Love your channel and your content, Adam. That said, I must admit I was a bit surprised to hear your take on Chick-fil-A, especially given your recent podcast re: the new Harry Potter game. Chick-fil-a itself may have stopped donating directly to anti-LGBTQ organizations, but the members of the Cathy family still very much do. In my mind, buying Chick-fil-a supports this family and the ideals they stand for in a similar manner that purchasing the Harry Potter game supports J.K. Rowling and her ideals. Should you feel bad purchasing a Chick-fil-a sandwich every once in a while? No, but as you said in your Harry Potter podcast, purchasing these products does-albeit indirectly-fund these ideals. Regarding "boycotting the south", I agree with other commenters that you may be under-representing Chick-fil-a's presence in the rest of the U.S. There may be MORE chick-fil-a restaurants in the south than in say New England, but 1) Chick-fil-a's certainly still exist up there and not eating their food is still very much a choice, more importantly 2) it is very much a choice for people in the South to eat at Chick-fil-a. There are plenty of competing restaurants that do NOT support anti-LGBTQ ideals as directly or indirectly as Chick-fil-a does. I understand that there is a certain "social cost" to not eating Chick-fil-a in the south that does not necessarily exist elsewhere in the country, but I just don't think "I choose to support the evil corporation because if I don't my friends and family will look down on me" is a very good argument. If Chick-fil-a is so much a part of Southern identity that choosing not to eat there is a significant inconvenience, socially or otherwise, then maybe that part of the Southern identity needs to be reconsidered. To conclude, I wanted to paraphrase one of your own conclusions from your Harry Potter podcast, because I think it was an incredibly apt observation at the time and I think just as apt here: "Chick-fil-a's deeds (if you consider them misdeeds) are not ancient history. Their campaign against LGBTQ inclusion is still large, active, and ongoing through those that own and run the company. Buying their sandwiches funds that campaign. It probably doesn't matter that much; they're probably going to have more than enough money to keep doing what they do whether you buy a sandwich or fries or not. The whole word could boycott Chick-fil-a immediately, and they'd still have far more money then they could ever need for the rest of their lives... But... I think you should think about how your consumption looks to your friends who do not fit comfortably into traditional family values... I think the most important factor to consider is their feelings. Because, as uncomfortable as this moment of societal transition may be for cis-gendered straights like me, it is far more uncomfortable and scary and dangerous for LGBTQ people."
I came here to say this but you said it better than I could have. The Cathy family's private donations are just that, private, but we have no reason to assume they have stopped. They could be worse than ever, and with the recent changes in the supreme court, they are *making (anti)progress*. That does worry me.
I think in the same spirit of "don't let perfect be the enemy of good", I don't know every product whose company's owners are awful people, and honestly I don't have the time nor inclination to zealously research every one of my purchases in this way. But what I can do is put in the minimal effort of boycotting products I *DO* know will profit bad people, when I remember to. I don't think that makes me ethically inconsistent.
I mean that's definitely ethically inconsistent since you also KNOW there is no real ethical consumption 🤷♂️ you are choosing to remain purposefully ignorant about other products you consume while also making some kind of moral stand about other products that are equally unethical. Definitely inconsistent.
@@GodOfTheDisturbed I can't realistically do a deep dive into every product I use. I just can't. That's not being "purposefully ignorant", that's just the reality of being a functional adult with responsibilities in a globalized society. If I see someone beating his wife and I say/do something about it, does it make me a hypocrite because I haven't dedicated my life to stopping every single instance of domestic violence ever? Do I only have the right to say something or think poorly of him if I've investigated everyone I know and determined that none of them are domestic abusers? That seems like a patently absurd position to me, the logical conclusion of which is that no one should criticize anything, ever. This strand of argument I find tends to correlate strongly with conservatives (eg Jordan "clean your room" Peterson) who just resent that something they admire is being criticized by people they perceive to be "others".
@@SacredDaturaa BTW you have the culmination of mankind's knowledge in your fingers. Researching even 100 products would take you an hour or two. So yes you are the definition of willfully ignorant. There's easy relevant info you're purposefully ignoring because it's nor convenient for you. Your entire comment was disingenuous from top to bottom 😂
Boycotting a restaurant is *never* difficult, doesn’t matter where the restaurant or the boycotter is located, it’s a simple matter of *not* going in, *not* buying food there. I know of no place in the USA where food choices are limited to a single restaurant chain, there are always alternatives to the one being boycotted.
