Sneakers Bistro, a Winooski breakfast hot-spot, is one of several businesses that has voluntarily maintained a small garden on a plot of publicly owned land to help beautify the city. As part of “Operation Bloom,” participating businesses are allowed to post a small advertising sign in their garden. Sneakers decided to have fun with its sign at the bottom of the Winooski traffic circle.
“Yield for Sneakers Bacon,” it read.
Not everyone got the joke.
Last week, a Winooski woman who identified herself as a “vegan and member of a Muslim household,” posted a notice to Front Porch Forum, saying of the bacon sign: “Its insensitive and offensive to those who do not consume pork.”
Citing Winooski’s demographic diversity — 31 languages are spoken in the local K-12 school — she requested that it come down.
“Although I love Sneakers and the delicious food they serve, I strongly believe this sign is unnecessary, offensive, insensitive, and should therefore be taken down,” she wrote.
For a couple days, a largely respectful debate ensued on the online forum page, with some posters saying the complainer was being overly sensitive.
“While you do have the right to express your opinion, you don’t have the right to not be offended,” one Winooski resident wrote. “There are things throughout our environment that offend all of us. It happens.”
Last Friday, Sneakers owner Marc Dysinger announced that the bacon sign would come down, saying he didn’t want to offend anyone.
“We regret any harm or damage caused & the sign has been removed,” Dysinger wrote on the Front Porch Forum. “Our goal is to bring joy to Winooski as a community gathering place — never a source of stress or drama. We always appreciate any advice or input to help us achieve that goal. Thank you neighbors!”
The woman posted a follow-up note on Front Porch Forum, saying that she had received several ugly e-mails attacking her position after her initial post. People accusing Sneakers of being overly PC began posting nasty messages on the bistro’s Facebook page. WPTZ broke the story of the burgeoning controversy, and some conservative media outlets picked it up.
The restaurant made a plea for peace on its Facebook page:
“We are here to serve people BREAKFAST, not politics. We removed the sign that was located on public property as a gesture of respect for our diverse community. There were also concerns raised about safety. Removing it was not a difficult decision. We still love bacon. We still love eggs. Please have the political conversation elsewhere.”
The nasty comments continued to pile up online, prompting Sneakers to take down its Facebook page. Winooski police felt compelled to keep a watchful eye on the bistro over the weekend. And a new Facebook page, Tell Sneakers Bistro How You Really Feel, gave those outraged by the sign’s removal a forum to share their thoughts, which, earlier this morning, included a cartoon of a Muslim apparently getting raped by a centaur-like creature, and an image of American journalist James Foley in the moments before he was beheaded by an ISIS terrorist. (Those images appear to have been removed.)
But a slew of anti-Muslim posts (the nuance of the woman identifying herself as a “vegan and member of a Muslim household” has long since been discarded) remain.
A sampling we feel comfortable publishing includes:
“Stop pandering to Muslims! This is still America! WE like our democracy served with a side of bacon!!!!”
“Stop caving to Muslim demands. We are Americans. We need to stand for our rights.”
“What a shame an AMERICAN business is bowing down just to keep a bunch of dang muslims happy. We eat pork and if muslims don’t like it then there are plenty of countries they can go live in. Pack up and MOVE.”
Dysinger, visibly weary at the restaurant today, declined to comment.
In City Hall, where officials are starting to receive a trickle of anti-Sneakers comments, Winooski City Manager Katherine Decarreau tried to make sense of the controversy.
“Diverse communities are not comfortable places and conversations have to happen that pull people away from their notions of what is right and wrong,” said Decarreau, a city native. “Sneakers … made a tough call in an attempt to be good neighbors, and I respect them for that. This is crazy. It’s a bacon sign. We have people in this city from every religious background, and with no basic religion. And we can live respectfully — we have for years.”
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It is embarrassing to be part of a community with so much fear of some of our neighbors and Muslim community members. Love and let live.
I keep seeing people say how diverse the community of Winooski is, so I’m sure there are Jews and Hindus there. Jewish people do not eat pork, yet I do not see them making such ludicrous demands. Hindu’s do not eat beef or pork, yet I do not hear them being so hyper-sensitive! Why can’t Muslim’s just live and let live?! If they don’t like it, please feel free to move to Iran, Saudi Arabia or similar country!
My God. The amazing thing here is the outright thuggish attitudes of some who call themselves conservatives. What happened here? A little lighthearted joke in a sign on public property. One person found it offensive and complained. Was that person overly sensitive? Yes, of course she was, but a lot of us get overly sensitive at times and on certain subjects It would have been appropriate to suggest that she lighten up a little, but Sneakers, not wanting to offend anybody, took its sign down, so the anti-Muslim crowd went ballistic, with threats of terrorism. What is wrong with these people?
what, why did they give up? this is your right to like or dislike any sign, or commercial. I mean can’t the same be said for anything,,,, if I don’t like kids, why do we need to see its for the kids…… (just an expample). or if i am so much against unions,,,, why do we need to see tax paid depts pro or against unions. i for one will make it a point now to not only Yeild for bacon, but I will even stop and have more hten one helping…… its my right to eat it, to smell it, and to brag about loving it…… American, we are losing you so fast when one or two itiots make a mountain out of a molehill….
Does any one know where I can purchase a kosher ham?
What a disgrace, and shame. This is America. If this woman was so bothered by BACON, why doesn’t she move to Syria or Iraq, and join ISIS? I’m sure she’d get along better with the caliphate than this country. Because, you know, beheading hundreds innocent children and selling thousands of young women into slavery is MUCH more ‘culturally sensitive’ and acceptable than viewing a sign that says “BACON”. But I’m crazy, right?
This is the most ridiculous situation that I’ve heard of in a long time.
The earth is slowing dying, dozens of wars are being fought with people being killed daily, Ebola is a growing epidemic and in a protected part of the world, folks are worried about the implications of offending a vegan. Give yourself a shake people and be grateful you woke up this morning…many did not.
Cheers
Bill Shattuck/Canada
Has anyone weighed in on what the Jews thought of this?
Well now, I guess we’re going to have to add BACON to George Carlin’s dirty words list.
Coward County.