What is Cracker Barrel Thinking?

Conversations That Matter

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00:12

Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast. I trust you all had a good Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the new year starting soon.

00:20

I know I am. I wanted to announce a few things before we get started with the short topic for today.

00:25

One is, and I was asked actually to remind everyone of this, is if you go to worldviewconversation .com,

00:32

I'll put the link in the info section, and you go to the speaking tab, you can see the places I'm gonna be, and we're gonna be talking about social justice and I'm gonna be answering questions and there may be some special topics peppered in depending on the location, but there are places

00:48

I'm gonna be in the coming year and also in the coming month. And there's a number of places actually that I'm still talking to event coordinators and we're figuring out dates, probably about twice as many as you see represented here, so that will all fill in.

01:02

But the next date that I'm gonna be on the road, and if you are in the area, you have an opportunity to come out and meet me and I would love to meet you, is

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January 29th in Shelbyville, Kentucky. So that's not far from Louisville, Kentucky, Shelbyville, Kentucky, and that's for War Room, which is gonna be hosted at the

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Reformation Church of Shelbyville. The sign -up link is right there. And as I understand it, there is a discount.

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So if you come out, you're gonna get a free copy of, well, you're paying to go. You're paying for food, you're paying for a copy of my book, you're paying to hear and have the opportunity to ask questions during the sessions, and meet people, by the way, meet fellow like -minded people.

01:45

But this is for men, as I understand it. It's a men's conference and its link for signing up is right there on the website.

01:54

So if you go to Speaking Engagements, I'll put the link in the info section, you can click that link or copy and paste it, fivesolaspress .regfox

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.com forward slash warroom5. So if you can't remember that, it's probably best just to go to the

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Speaking Engagements tab and it's right there. You can sign up and I would love to meet you. As I understand it, we're doing three sessions and one of them is gonna be a

02:18

Q &A and there's gonna be some steak that is for everyone to enjoy as I think we're probably doing one of the sessions.

02:27

I'm not sure if we're doing a session while we're eating, but there will be a chance, I know, to fellowship and I'd love to sign a copy of the book if you want me to do that or answer any questions you have or just get to know you.

02:39

And the night before, as I understand it, now this isn't part of the January 29th, but there is a kind of a pre -conference thing or a pre kind of a

02:52

Bible study thing and so we're still figuring that out, what I'm gonna do for that, if I'm gonna do anything.

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But if you wanna come out that Friday, you can come out, but Saturday is the actual event in Shelbyville, Kentucky, January 29th.

03:04

So I wanted to let you know about that. And of course, I'm gonna actually be in Kentucky the next day in Caneyville, hopefully

03:11

I'm pronouncing that right, Kentucky. There's a email address that you can email if you wanna

03:17

RSVP and I haven't added it yet, but there may be a third Kentucky event on the very next day.

03:23

So it's not on the website yet, I'll keep you apprised though as we get closer. Also, I wanted to let you know, if you go to books, you can get copies of the books that I've written on social justice,

03:36

Christianity and Social Justice, Religions and Conflict and Social Justice Goes to Church. These are both signed copies.

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And if you order both of them from now until the new year, so this will end,

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I guess, midnight on New Year's Day, January 1st, you will get a free copy. I'm just gonna throw it in there.

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If you order these two, you get a free copy of Social Justice Pharisees. Now, some have asked if they've previously ordered one of my books and they order another one of my books, can they still get

04:07

Social Justice Pharisees? And the answer to that question is yes, you just gotta let me know. So if you email me, probably the best email, jonathanharris1989 at gmail .com,

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just let me know. Hey, I already ordered one of your books, I'm ordering a second, this is my name and can you throw in Social Justice Pharisees by A .D.

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Robles and the answer is yes, of course I will. So those are the announcements. I feel like there was one more thing, but I can't remember what it was now.

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So we're gonna move forward and if I remember it, I'll bring it up later. I wanna talk about Cracker Barrel, Cracker Barrel Restaurant because Cracker Barrel is a restaurant

04:42

I really love and I have good memories there. In fact, there was a recent dust up on the issue of whether Cracker Barrel was conservative or not and this was sparked by an interview that Phil Vischer did with Karen Swallow Pryor.