That ignores the social element Adam mentioned. If you grow up going to a restaurant, most people you know go to that restaurant, it's a common chain restaurant around you, AND people still want to go to that restaurant since they make good food, there's absolutely a social cost to that boycott that a ton of people aren't gonna pay. If you don't experience that cultural phenomenon, there's no social cost for you to pay with that boycott. Not to say that said social cost excuses any and all unethical consumption. But it absolutely exists.
I lost my first office job because I refused to eat the chicken my manager bought our team and put on our desks. I told her thank you but I wouldn't partake on moral grounds and I was fried the next day for being confrontational with management.
@@DiabetoDan I must be missing something. What is the social cost? I'm not saying that people need to put "I boycott [x]" signs in their yard or anything like that! I'm just saying that NOT eating at a particular restaurant is always a choice, and an easy one at that. Thinking about possible social cost, I can imagine a scenario along the lines of: Friend says "let's go out for lunch at [X]" and I say "lunch sounds good, but how about [Y] instead?" and friend insists on going to [X], but I don't like eating at [X], thus I wouldn't have lunch with that person at that time, mildly disappointing, but hardly a big "social cost." Obviously you are not suggesting that everyone always exclusively eats out at Chick-fil-A, so I just don't see the problem... personally, not only have I boycotted Chick-fil-A since 1985 or so, I've not entered a McDonalds since around 1998 or so, not for any particular boycott or other reason, I just have zero interest in any of their food, so I don't eat there. In the 25+ years I've been avoiding them, there have only ever been two occasions when this has been the slightest bit of a problem, one time was in rural West Virginia, and McDonalds was literally the ONLY restaurant open within a 25 mile radius of where I was... so I didn't eat dinner that night, no big deal, I had a nice breakfast the next morning. Similarly, on the other occasion, I was on a charter bus that stopped at a rest area that only had a McDonalds, so I didn't eat; I knew I would be able to get food at the destination, so I just waited 4 more hours, hardly a problem. I just had another thought as to possible social cost: what if someone arranged a big social event, something like a wedding reception, at a Chick-fil-A? In that case I can definitely see how there could be difficulties, that not attending the event would have a high social cost, and I don't have a good answer for what to do in that situation, but I don't think that that is a common scenario.
@@icecreamorc wow, sorry that you had such a clueless and arrogant manager! It sounds like you perhaps dodged a bullet there, getting out of a toxic work environment early on, and (hopefully) with unemployment benefits.
@@icecreamorc interesting tale, never worked offices, I can see where the confrontation issue was in your reaction... just waiting and sliding it into a garbage can if you didn't want to eat it, either way it was bought for you so the damage was done whatever the fate of the sandwich was... if you didn't want to work for a company that didn't want to have to cater to your values, you found a way out. The sandwich may have been a one time sharing of what the public whohaw was about at that time, and not really a support for the issues, did they do other foods as lunch gifts like pizza?... it might have been a one off event, had you been working there long enough to know the context of the likelihood of the sandwich would be what you would be eating for the rest of your career... the confrontational response to perhaps a clueless gift of food by someone who thought they were making and extra effort to be nice... like going after a box of the Crispy Cream doughnuts as a treat for their fellow workers... on the rare occasions when the lumber mill I worked in wanted to treat us to a free meal... they would barbecue hamburgers and hotdogs with stuff like chilli on the side, made by the owner and office staff... or maybe ordering a variety of pizzas from a local chain like Alfys Pizza... that kind of stuff is "team building ", when you only have a half hour to eat... something hot is a nice change from years of make do foods. If you were taken by surprise by a gift and then refused with complaint, I am not surprised by the reaction, a private explanation of the hazards of offering controversial food, might have made you a team player, concerned about that person's future and it might have stopped future repetitions of that food being gifted, as a hazardous team building effort... you might still be working there in a better position. I did rise though the ranks of the lumber mill over the years almost at the insistence of my bosses... if I had issues I avoided being confrontational, like getting the lubricant changed in a machine center by doing research and offering it to the bosses... the air quality was improved as a result of them seeing the research done at another lumber mill that showed diesel and water was no better than water alone in the quad saw (4 bandsaws on 6 foot spinning wheels cutting at the same time)... I was not confrontational, I appeared helpful... my interest was in improving my air quality... like I said, I never worked offices, so I might not guess what else might have been involved in your experience. I am retired now, pension and so on... it is an interesting state to be in.
