn’t the answer. Though corporate think tanks believe that to be axiomatic.
But beyond that, they alienated their fan base. Learned nothing from Bud Light. You don’t remove antiques, add beer to the menu, and remove grandpa from the logo without causing an overwhelming feeling of displacement to the very people that have dumped their paychecks into this place.
“ People are furious about Cracker Barrel because it's yet another middle finger in our faces from the set of people who have made political, religious, and cultural life unbearable.”. You nailed it in one sentence.
this whole thing took us decades to slide in to and it won't go back to what it was, and whatever it will become, will also take a long time.
These brands may be generic and "kitschy", but like you say, they are part of our landscape.
The brand was already the brand, and the chain was the chain.
This is true woke, however.
The "full scope" of it is the part of the iceberg we don't pay attention to. The Borg, groupthink gray drab corporate substructure. It's 90% of the professional woke ideology.
We don't want that.
We may not know exactly what we want, but we don't want any of that.
It's a good thing, and like a thousand other injuries, it's just one thing, and it will take a long time.
I'm confident if Cracker Barrell's corporate leadership had polled patrons of its restaurants, the great majority of them would have voted to leave them as they were. The change seems to be a ploy to replace them with hipsters, or whatever we're calling them now.
As a proud Southerner I relate to your empathy here. These woke corporations can stick their idiot heads where the sun don’t shine. Oh wait; it’s already up there. Never mind 😎
I think Jack Posobiac was on to something when he tweeted about "Pizza Hut Nationalism" a couple years ago. What has been happening to these brands we grew up with has turned our landscape into corporate slop. I first saw this happening with Wendy's when they turned it into a gray box, but I thought the particular Wendy's that got that rebuild needed it. It was an old structure. But since then, McDonald's removed its playplace in the process of removing its Americana identity and replaced it with a McCafe rebranding. Burger King erased their mascot and rebuilt their locations with those boxes. A smaller chain in North Carolina called Cookout has started replacing their drive-thru places with the same brutal boxes and made a lobby where you can sit down with your food. All this rebranding has made these brand identities so bland that you can't see a lick of humanity in them. That is what we are sensing - the humanity is being sucked out of us. Our identities are being forcibly removed, and we are expected to exist in a world of bland packaging.
What about my Cluster B Haircut and septum ring.
They look good with your problem glasses and short bangs.
I just realized this. Even if these companies wanted to make their buildings generic looking, they don't need to use a brutalist design. I'm sure there are other options.
"This is why all you have to do to convey 'this person is stupid' in mainstream America is to affect a Southern/country accent."
And you know what's sad? While the South certainly has its problems, some of them serious, I can FEEL the kindness in the air even in day-to-day interactions when I'm down there in North or South Carolina, even rural Virginia, where I'm from originally. International friends who've traveled the USA have remarked to me that their favorite region of the country to visit was the South because of how nice and earnest almost everyone was to them. Yes, the accents are endearing, but it's more than that; it's the little things they noticed. It makes it all the more cruel that some of the sweetest, most wholesome people in the nation are demonized as backward, unenlightened dolts by the tastemaker, laptop class. Many southerners would literally give you the shirts off their backs if they could.
One has only to look at the Texas flooding and how so many people from adjoining states flocked to our ravaged cities and towns to help their neighbors. It was heart warming, to say the least. And they are still here, still helping, giving these people who have lost everything, the shirts off their backs and more.
Having spent the first nine years of my life in California, I visited relatives in southeast Texas with my dad in the summer of 1963. Even as a child, I noticed how much more friendly and kind people were, both cousins and strangers, than what I was used to.
I've never set foot in an Apple store, and I intend to keep it that way. I remember walking by them in the mall back while they were still relatively new and they gave me the creeps. Something about the huge open space and minimalist merchandising rubs me the wrong way. I imagine it would feel like a deer standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods and the wolves are watching you from the trees...
Apple is a cult!
I'm a capitalist but 100% profit margins are just too too much.