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Karen Swallow Pryor is kind of a known social justice activist in evangelicalism.

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Phil Vischer has become that. I don't know that he was that way or at least he was hiding it if he was until recently, but now he's decided to join that train and he and Karen Swallow Pryor had a conversation in which

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Karen, they started joking about Cracker Barrel and it was taken by some conservatives as somewhat offensive and there was this whole issue over it, implying some things about Cracker Barrel that people took offense to who were more conservative and kind of the insinuation, they didn't really wanna try new things, that they wanted to stick with tradition and old styles and it was kind of almost a boring kind of sense,

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I guess you got from their conversation and that it's about the comfort of home and they're afraid, they're just afraid of trying new things and going out into the world.

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So it was compared to Whole Foods, which you can get different kinds of cheeses, Phil Vischer said and so this sparked a controversy and the controversy made its way to an article at the

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Freedom Center at Liberty University where they put out a rebuttal, if you will, to that documentary, it wasn't a documentary, that conversation between Vischer and Pryor and William Wolfe was the author of that and then

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Freedom Center decided they needed to edit it, they needed to edit Karen Swallow Pryor out of the article because Karen Swallow Pryor took shots at Freedom Center and it was this whole big thing and I did a whole podcast on it and showed how absurd it was to think the way that Karen Swallow Pryor was thinking about this from the beginning and Phil Vischer really and then to just kind of cave to it in a way or to try to satisfy the left in evangelicalism, it just didn't make sense to me.

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Well, now, this is very interesting, someone pointed this out to me, Cracker Barrel is getting on the same train that most of the other corporations today are on and so this whole insinuation and stereotype of Cracker Barrel, that it's for a bunch of conservatives, it's for people who don't wanna try new things.

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In fact, I saw online there was all these insinuations that it was racist. There have been in the past controversies about Cracker Barrel and implying that it's against LGBT people, it's racist.

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In fact, I remember one comes prominently in my mind where Cracker Barrel started to, some of these,

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I'm not sure if it was pressure from some of these instances that I'm describing or what it was exactly, but the straw that broke the camel's back at least was when

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Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty made a comment about homosexuality and Cracker Barrel decided that in reaction to that, they were going to drop the

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Duck Dynasty line and Phil Robertson's products that he would have been involved in from their country store and this created, they were right on the edge of a culture war issue and this created such a backlash from customers that they said, we made a mistake and they reversed course and decided they were gonna still sell

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Phil Robertson's stuff and Duck Dynasty's stuff, although the last time I was at Cracker Barrel, I didn't see any of that, but it could be just because Duck Dynasty's not popular as much anymore.

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Either way, this was something, I'm just saying Cracker Barrel has been on the knife's edge of the culture war for some time and probably trying to figure out the higher ups and corporate, how do we go left and satisfy our critics and maybe what we even believe at this point, who knows and also keep our customer base.

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Cracker Barrel's customer base is primarily or has been primarily those who are on trips and they are taking a quick break from the highway and they just want some sense of some good food and maybe, honestly, maybe a sense of familiarity.

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Maybe they wanna hear some old songs and see some old stuff on the wall and have some nostalgia.

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It's kind of a, it was a treat. I know it's a tradition in a way growing up when we traveled, especially as we went down to visit my family in Mississippi from New York, we would go along the way and there would be

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Cracker Barrels and that was, it wasn't the pride, it was actually a treat. It was, for my family, we didn't have a lot of money, so Cracker Barrel was a little outside, believe it or not, even though it is inexpensive, it was outside of my parents' budget most of the time, but there were those occasions we did stop, maybe once or every two trips or so.

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We would stop at one and it was always a special time. And that, and we would only get it when we traveled.

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It would only be off the highway, so it was for families. It was for traveling. I understand this year they're starting to sell alcohol and they wanna change their business model and they wanna get out from under,

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I guess, what they're known for, which that's sad to me in a way because that demand's still gonna be there.