I'm indifferent to their food but I absolutely avoid any area that has a Chick-fil-A because it's a traffic nightmare and adds like 5-10 minutes on my commute. It's like dumping kerosene on the fire that is US infrastructure
100% true, and I don’t get it either. Do they make a good chicken sandwich? Sure. Is it good enough to wait in a huge line for? Not even close. It’s way overrated IMO
We have one and the lines are clogging up a side road more then a main drag... I never bothered to get in that line more because I am not into long lines, the other fast food places tend to have shorter lines... so I am a bit clueless about the PC blow up... how can you boycott someone you can't get to anyway... so I am hearing Adam explaining why the lines are so long.... it might be easier to reproduce a version described by Adam.... got a hot pot?....then to face those lines. I have run into their sauces in the local grocery store.... okay I guess, but I like the Arby's Horsey sauce better, also on the shelf lately.... I tend to get very tender moist pork, beef, chicken using my induction cooker...and I can add Horsey sauce on my maybe not so fast food... So if I ask can someone tell me what PC sin the management did, I would guess someone could tell me, or I could Google the issue. And Adam is nice enough to outline the issues involved... nicely done.
I remember, similar to the Publix incident, one video where Adam used Goya beans for something and got complaints in the comments. I thought from this comment that that's what the controversial beans were, but nope. Now I'm terrified. I hope it's not black bean brownies.
@teslaClesDeviant navy bean pie > sweet potato pie. My mind was quite literally blown. I couldn't believe it and relatively speaking it's actually pretty healthy for you All Things Considered (protein and fiber and to slow the uptake of sugar plus nutrients not found in sweet potatoes almost make you feel guilt-free devouring this desert 😁)
I'm a Southerner who dislikes Chick-fil-A and doesn't eat there partially out of distaste for the food and partially out of principle. Believe me, I know of what I speak, am not lying to myself or you, and am not a total cynic. I ate there many times as a kid, mainly because it was a favorite of family members from Georgia, and long before the company started it's late 20th century expansion. The only Chick-fil-A in our area was in a mall food court, right outside the movie theater, so it was more of a special treat at the time (70s & 80s). The food was better then, but mainly for the nostalgia factor. Back in the day, my favorite was the old school chicken salad sandwich - minced breast meat with slightly sweetish mayo and pickles (and a very occasional, finely chopped almond) on crisply toasted, thin whole wheat bread. I think I liked it most because it was my grandmother's favorite also. That menu item went the way of the dodo long ago. Doesn't sound very appealing to the current me in terms of quality, but it was good when I was a kid. I'd give a lot to get to eat another one of those with my grandmother. Fast forward to 2023 and their food is middling at best, even more overly sweetened, and, as Adam notes, heavily MSG laden, so not really my thing. It's almost a caricature of itself. If I'm going to spend all those calories, I'd choose Zaxby's, Culver's or Whataburger any day of the week. Incidentally, Culver's and Whataburger manage to pull off a similar service strategy without the creepy factor, and Zaxby's chicken is better. That having been said, I happen to be gay and the company's and the family's very public spending and support for anti-gay causes would have been more than enough to sour me on their food even if it truly was extraordinary. Luckily, my local Chick-fil-A is surrounded by many choices including a Zaxby's, Bojangles, Popeye's, and a KFC. I'll never have to face that harrowing gauntlet of the multiple drive thru lines poking out into heavy traffic and the creepy employees blessing me unless someone requests that I stop there. This world is full of numerous options for where to shop. If I can buy food at a place that I like as well or better and doesn't make me feel creeped out and despised, forgive me for taking my custom there. I don't have a problem with people who like to eat at Chick-fil-A or to shop at Publix whether out of habit or preference, but the way Adam pretends these two establishments are the pinnacle of corporate efficiency and excellence kind of boggles my mind. Both are mid at best, both are overpriced for what you get, and both are suffused with the kind of faux (and enforced) religiosity and self-congratulation that I find very off-putting. Don't get me started on all the customers who consciously go to these establishments BECAUSE of their reputation for supporting causes that denigrate gays and supporting insurrection. Nonetheless, Publix is my closest grocery store, so I will run in there occasionally for convenience sake and regret the high prices I pay every time for their mediocre fare. Luckily, I don't have that problem with Chick-fil-A often, but even I still might stop there in a pinch if it was the only option at an interstate exit, for instance. Truthfully, though, I do feel a little guilty, a little dirty after having gone either of these places because of their association with the forces of hate, and I'm glad that I do. You can call that virtue signaling if you like, but I think it's a lot closer to a virtue itself. Awareness of the reality, compromise with the