posted May 7, 2008
There's a debate raging on the Yellow Deli thread such as is seldom seen. It's heartening to see such involvement in our community, but some things about many of the responses make me uneasy. It isn't the freedom to express a view, or defend any kind of freedom of religion. It's the blinders that many seem to be throwing up to the numerous testimonials from a good number of people who were here back then and remember this.
This seems like a reversion to the Flat Earth Society. "Sorry, Columbus, but get out of the way, I've got a sandwich to deliver."
Let's call it the New Flat Earth Society.
Out of 18 responses, thus far, nearly half like to eat food, or profess to defend freedom of religion, and don't want to think beyond that. Good sandwich. Cheerio, pip-pip. One man enjoys looking at the beautifully-restored structure, which was likely restored by craftsmen. Was the work done by union master craftsmen? Not hardly. Was it done by local woodworkers and carpenters? Maybe, but I'd love to see the receipts. Forgive me for being skeptical, but I'd bet a buck the guys and gals who made this place so attractive are adherents, and I'll stick to that until corrected. Did they get fair compensation? Pshaw. Double-darned Pshaw.
That's called low-overhead, a luxury few business owners have. When you don't have to pay your employees squat, you have an advantage over the guy who took his inheritance and took a franchise with Sandwich-a-Matic. A huge advantage. Sandwich-a-Matic loses to cult every time.
From what I've read here, the New Flat Earth Society is comprised of an alliance of purported defenders of freedom of religion, gourmands and so-called "free-thinkers." My guess the latter is mostly secularists who hate dealing with people they find "pesky," like Christians, or people who believe in something, anything. What “free thinkers” think is their own business. I've been as free as a bird since childhood to think as I wish, and to speak as I wish. To me, that's called America. To me, that's real "free thinking." I enjoy the heck out of being able to express myself on this wonderful forum.
Frankly, it probably isn't worth my time or your time thinking about what these folks think about. They reject valid info on history, our history here in Chattanooga, as passed-down by an increasing number of locals, none of which seem to me to be dumb hicks. All of us who were here back then have to be nuts, right? I always have a good laugh over how the New Flat Earthers think. If you remember some kind of local controversy and try to warn the next generation about the future, and the past, the New Flat Earthers automatically brand you as a bigot, a hayseed, or a fascist. It never fails. Just go re-read all the responses. They can't disguise themselves.
The New Flat Earthers are people whose social conscience seems to end at the upper colon. It's a great sandwich, so who cares about the damage done to human minds?
John R. Smickle
Chattanooga
jsbottomfeeder@juno.com
* * *
You think receipts on who performed the labor on restoring a building would have an impact on your opinion, or the quality of their food? I built my own storefront business single-handedly. Am I a cult leader in the making? I even went to a Burger King once on Lee Highway a few years ago – it is now closed – in which every employee was dead inside. Does that make me any more a potential murder victim for setting foot inside another one again? (I was in one in another city just today, by the way.)
Do you believe that people can be brainwashed by buying sandwiches and coffee? You may think me an oblivious and ignorant bird of flight, but brother…I also happen to have a higher hope for humankind, and my immediate fellow citizens, than you do.
The warnings have been issued. The history is documented. But maybe…just Maybe… Sometimes, a Sandwich is just a Sandwich, and not an object of mind control (however good the ‘Deli Rose’ may be).
If you believe it is…then the problem for such people May Not Be the Sandwich or the architecture.
As for referring to you as a bigot, a hayseed, or a fascist, rest assured… I would never call you a hayseed. But I would still recommend the sandwich.
C.W. Joel
Harrison
* * *
There's nothing wrong with having a higher hope for humankind and your immediate fellow citizens. While it's an incredibly admirable view, it's one that will ultimately lead down a path of disappointment. (The few folks that surprise you will be rare and shining gems to be sure, but the 'big picture' will be dark and bleak.)
Personally, I believe that everyone genuinely attempts to be a 'good person' and do the right thing. The problem is that everyone's yardstick for measurement is on a different scale. 'Society' as a whole enforces a somewhat universal system of measurement (that again is arbitrary based on whim, popular opinion, majority rules, and whomever is holding 'the stick.')
While I am no Democrat, one of the pearls of wisdom that my Political Science professor hammered into me in college is that people will do whatever they perceive is in their best interest.
For some, they believe with all their heart that 'making sandwiches for Jesus' is the right way to go. For others, they believe that their best interests will be served by tilting at every windmill that challenges their fragile sense of morality. It's not for me to decide which is right or wrong until their 'best interest' decisions impacts against the membrane of my own personal bubble.
I believe that Christians are quick to forget that their religion was thought of in the Roman Empire as 'the Jesus cult' for many years, and that organized religion existed thousands of years before Jesus ever walked the Earth.
How does this relate to sandwiches?
I don't see people railing against the uber-Christian Golly Whopper's Sandwich Shop. Why is this do you think? Could it be because the ‘majority opinion' can more closely identify with their beliefs and
values and it doesn't challenge their fragile comfort zone?
What the rank-and-file tend to miss is the all-important 'big picture' - It's in their best interest to let alleged cultists make sandwiches as long as no laws are being broken, because if they're not careful,
they might have to spend some time under the magnifying glass one day as their own beliefs are examined and torn down.
Patrick Bateman
Hixson
stray@strayrules.com
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