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Cancel Culture Comes For Chicken Sandwiches

On Friday, September 6, the popular American fast-food chain, Chick-fil-A opened its second Canadian location in downtown Toronto. Lik...

On Friday, September 6, the popular American fast-food chain, Chick-fil-A opened its second Canadian location in downtown Toronto.

Like the biting chill of a cold breeze on a winter day, left-wing acrimony flooded the fast-food giant's grand opening, as spades of protesters convened outside, imbued with indignation. Protesters were largely comprised of two batches of activism: vegan and LGBT – united by their socialist penchants. While the former was chanting hymns decrying any and all animal products (meat is murder!) the latter bellowed at Chick-fil-A patrons that they ought to be eating at KFC instead. And meanwhile, a woman with a megaphone blamed the whole kerfuffle on capitalism.
But the largest crowd was the one waiting to get inside – several people were allegedly in line overnight – to see what all the crazed commotion was about. Lines extending around the block pushed wait times for the ostensibly speedy "fast-food" to 40 minutes. Excitement and interest in the chicken sandwich, previously only available to denizens south of the border, was fundamentally fueled by the protesters themselves, whose hysterical antics – such as staging a "die in" – had done little more than belittle their own cause, and drive interest in their trifling ailment (a chicken sandwich).
Demonstrations were organized and provoked by a far-left Toronto-based organization called The 519. Several days prior to the fast-food chain's opening, The 519 stated on their Twitter page, "It is time for hate and discrimination to #CluckOff. Join us to protest against the opening of Chick-fil-A in Toronto on Friday, September 6." – @The519, September 4 2019
The locally consumed blog hitched itself to the controversy carriage in efforts to court clicks with headlines such as, "There's a huge protest planned for the Chic-fil-A opening in Toronto" (it wasn't huge) and "Christian group plans counter-protest in support of Toronto Chick-fil-A" (there was no counter-protest group).
Chick-fil-A first became controversial – or to use the contemporary term, "canceled" – in 2012, when the firm's Chairman and CEO Dan Cathy voiced his opposition to same-sex marriage. At the same time, it was revealed that Dan Cathy's father, and original founder of Chick-fil-A, Samuel Truett Cathy, was the philanthropist behind the WinShape Foundation. Through its charitable endeavors, the WinShape Foundation provides scholarships, foster homes, camping programs, and retreats for thousands of children. The crux of the issue was WinShape Foundation's donations to a slew of Christian organizations, such as Focus on the Family, which lobby against same-sex marriage.
Following the uproar, in 2012, Chick-fil-A issued a statement, jettisoning any publicly held political positions, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena." Moreover, as tax filings confirm, the WinShape foundation also abandoned hitherto held charitable ties to all Christian organizations, with the exception of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (a sports organization) and the Salvation Army.
But nonetheless, left-leaning protestors in Canada are aggressively toiling to push Chick-fil-A out, back across the border. Chick-fil-A might be the first foreigner not welcome with open arms into Canada.
Despite the fact that Chick-fil-A has eschewed its political proclivities, redemption is incompatible with the Cancel Culture ethos. It's the same reason Kevin Hart, after apologizing for 8-year-old tweets, was still deemed unsuited for the Oscars.
Therein lies the problem with Cancel Culture: once you buy into it, there is no winning, only an endless cycle of apologies, and shifting of the goal posts. In 2012, it was problematic for the firm's CEO to wade into the marriage equality debate from the religious Right. If he now personally apologizes and attempts to reconcile, the protestors will invariably demand his resignation.
Refusing to play into this charade, Chick-fil-A doesn't desperately seek redemption from organizations wreathed in wokeness. The company hasn't made any attempts to demur with the braying accusations levied against them from the Left. Other than the aforementioned statement in 2012, the fried chicken conglomerate has since stayed mum on political issues. They've instead focused their efforts on indelible deeds, such as working overtime in the wake of the 2016 LGBT Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Florida to serve free food to blood donors; working overtime to feed embattled North Carolinians in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.
Though they've since cut ties with traditional marriage lobby groups, you wouldn't know it if it wasn't for their tax filings. Opposed to validating absurd, polemic accusations of homophobia by trying to explain why they aren't homophobic, Chick-fil-A instead opted to bask in controversy.
Controversy has been good for business. Aside from sending intrigued Torontonians flocking to their doors, Chick-fil-A's overall sales rose 12 percent following the barrage of boycotts leftist organizations launched against them. According to a report from Business Insider, in 2018, Chick-fil-A flourished, rising to the rank of America's third-largest fast-food chain; on a per unit basis, Chick-fil-A is the most profitable chain in America.
Sure, they could attempt to assuage their puerile protestors' qualms; but why bother? Their protestors are selling their chicken sandwiches for them.

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