reality, trying to do better, wrestling with it. I like to think that's what Adam does in his better moments, too. However, the worst part of this podcast was Adam's bit about his privilege as an educated Northerner. Somehow he managed to be even more condescending to the South than the standard, more straightforward, and frankly accurate case many Northerners make about the many ills of Southern culture. (Yikes, what was that uniformed blather about the Civil War and slavery? Better luck next time!) Some of us poor, benighted Southerners managed to get excellent educations and figured out how our culture sucked all on our own -- and guess what, there were Southerners, white and black, who opposed slavery before and during the Civil War. Don't get me wrong, Southern culture has good points, too, plenty of them. Sugary, additive-pumped, fast-food fried chicken isn't one of them. Wish y'all could have tried my grandfather's recipe, fried in cast iron, now that would have been something worthy of an hour+ long podcast.
Whatever who cares. It tastes good and it’s fast. And you know some of us don’t want to eat at the LGBQ places too but if we boycotted all those we wouldn’t have anywhere to eat. Not everyone is as morally perfect and Puritan minded as you are
I’m currently living in New England temporarily, you can get the pretentious vibe here and also a subtle level racism as someone that’s a POC. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one to have gotten the education superiority vibe from this podcast. I grew up in the south, but attended university in an Ivy school. Even in that environment they look down on you despite a stellar status of an Ivy League student. As for the racism, I can definitely confirm they have a misunderstanding of the preconceived notion that the south is full of racists, and they would look at my in pity as a POC that grew up there. Tbh, I’ve experienced more racism in my first 5 months in New England than my 20 years in the south. Talking to me slowly as if I didn’t understand English, like are you kidding me? On a side note, as soon as you mentioned Bojangles, my immediate thought is NC, but only because that’s literally where it originated. I miss NC…
@@robster7787the data shows that the group most likely to change how they speak when talking to different ethnic groups is white liberals (self identifying), which MA is full of. As a new Yorker, you see it all the time, they can't imagine how blacks would be able to do anything without their help
Some (hopefully) legally protected answers to the chicken questions/comments, from an anonymous Chick-Fil-A worker: The chicken is absolutely brined. It's shipped in bags where it's packed in a semi-thick liquid, not like the chicken juice you get in any old pack of chicken breasts. That being said, it is probably not pickle juice. The brine smells mostly like garlic, onion, and pepper, and really not too acidic. The brine might have something like citric acid or other tenderizers, the only issue is that chicken being shipped and then held before breading might be sitting in a tightly sealed refrigerator bag of brine for several days. If it were something like pickle juice, it would be mush by the time we cook it. The pressure fryers really do quite a lot for retaining moisture, but the chicken definitely gets hotter than 165F. We temp it multiple times a day to ensure safety and it usually sits between 180 and 200F. I think it's more important that the chicken is not raw and the outside is brown, so understandably overcooking is not the biggest concern. You got the battering pretty much spot on, though I can't make any claims on what's inside the flour dredge, it's all pre-packaged. I've never seen anyone do the "thumb rubbing" action you described, and I'm not familiar with the video you mentioned, so I can't speak to whether that's true or was just a marketing stunt. To get uniform thickness, we use "fillet rollers" that are essentially a big corrugated pasta roller to flatten the breasts into fillets. The breaders do push the dredge really hard into the chicken, honestly though that's just good practice for any fried chicken. Also I know it's nitpicky, but especially when we're busy, the chicken isn't exactly small batch. we'll drop like 9 fillets in a single batch, using one of those layered frying baskets so every 2 or 3 fillets is separated by a little metal rack. The timers to keep the chicken fresh is a very real thing, but the corporate heated storage systems have the window set for like 20 minutes so there's plenty of time to sell it. I hope this doesn't sound too good to be true, I was careful not to make any outrageous claims or share intimate details since that's probably against company policy, but I haven't hidden any significant detail or bad practices. I definitely stand by our chicken, it's consistently well-prepared.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the peanut oil yet. A huge part of the flavor and the crispy texture (in my opinion at least) comes from the fact that it's fried in 100% peanut oil. KFC and Popeyes both use a blend of canola and soybean oil (as do most of the less chicken-forward fast food establishments, although interestingly, Five Guys does use peanut oil for their fried items)
@@macerra4401 wow, the peanut oil would both be important for temperature and flavor, but very dangerous to people with peanut allergies. It’s a good thing they post ingredients these days, or that would be a problem for a significant though small minority of people.
There are obvious and indisputable reasons why Chick-Fil-A is so good and so successful. Adam is 100% correct when he says anybody who disagrees is lying/full of shit etc. When you drive up to that crazy looking drivethru queue, it can be quite intimidating. Especially if you're in a hurry. Then you bite the bullet just one time instead of driving off and prepare to wait 30+ minutes to get food. 10-15 minutes later *_at worst_* as you are driving away from the store, you realize the truth of the entire system. Even here in MO where it gets legit hot and cold, they installed hanging fans and IR heaters for the drivethru workers comfort. I'm sure that job still sucks, but it could be worse.
Alright Adam, I've watched this whole episode start to finish. I feel like I've done my due diligence and heard you out. I wasn't particularly frustrated with you (or even against what you were saying) until the last 15 minutes or so. At that point, you took a pretty radical turn that I just could not condone. CFA didn't stop the bulk of its nonprofit donations that caused *active, deliberate, and widespread harm* until 2018. Even since then, it has continued to donate to PACs and politicians that espouse *dangerous positions rooted in lies* on queer and trans people as recently as last year. They haven't "come into our tent". They've just stopped lighting it on fire in favor of running it over with their car. I'm a queer trans person in the South. One of my first job applications was to CFA. I was in a group interview, and the interviewer stopped addressing me as soon as me being trans came up (my legal name had not yet been changed, hence why it came up). My family still goes to CFA almost religiously. There are seven CFA locations where I live. As such, I am frustrated that you painted the CFA boycott as a movement made up of Northerners who have no dog in the fight, and thus, have the privilege of taking an easy side. Most of the people I know who still boycott are Southern queer people. We're facing undeniable and ever-rising levels of hateful and harmful legislation, discrimination, and violence. CFA is donating to the people causing that harm. To a lot of us, the people who defend going to CFA are showing that they won't stand by us if it's inconvenient. This might not be immediately apparent or intuitive, which is why I don't put that to everyone who eats there. But for the people who know, there isn't an excuse. There is no circumstance under which I can condone supporting a business that not only has done nothing to put out the proverbial fire it fueled for so long, but one that still throws on sticks every now and then while people say we should be grateful that it's not logs and lighter fluid. It's disingenuous to say that "we won" when all they did was dial back the harm a bit. I hope you're able to read this comment. I'm not, like, writing you off as "evil" or anything here, but this is context that you absolutely need to know.
Other people can have different opinions about things, and that doesn't make them hateful or evil. You don't get to tell everybody what to believe, or bully them with nonsense phrases like "active, deliberate and widespread harm", or "dangerous positions rooted in lies." Especially when your view is anti-science. I get that you're frustrated in life, but that's because your swimming upstream, against reality. I can't help you with that.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 If you think talking about actual events is "bullying" or "nonsense", or promoting science is "anti-science", I think you have bigger problems than helping people who don't need your help.
Adam when it comes to Dwarf the term it was used almost exclusively for the mythical race of Nordic/German folklore. Then it became a term for smaller versions of things particularly animals. When Truett started to make fhe Dwarf house restaurants Midget was the term du jur for people of limited verticality with Dwarfism being the clinical term.