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So if it's not gonna be Cracker Barrel, who's gonna fill that demand? I don't know. But this is the latest though.

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This is what, and I don't know how long this page has been here. This is crackerbarrel .com forward slash diversity dash and dash inclusion.

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Diversity inclusion at Cracker Barrel. And I wanna read for some of this to you.

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We have a responsibility to live up to our mission of pleasing people each day, ensuring that every member of our team and every guest feels at home, feels cared for like family and feels like they belong.

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I wanna stop before we continue and just look at that word for a moment, family. This is the essence of Cracker Barrel.

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In fact, I'm gonna scroll up over this. It says everyone feels at home.

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That's the title or the subtitle. Everyone feels at home. Home and family.

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Look at those words and think about this. What constitutes a home? What is a family, right?

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These are the things that are, the definitions that are being, that a tug of war is happening over right now.

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And a family, of course, from a traditional and a biblical and really just a natural understanding requires two people.

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And it implies at least the, in principle, the opportunity or the possibility of offspring, all right?

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This is what we've always thought of as a family. So with that in mind, let's keep going. Also guiding our way is the sense of belonging we strive to deliver as part of our people promise.

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Our team works hard to create a culture of hospitality that's welcoming, respectful and inclusive to everyone who walks through our doors.

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I wanna stop there again. I think for the most part, that's true, but even these words have limitations to them.

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Is Cracker Barrel inclusive to everybody? How about people who speak other languages? Is Cracker Barrel catering to them?

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Well, it's an American restaurant. It's catering to a certain demographic of people. And it's a people that have nostalgia for some of the

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Americana things that are within Cracker Barrel. So it's not going to feel, people aren't going to feel as deeply about it depending on their background.

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If someone's coming from another country and they don't have any, they've never heard bluegrass or country music.

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They've never seen some of the farm equipment, perhaps they're from an urban area. They're not going to feel the same way as someone who might have memories of grandpa's farm.

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And they grew up in the Midwest. And so I just wanna point out that that's not necessarily something that would be, it's not mean, it's not wrong.

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It's not really even exclusive, but I mean, you could view it that way. It is catering to a certain demographic.

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And that means that it's not going to cater as much to other demographics. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that.

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And that's what I'm concerned. You open this inclusivity door, what ends up happening is you dilute everything that attracted people there in the first place.

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And I have a suspicion Cracker Barrel is just starting to start to open that door. Maybe they've been doing it for longer than I've realized, but they're starting to do it.

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It says our food and decor celebrate warm memories of the past and our inclusive culture and beliefs help us make way for an even brighter future together.

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Discrimination either overt or through unconscious bias is no place at Cracker Barrel Country Store. So let me ask you this, would

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Cracker Barrel, let's say discriminate against a poster of Snoop Dogg or I don't know, some other rapper, would they post a picture of them or poster of them in their country store very prominently over the fireplace?

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Would they post, I don't know, some of the things that you might see in nightclubs that wouldn't be great for families to see?

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No, and why is that? Is it because they're discriminating? Well, they are building walls around something.

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I mean, you could say discrimination, I guess. You could say if you wanted to make the case that they only want a certain kind of decor.

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So even their decor, the thing that they're using to say how inclusive they are is actually there's a definition to it.

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It's Americana. It's not going to be so open that any eclectic item can wind up in their store.

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And this is what people have to realize. It's a niche and everything is to some extent.

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You're never, always walls are going to exist. That's inescapable.

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So let's keep going here. I haven't even gotten to the meat of this, but I just really wanna make sure that people are thinking through.

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I wanna show you kind of how I approach these articles. So when you're looking at them, you're thinking through the assumptions behind them.

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Like America itself, we've been on a journey of improvement. Okay, that implies that there's a problem. That implies that they had an issue in the past that they needed to improve from.

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What was wrong? What are they admitting that they did wrong? That's my question. A journey of improvement and understanding as individuals and as a company.

