What's in a brand? Cracker Barrel gives Americans an artificial, commoditized, nostalgia-driven image of Southern small-town life and cuisine. But even hinting at such a thing is verboten in modern-day America, because any reminder of the past that isn't a condemnation is an implicit endorsement of racism. It's easy to laugh off, but the seeming compulsion to hollow out any identity — from a company to a country — is eating through all of Western society. And eventually, there will be nothing left.
Thumbnail credit: © Paul Weaver/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire
