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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@Nicole Diver; I don’t know if cross comment dialog is permitted.
The reaction to people imposing ‘Political Correctness’ in social dialog is a vastly complex phenomenon. When someone identifies themselves as belonging to a sect of the Abrahamic Religions it says a great deal about them on many levels. What they have said or will say next likewise helps to fill in many more blanks.
There doesn’t seem to be Hate Baiting going on when someone restates the Bacon Lady as an Islamist or belonging to the Islamic State (which Islamic people profess, the Bai‘at, their irrevocable oath of loyalty to Allah). However it was the Bacon Lady that said she is actively practicing Islamic Laws and like many Abrahamic Sects they profess that Heaven Hates Ham (bacon too including Pig’s Skin Footballs – or not depending on . . . ).
Sometimes the members of any of the thousands of Abrahamic sects can become radicalized almost as easy as we dramatize in movies such as Manchurian Candidate (1962, 2004) or Telefon (1977). This sort or radicalization does not require the person to have been in an Abrahamic Sect but it helps to profile the susceptible personality type because it says a lot about the person’s mind. It is real and it can be done rather rapidly and have rather startlingly consistent outcomes.
So it’s not name calling to state the label that the person themselves used to identify themselves to others. Likewise it is not so much inciting to hate when people rationally discuss the good clean fun to be had with this while also sometimes worrying out loud about current events by others that also identify themselves as belonging to the Islamic State. The Islamic Bacon Lady and Islamic Terrorists are not tied together just discussed. The linkage is only juxtaposition not intentionally harmful to The Bacon Lady or others of any Religious Sect.
It is called Social Dialog to help others see things in various points of view and examine and dissect the news and political events peacefully.
here’s a thought…people want freedom of speech…but then get all sorts of pissed off if that freedom involves saying something you don’t like…so are you really saying freedom of speech or are you saying free to think and speak like me? I think she should have a right to ask…and they should have a right to say yes or no. In this case they said yes….all exercising FREEDOM. and holds true if they said no….FREEDOM….embrace it!!!
There is simply no basis for comparing this woman to those who commit war crimes, and anyone who does is blowing things waaaaay more out of proportion than the media. She’s clearly has more sense than those conservatards.
This keeps getting deleted – how sad the Politically Correct Police are wielding the Veto Button so rapidly . . . I’ve re-worded it so lets see if this is better.
Post a sign: Pan Seared Jimmy Dean’s @ Sneakers either above or below Yield for Vegan Bacon Bagel @ Sneakers. Too much fun.
I know I have had to endure lot of seriously abusive teasing because I have to eat what amounts to a Vegan Style diet because somehow I am allergic to meat, eggs, and dairy although I love these foods they don’t love me. There are many that just go mental if you offer them anything ‘Vegan’ to eat. I think I’ve seen the fundamentals of this aversion – more on that in a moment. There are those that just can not go without saying something derogatory about the Vegan movement when the learn that they are dining with a person that is exclusively Vegan.
The Islamic State woman that wanted to express her religiously acquired aversion (she bolstered her position with her religious preferences) seems to have bumped into another rapidly growing social phenomenon of Creeping Religious Tolerance. In some European countries like France or the UK where the tolerance of decent folk has been preyed on by sects wishing to impose Sharia Law on neighborhoods / communities / villages / etc as their influence / domination increases there is a growing backlash all over the world to the three main branches of these Abrahamic Religious Cults (cult is a religious or other social group with novel beliefs and practices. Formerly used in the pejorative sense.).
I’ve no clue about this woman that ‘says’ she belongs to the Islamic State but it is possible that this ‘person’ (female or male or more than one person collaborating) is a contrarian and noticed the pride and professionalism of the shared garden space (in the center of town) and knew that they could enjoy a bit of ‘widely splashed turmoil’ by imposing their mental condition on others then sit back and enjoy the show. The specific wording of the post seems to suggest the person could fit this scenario as well.
In the USA we have a predominance of Blue Laws by the Christian branch. We also have communities in most major cities that have imposed their Hebrew Laws (Hasidic or Orthodox) with porcine free neighborhoods, dress codes, etc. In the USA, unlike Europe, the Islamic State has not gotten much of a toe-hold yet.
There is a growing movement all over the world to abandon these Abrahamic Cults and rapidly slow the injection of their Bronze Age Religious Practices into more areas of our culture. Sometimes the backlash flares what looks like bigoted behavior when it is actually alarm that yet another precious freedom is about to be lost unless something is done and soon. The same is seen in negative reactions to anything Vegan. Everybody, including Vegans, hate Vegan Police or Bacon Police, or whatever strong-handed methods are used by these special interest groups to wield their influence to control the power of the state (or hold the state at bay) to impose religious (or Vegan) practices on others. Even the freedom to have a fun light hearted fake Yield Sign that promotes bacon worship (who doesn’t enjoy that blissful aroma of bacon sizzling away).
Although not many would get the Death Race reference if the sign said: Vegan Bacon Ahead, 10 points! and a little squiggle of a tire track across a big piece of Sneakers Bacon. That could be funny too. The sign could be modified to show a bacon symbol and not use letters then there would be no argument because even Vegan Bacon uses the Bacon Symbol. Creativity could be applied here to not actually show submission to Sharia Law through creeping tolerance. With a little tinkering with the message the same fun spirit could be continued while playfully embracing the creeping tolerance problem while poking around it and not kneeling nose to the dirt down for it.
good going Craig…bash Texas and Florida cause your sliver of heaven is not better than your opine of T&F
You still can’t buy the 14th season of South Park uncensored for private viewing, because of Muslim threats. We as Americans need to grow a spine and fight back against those, who would threaten free speech.
FACT: Jews who follow kosher dietary laws don’t eat pork either. None of them ever complain about stuff like this.
FACT: 7th day adventists don’t eat pork either. None of them ever complain about stuff like this.
FACT: There are TWO groups who – more than any other – are always telling people what to do and are always going out of their way to be offended by something: Vegans and Muslims.
BOYCOTT SNEAKERS!!!!
Well, this is one small town I don’t have to consider moving to.
“One resident expressed their sentiment stating, ““I respect her religion and her right to believe what she wants but I’m pretty sure the first amendment extends to bacon and the selling of it.””
Uhm, NO, the First Amendment does not extend to commercial speech, nor does it say that private companies can’t respond to complaints about their speech as they see fit. The First Amendment says the government will make no law… and so forth. It does not say that there will never be any consequences for speech, only that the government can’t be the one imposing the consequences. If you don’t want anything to change when you say stuff, why do you say it?
AND THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT MENTION BACON !
A reactionary complained. Bigots galore chimed in with their hate-filled, irrelevant anti-Muslim (and anti-vegan) speech. I posit that the latter are even stupider than the former, and both are wasting our time and media space (whee real issues of racial division might be discussed). . The victim is Sneakers’. They put up a sign, they honored a request to take it down,and got targeted by xenophobic, ignorant racists who think that “American” means white and “Christian” and who assume that a Muslim woman is not from the US. Do you see how narrow-minded and ignorant even we, in the so-called most-educated state, are? We ask how Ferguson could happen? Look right here. It could happen here, too, when that racist white cop feels “threatened” by that person of color. All this story has done is make Vermonters look like a bunch of racist rednecks, bolstered by racists in Texas and Florida.