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We believe that we harness the uniqueness of our differences, we become better. So this is implying that at some point,

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Cracker Barrel did not believe this or believe it to a lesser extent. So there's a conflict in the messaging here.

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First it's, hey, we have a people promise, we're inclusive. In fact, our decor shows how inclusive we are.

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We wanna celebrate these warm memories. And then, hey, by the way, we haven't always been inclusive like this because we're on a journey of improvement.

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So they're not being specific about any of it, but you can already sense the tension here of trying to hold on to their customer base while staving off objections for how exclusive they are and attempting to attract a new customer base that's more progressive.

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This is what churches are doing right now. This is what pretty much every civil organization, civic organization is doing.

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It doesn't work. You just end up with controversy, you end up with splits. The same people aren't going to come if you change it up so much.

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And this is what we need to realize. It's okay if you want true diversity, true diversity, not what they're talking about.

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If you want true diversity, then it should be fine to have a Cracker Barrel with all the things that go with a Cracker Barrel. And you can have your

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Hooters down the street, I guess, and the families don't need to go there. And the people who enjoy Hooters can go to Hooters.

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And you can have your nightclubs and your, and I'm not saying I'm for any of these things.

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I'm just saying that if the attempt is to create an environment of true diversity in a community, then you can have all kinds of different venues that attract different people.

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And if you try to create a venue that attracts every kind of person, you end up leaving people out.

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That's just it. Or you just water it down to where it's just not interesting anymore. And you leave yourself open to being out -competed by someone who wants to take the niche that you just left and use it for themselves.

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So a Cracker Barrel, let's see. A Cracker Barrel dining room is a place where all peoples of all ages, races, genders, ethnicities, there we go, walks of life, political preferences and sexual orientations can come together and feel at home.

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Now, if you just see pictures on the wall of husbands and wives, how at home will you feel if you're someone who thinks that same -sex marriage and traditional marriage are the same?

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You won't feel quite as at home, right? So this is going to be the Pandora's box that will push them in a direction that their customer base is not gonna wanna go.

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If they truly want to do this, if they wanna go down this road and make it inclusive for everyone to be comfortable, social justice warriors are only comfortable when they're in an environment that completely backs and supports all their political preferences and overtly so.

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So they're not gonna feel comfortable that that's the standard that they've pretty much made. That's the ultimatum that they've delivered.

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Cracker Barrel ain't gonna be able to meet that and keep the customers they've traditionally had. Okay, we're gonna stop here and I'm gonna just get to the meat here, okay?

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We're gonna, let's leave that behind. Our diversity and inclusion strategy. So they have a strategy now to make

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Cracker Barrel more diverse and inclusive. And again, this is implying that there's a problem. It wasn't diverse or inclusive before.

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I guess just serving food and saying, this is who we are, we love who we are.

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We're hometown, Southern slash Midwestern cuisine.

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And we got all kinds of things from the olden days, nostalgic things, we have a lot of country music.

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That, there was a problem with that apparently. Not good enough. And so now we gotta educate, advocate and communicate to create an inclusive, engaging culture and work environment.

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Attract, select, develop and retain high performing talent with diverse backgrounds, experience and perspectives. And build and nurture diverse partnerships in communities where we live and work and ensure we have diverse representation in our advertising.

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So I've noticed all the commercials today, right? They have to include some kind of a diversity agenda feature in every single one.

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I've seen more ads this year, I think, with non -traditional couples. And by that,

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I mean, not a wife and a husband that I've ever seen in my life. In fact, even just traditional families,

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I saw one the other day. It was, I mean, and it's not, I'm not saying this is wrong. I'm just saying there's something behind all of this.

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It was, I think there were four ethnicities, three or four in one family of like four people.

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And I just thought, I mean, with adoption and I mean, yeah, I mean, there's a possibility, but you're only selling, if that's what you're trying to attract, like how, what is that?

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1 % of the population that would be within the demographic that you're trying to target? Obviously, it's not a sales decision.

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It's a political decision that's being made somehow. And so it's fake.

