Of all the infuriating things about America right now, there is one problem that towers over the rest. I’m talking, of course, about Chick-fil-A.
First of all, the late founder of this restaurant chain had the audacity to believe in the American dream. Imagine the audacity of Truett Cathy and his company to exploit America’s free market system by making a good product, that people actually want to buy.
Then to slowly grow their business over several decades, from a single family-run restaurant to the third-largest fast-food chain in America (behind McDonald’s and Starbucks), providing hundreds of thousands of jobs along the way. How dare they.
Even worse --- that Chick-fil-A would remain closed on Sundays, as if this was still the Eisenhower era where it was common to believe in God or something. By closing on Sundays, Chick-fil-A is clearly proselytizing. I’m sure they’ll soon be checking your Jesus card before you’re allowed to place an order. No shirt, no shoes, no Savior --- no service.
What backward hicks.
Now those hicks have crossed the line. They’ve dared to open four locations in Manhattan, with plans for a dozen more. And to hear this tragedy described by Dan Piepenbring in the New Yorker over the weekend, you would’ve thought Nazi recruitment centers had opened instead. His article is titled “Chick-fil-A’s Creepy Infiltration of New York City.”
Why does he think it feels like a “creepy infiltration”? Because of Chick-fil-A’s “pervasive Christian traditionalism.” He says Chick-fil-A’s headquarters in Atlanta is “adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple’s feet.” Wait, a statue of Jesus --- a Jew! --- demonstrating lowly service? Oh, the humanity.
This progressive has a problem with Chick-fil-A because of its founder’s religion.
He says, “proselytism thrums below the surface” at Chick-fi-A restaurants. And to think this poor man had to step inside one of these Jesus-indoctrination-chicken-centers for this story assignment. That’s just cruel.
This progressive has a problem with Chick-fil-A because of its founder’s religion. That doesn’t sound very tolerant. But he also has a problem with them because they’re so darn good at what they do. He writes, “There’s something especially distasteful about Chick-fil-A, which has sought to portray itself as better than other fast food: cleaner, gentler, and more ethical...”
He’s clearly freaked out that someone would dare to integrate aspects of their faith and values in how they run their company. But, typical of modern journalists, he never pauses to consider that perhaps those ingredients are precisely the reasons why Chick-fil-A lines are wrapped around the block... even in New York City.