You have often commented on the appalling lack of beauty and whimsy in almost every facet of our modern man made environment. You made me more aware of something I had noticed myself but not to the extent you pointed out. Individuality, spontaneity, playfulness-these all are suspect in today’s world.
When I was a kid in school in the '60s, I remember the prevalent message being that we were all unique individuals, and should think for ourselves. Today everything seems to be "teamwork", a modern-day euphemism for "groupthink". The elementary schools have banners reminding children to always think together, work together. Individualism is considered subversive.
Thanks Josh - another banger. In re "now he was understanding that ordinary people are tired of being told they're trash and stupid and unsophisticated by mainstream culture" I have a bit of a different take:
It's not labels like stupid, or unsophisticated, or (exactly) trash that offend me the most. It's when they imply that conservatives are the evil ones, and they're the righteous. Trans-ing kids, de-policing, flooding the country with illegals, and their myriad other positions (AND actions) are the polar opposite of righteous.
I don't care if you think I'm stupid or a knuckledragger, but when you tell me I'm rotten at the core, it's on.
The pastor of my church (Presbyterian) is clearly liberal/leftist and includes some of these leftist positions in his sermons pretty regularly as example of what Jesus would want. It’s pretty tough to take.
Get out while you can. I ditched brick and mortar some churches long ago
My contention has been that disconnected elitists are unaware of the power and value of tradition. Sometimes change isn’t the answer. Though corporate think tanks believe that to be axiomatic.
But beyond that, they alienated their fan base. Learned nothing from Bud Light. You don’t remove antiques, add beer to the menu, and remove grandpa from the logo without causing an overwhelming feeling of displacement to the very people that have dumped their paychecks into this place.
"Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits."
--Goethe
“ People are furious about Cracker Barrel because it's yet another middle finger in our faces from the set of people who have made political, religious, and cultural life unbearable.”. You nailed it in one sentence.
Nailed it, Josh! Well done.
boycotts work. they aren't cancel culture.
this whole thing took us decades to slide in to and it won't go back to what it was, and whatever it will become, will also take a long time.
These brands may be generic and "kitschy", but like you say, they are part of our landscape.
The brand was already the brand, and the chain was the chain.
This is true woke, however.
The "full scope" of it is the part of the iceberg we don't pay attention to. The Borg, groupthink gray drab corporate substructure. It's 90% of the professional woke ideology.
We don't want that.
We may not know exactly what we want, but we don't want any of that.
It's a good thing, and like a thousand other injuries, it's just one thing, and it will take a long time.
I'm confident if Cracker Barrell's corporate leadership had polled patrons of its restaurants, the great majority of them would have voted to leave them as they were. The change seems to be a ploy to replace them with hipsters, or whatever we're calling them now.
Like those sorts of people would eat at a CrackerBarrel.
Yeah, which is why the changes seem clueless.
As a proud Southerner I relate to your empathy here. These woke corporations can stick their idiot heads where the sun don’t shine. Oh wait; it’s already up there. Never mind 😎
Wait until the muslims come and destroy everything American, including Americans! Sheesh!
When we lived in Boston, my husband observed that “what passes for polite and nice here would barely be considered courteous in the South.”
As usual, you are 100% correct.
I think Jack Posobiac was on to something when he tweeted about "Pizza Hut Nationalism" a couple years ago. What has been happening to these brands we grew up with has turned our landscape into corporate slop. I first saw this happening with Wendy's when they turned it into a gray box, but I thought the particular Wendy's that got that rebuild needed it. It was an old structure. But since then, McDonald's removed its playplace in the process of removing its Americana identity and replaced it with a McCafe rebranding. Burger King erased their mascot and rebuilt their locations with those boxes. A smaller chain in North Carolina called Cookout has started replacing their drive-thru places with the same brutal boxes and made a lobby where you can sit down with your food. All this rebranding has made these brand identities so bland that you can't see a lick of humanity in them. That is what we are sensing - the humanity is being sucked out of us. Our identities are being forcibly removed, and we are expected to exist in a world of bland packaging.