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That's the thing. Advertising just feels fake at this point. It's not communicating. And I think there's gonna be a breakdown at some point.

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And we're seeing this with Cracker Barrel that if you're not keyed into what the customer actually wants, who you're actually serving, then you can't make for them the products and services that they actually desire.

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Because they're the ones that the communication channels between customer and those who are in business, businesses and customers, that needs to be clear.

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When you disrupt that and you put static in that and you make sure that the signal is jammed and that instead you're communicating with globalist elites or something, then the customer's not actually served.

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And I happen to be a Cracker Barrel customer. I've enjoyed it, not just from when my family went across the country, but even in more recent years, that's been a great place

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I like to meet up. And I have to think to myself, do I really wanna go there anymore? And more and more, I've been thinking,

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I just really wanna go to the local non -franchise places, the local delis,

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I mean, now up here in New York, now there's delis down there, maybe barbecue joints, something that I know

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I'm keeping the money in the local area with local people that aren't going to have the mandates and they're not going to be just pawns for the government.

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I want to give my money to people I know, and that's probably better even for witnessing encounters.

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I've just been coming to this conclusion. I used to be quite, way more apt to go to corporate places.

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And I still, look, I love Texas Roadhouse. I still do go to those places. The prices are really good sometimes. And a lot of these places, they did start as mom and pop places, but the bigger they get, and I've said this about the church, it's the same dynamic.

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The bigger a pastor gets and a church gets, the more political pressure and the more they cave to it and cater to it.

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And that's what we see with Cracker Barrel. Strategies turned, strategy turns to action. We are committed to our journey and of improvement and understanding.

22:33

We realize intent alone is not enough. We are committed to making progress through action. So this is groveling here.

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We can't just say that we're committed to diversity. We gotta do something. What we're doing, here's the meat, guys.

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We're increasing our focus on leadership development and mentorship programs to better identify, recruit, and advance strong racially and ethnically diverse talents.

22:59

Professional development initiatives emphasize an empathy and a superior listening skills that are so crucial for today's leaders.

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Listening to who? The customer? No, not the customer. Those, that communication is broken down.

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Listening to the diversity agenda. It's not even listening to those who have greater pigmentation in their skin or those who live a homosexual lifestyle.

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It's not even that. It's the political agendas that use people from those social locations.

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We have developed, it says, a new leadership program that brings a group of diverse emerging leaders together on a regular basis to grow their skills, use their insights to advance the business.

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Our new robust diversity training expressly includes education throughout all levels of the company about unconscious and implicit bias, as well as a focus on creating an inclusive culture.

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We are, I mean, the standpoint theory is all throughout this. It's post -modernism. We are continuing our support of African American organizations and we partner with national local chapters of NAACP, Urban League, because we believe

24:05

Cracker Barrel should actively and genuinely engage with diverse communities in which we serve. Now, here's the thing. I was thinking about this.

24:10

Now, it's possible Cracker Barrel is in some areas where you would have,

24:16

I mean, it says Urban League, right? So urban areas. I mean, it's possible, right? You'd go through a city and I guess it would be right by the highway, but they're not catering to the people that are local as much as they are to people passing through, at least originally.

24:29

That's the thought I had about Cracker Barrel. And you don't associate them with urban stuff. So what's this about?

24:36

They're, you know, what about Farm Aid or I don't know, some kind of initiative to help

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Appalachia, which is where their food and their cuisine would, the people that eat that kind of stuff would live in those regions.

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It's not that though. It's urban. You know, you just gotta ask yourself why. Why is that?

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And key ingredient, and I'm not saying it's wrong, by the way, to focus on urban. I'm just saying it's not where they live.

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It's not, it would seem that greater proximity would be the rural areas that are in need of poverty alleviation, of which there are many, and also many places

25:12

Cracker Barrel's are located right off the highway, right in those towns, those small towns would be areas that suffer from poverty.

25:20

Let's see here. We need to skip through some of this. This is interesting. Cracker Barrel scored 80 on the

25:26

Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index. And that is a benchmarking tool, and that's on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees and workplace inclusion.

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So they're saying, hey, we're good on that. Cracker Barrel was named the number one restaurant company in America where guests felt the most respected.

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And what we've done, we took a stand against racial injustice. Let's see here.

25:54

Cracker Barrel has zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment. And it quickly condemned and turned away an anti -LGBTQ pastor,

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I remember that, when he announced plans in 2019 for his church group to meet at a Knoxville area Cracker Barrel. They booted the church.

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They kicked the church out because he was anti -LGBTQ.

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And I believe that was a black pastor, if I'm not mistaken. So maybe their ethnic diversity is in conflict with their

26:24

LGBTQ diversity agenda there. 2019, the company was one of 15 recipients of Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

26:33

We are proud to have our Cracker Barrel LGBT Alliance. Interesting.

26:39

Cracker Barrel was honored by Nashville LGBT Chamber of Congress. The rest of it is so focused on LGBT.

26:49

All right, I'm gonna skip through some of this. It just goes on and on. Of all the things that they're doing.

26:55

They worked on the Hinkle Rocker Company of Springfield, Tennessee to develop a limited edition Rainbow Pride Rocker, beginning in 2018.

27:03

Interesting, and they've donated them to LGBT organizations. Cracker Barrel Rocker, that's great.

27:09

That's great right there. In 2016, they had an internal diversity council.

27:14

You know, I never knew they had this. It included diverse leaders throughout the organization, continue to listen and leverage the diversity council.

27:22

Yeah, okay. In 2004, they created a hotline for anyone to voice a complaint if they believe they were a target of harassment and discrimination.

27:31

And then here's the real kicker for me. When I saw this, proud representation, employee resource groups.

27:38

So these are organizations that Cracker Barrel is funding pretty much, okay? As far as I'm, yeah, well, let's see here.

27:48

Okay, so these are employee resource groups. So these are groups

27:54

Cracker Barrel funds with within Cracker Barrel, okay? Women's Connect, United Cultural Awareness Network.

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That's African -American, Hispanic, and Latino. LGBT Alliance, Military Volunteers.

28:08

Be Well, I guess that's physical, emotional, financial, intellectual well -being, and Millennial. ERG, Growing Millennial Talent.

28:16

Okay, so age, military status, all kinds of, they have the support for employees who work there, but they also have it for LGBT, and if you're a woman, if you're a minority.

28:26

Here's the one that I was thinking of before. This is the real kicker for me. Partnership Drive Change. All the list of companies

28:33

Cracker Barrel has funded. In other words, you're going to Cracker Barrel, you're buying your chicken fried steak and biscuits, and some of that money is going here.

28:41

You ready? National Local Chapters of the Urban League, National Local Chapters of the

28:46

NAACP, National Hispanic Corporate Council, Tennessee Latino Chamber of Commerce, Connexion Americas, Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce, and here's where it gets good,

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Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, Nashville Pride, Tennessee Equality Project, Human Rights Campaign, and that's blatantly pro -abortion, by the way,

29:11

Culture Shift Team, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Women's Food Forum, Women's Business Enterprise National Council, Minority Food and Hospitality Association, and National Battle of the

29:20

Bands, which does not belong, Battle of the Bands. So these are the organization's

29:26

Cracker Barrel funds. When you buy, you go to Cracker Barrel, and you get your pancakes, some of that's going to these places.

29:35

Blatantly advocating for abortion, trans sports, all of the things that you vote against as conservatives, they are in the business of funding.

29:47

And most corporations have gone down this path. I just didn't realize Cracker Barrel had and to what extent. And so I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

29:55

I get to do that a lot, don't I? And a part of it is not many people want to be the bearer of bad news, I think, especially in evangelicalism, right?

30:02

Our Christianity is so, especially pop Christianity is so focused on positivity.

30:08

They just, I hate doing this, but you gotta know, this is the truth of the situation.

30:14

This is Cracker Barrel. And so I'm not even sure what to say. I mean, you could write a letter, but like, how ingrained are they?

30:22

They've doubled down, they've been doing this for so long. I don't know if there's much you can do at this point. Now, is it a sin to go to Cracker?

30:28

No, no, it's not a sin to go to Cracker Barrel. In fact, I have a, I think a $25 Cracker Barrel gift card in my wallet right now, and I do plan on using it because where I'm also,

30:38

I mean, I'm gonna use it. I'm just gonna let them have that 25 bucks. And the people, individuals who work at the local

30:44

Cracker Barrel, and I don't think they know much about probably a lot of this. But when I know that my baked beans that I bought that I want to eat, actually,

30:54

I don't know if they have baked beans there. The hash brown casserole, how about? The hash brown casserole that I want to eat, some of that is going towards things that God hates.

31:07

I just, in my own conscience, I can't justify it. It's gonna, it's rough for me.

31:13

And I realize that, yay, there's nowhere else to stop. I gotta eat something. All right, that's on them. They're the ones doing that.

31:18

I'm not doing that, but I don't want to help them. And I would just encourage you, find the local spot.

31:23

Find the deli, find the place that serves some breakfast food that's a hole in the wall that's local, if you can, and doesn't buy into this stuff.

31:33

You know, we're all so sick of it. And the only way it's gonna stop is if we gotta withhold our money. And maybe it does mean writing a letter and saying,

31:42

I'm not gonna be coming anymore. I loved your food. I'm not coming, though. If Christians on Sunday, right?

31:47

This is one of the places Christians love to rush to on Sunday. If they just stopped eating there on Sunday after church, I think you'd see a world of difference.

31:54

Or maybe they'd keep going down this path even harder because that's, they gotta cater now to their new demographic. But you'd see other stores or other venues, restaurants rising up and kind of taking the mantle for the people who want the traditional stuff, so.

32:09

Well, that's all I got for you today as far as some bad news, right? Oh, I had some stuff up here from the different organizations,

32:16

Out and Equal, National Urban League. They have a lecture on critical race theory planned.

32:22

Are they, maybe they already did that, yeah. They just had a lecture on critical race theory. Human Rights Campaign.

32:28

I mean, on the front, you just go to the front of their website and you see it's two women sharing a smooch.

32:34

That's great. Culture Shift Team. I mean, this is, it's all sick. It is all sick. And it's these little community organizations,

32:41

I gotta say, that are really driving the change more than anything else. We saw that in the election.

32:47

Where was the election won? I shouldn't say won. Where was the election,

32:54

I'm on YouTube now. How can I say this? Where were things, where were things changed and altered and distorted?

33:05

On the local level or the national level? It was the local level, especially in some big cities, some key cities.

33:12

And it's the community organizers. Remember, that's what a Barack Obama was, a community organizer. They're the ones that are changing things on the local level, in your town, in your city, where you live.

33:22

Those are the places that, to keep an eye on. And they're getting their money, and they've been doing this for years, the

33:28

Al Sharpton tactic, by bullying. We're gonna withdraw sponsorships from your talk radio.

33:35

We're going to, I mean, look, I have the pressure, even as small as I am, I have pressure from the corporations that I'm, you're probably watching this on YouTube or listening to it on iTunes.

33:48

I mean, there are some of these corporations that have gone down this road, and they are trying to actively take away the voice of people like me.

33:57

And I have been shadow banned. There have been things that have happened. In fact, Last Stand Studios, man, you can't even share their links on Facebook from YouTube directly without a shadow ban of some kind.

34:09

I understand the boa constrictor is getting tighter, but it's these local organizations that are doing most of the work.

34:17

And there's tons of them out there, tons of these community organizations, and they don't contribute really anything.

34:25

It's not like they're providing a service to people in the community most of the time. The vast majority of the time, that's not what they're doing.

34:31

It's all political activism. It's all trying to change the structure of the government and to honor certain demographics and not others.

34:39

It's all political agenda. It's not providing something tangible for their local communities.

34:49

And so it's kind of, in my mind, it's kind of a leech on these communities when you have these organizations, all about human rights in the abstract, not the humans that live right there in flesh and blood that need help.

35:01

And you have, and then they'll bully something like a Cracker Barrel and say, we'll go after you, we'll attack you, we'll hurt your business.

35:09

I mean, all these threats that honestly, people just need to stand up and say, all right, do your worst. You know, whatever.

35:16

But they're afraid to do that. And so the bullies win. And that's across the board.

35:22

I see this in conservative evangelicalism. I see this. Conservative, I'm talking about people who are against critical race theories, so they say.

35:30

The same tactics work even there. There's such a fear. My wife and I were watching the, it's heavy stuff, so I'm not recommending it to everyone, by the way.

35:43

It's very heavy, but the Waco series about the Branch Davidians. And just, that whole situation is just so sad to me.

35:54

David Koresh, it's a cult, but what happened to them, what the government did to them.

36:00

It's, and knowing it's 10 times worse now is crazy. But there was a character in that miniseries.

36:09

I don't know what his official title would be. He worked for the FBI, but his whole job was to try to talk people out of doing things, suicides, violence, talk them off the ledge.

36:24

So he was a negotiator of some kind. And one of the things he said, it really struck home to me.

36:30

He talked about how what you're afraid of, if people know what you're afraid of, they can control you.

36:36

And that is so true. If someone knows what you're truly afraid of, they'll use that as a wedge.

36:43

And I've seen that even in my own life. People want to make me afraid. They wanna inspire fear. John, you're gonna lose everything if you do this.

36:49

John, you're gonna, you know, we won't support this. John, we won't stand with you if you go down this road.

36:55

John, you know, I don't talk about this, but I hear this stuff too. And I hear far more from people supporting what

37:02

I'm doing on this podcast. But there have been some people that frankly, with some power, who have tried to instill fear in me to control my content.

37:13

And I don't, I'm not gonna bend to that. I wanna be wise, right?

37:18

I wanna use wisdom. But I don't sacrifice my family, my principles, my commitment to my local area, my church, the things that I'm responsible for,

37:30

I'm not going to, I'm not gonna sacrifice. And that's something

37:36

I've had to learn kind of the hard way. And most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, it's just a bluff.

37:43

It's just because they're afraid. They're trying to get you to be as afraid. Most of the time, it doesn't work that way.

37:49

You can survive the cancel culture mob. It just means that you cater to a demographic that's gonna appreciate what you have to say.

37:57

Cracker Barrel needs to learn this lesson. They already have a conservative demographic. It's not just conservatives, but they have a demographic that wants the traditional food and the traditional music and the nostalgia.

38:10

Why start catering to people that normally aren't in that demographic?

38:16

Or if they're coming to Cracker Barrel, they're just such a small part of Cracker Barrel's customer base.

38:22

What are they there for? If they're there to change Cracker Barrel, to make it something different, they can go down the road. There's tons of restaurants.

38:28

Why do they have to go to Cracker Barrel? It's a mistake. And it's made out of fear, I think.

38:34

It's made because they're afraid we'll get attacked. We don't wanna be attacked. And that's a driving force.

38:39

And so this is a lesson. My prediction is Cracker Barrel keeps going down this road, and it's going to be less and less

38:47

Cracker Barreley. And what you liked about Cracker Barrel is gonna be less and less of it there. And it'll happen subtly.

38:53

It'll happen over time, but you'll start to notice there will be changes. And so we have to stand up to that.

39:00

And I think thinking local, acting local is the way to do it. And that's also, by the way, the way to stand against the tyranny from the government.

39:08

You have a lot more control over a local business than you do with mask regulations and that kind of stuff than you do over these national corporations, which they just parrot whatever the government says.

39:19

So don't forget, go to worldviewconversation .com. Link is in the info section, forward slash speaking.

39:27

And you can find out where I'm gonna be. Sign up if you're in the Shelbyville, Kentucky area for Reformation War Room.

39:32

Would love to see you there. And don't forget books. If you get Christianity and Social Justice and Social Justice Goes to Church, you will get a free copy of Social Justice Pharisees.