Yeah, on the whole weird "dwarf" bit, I suspect that's why many people with dwarfism prefer the term "little-people". I've honestly never met anybody who's thought that dwarf is an offensive word in general.
Thinking 'dwarf' as a term in general is offensive is like thinking fatty in fatty acid is offensive just because it's very rude to call a person fatty
the term "dwarf" is generally accepted as a term for a smaller version of a plant or animal in botanical and zoological literature, and i think it's a bit disingenuous to imply that the naming of a location as 'dwarf' for being small is anything more than the same thing. i don't want to be rude or offend anyone with a medical condition either but i don't think it's okay to imply that certain terminology is unacceptable just because it might offend someone when the domain of that is so far removed from anything that could potentially cause offense.
@@oskarileikos I hear mixed responses between dwarf and little people. Dwarf is more clinical, whereas little people is euphemistic, so it varies. That being said I think the issue he discussed is if you make a restaurant themed after dwarfs, that's a problem as opposed to a restaurant just themed to be small. When you call something a dwarf diner, my mind conjures the mythical creature long before it things of small mutant species. Context matters for such things.
Glad someone else feels the same. Literally searched Dwarf in Google to check myself and it's defining a "mythical race of short, stocky humanlike creatures" as number one. I was like, I think they get a pass there.
A thing that confused me about the episode is this idea that Chick-fil-a is a ubiquitous thing that Southerners eat at all the time and seemingly worship at the altar of (I may be exaggerating, but it seemed the me that Adam mentioned this multiple times) I grew up in suburban Texas, I ate there all the time growing up. My family is Christian. My high school was across from a Chic-Fil-A. Even with every single one of those factors, I don't think there is this slavish allegiance to the fast food chain. I mean I grew up in Texas, so Whataburger is the crazy cult, not the chicken sandwich place. So, the idea of boycotting it or giving it up, is really not the craziest thing, especially cause it's not like the South lacks in good fast food, we invented chicken buckets and Louisiana fried chicken and fish fries (did not fact check this). Also not trying to make a moral judgement there. I used to eat there very frequently in high school, it was very convenient, when I learned of the anti-LGBTQ+ stuff, I generally stayed away (I liked Popeyes better but have not heard of the presumably horrible stuff they do as a corporation). Some of my queer and straight friends eat there, some don't. I think in daily life most people don't care too much because frankly, there is more important stuff to care about that (like active queer discrimination in legislatures rn) I get why Adam is so wary to include his patronage at the place though, it must be frustrating being a public figure and therefore being scrutinized to that degree. But I think it's also an odd move to post an hour and a half long podcast about the chain. It's cool that he praises its efficiencies, but it seems like he's lighting a fire that no one wanted burned. Overall, it seems like he wanted to make a podcast justifying why he eats there. It just seems like the justification of it being a way of life in the South feels off, at least according to my experience as a Southerner. If he likes the chicken, he likes it, but trying to create this Northerners hate on Chick-Fil-A because they don't get it because they're Northerners, feels misguided. It's a good chicken sandwich, the people ARE nice, but it's not in the South's DNA like brisket or cold beer on a Friday Night. My question is, is the chicken really worth it? They were actively homophobic, less than 10 years ago. They still donated to anti-LGBTQ within this past decade. They lobbied for shit not too long ago. I'm for forgiveness, and accepting people (or corporations in this case) when they do wrong and try to improve. But it's not like Chic-Fil-A does right, they're just quiet about the homophobia, and personally that feels gross, which is why I get my chicken sandwiches elsewhere. Not getting CFA is virtue signaling, and that's can be a good thing, I personally want to indicate that I would prefer my corporate overlords to be actively anti-homophobic rather than the other way around. Adam if you like Chick-Fil-A, go for it. It just seems silly to argue that it's integral to Southern Living or something like that. Just eat it!
I agree with this. As someone born in Texas and lived here all my life, I was surprised to hear that Chick-Fil-A is somehow a way of life in the South. I'm not sure I've ever met anyone super passionate about Chick-Fil-A. Now, burger places? Absolutely yes. Whataburger is huge here. No one seems to care that much about chicken, and if they do, it's about fried chicken, not chicken sandwiches. I grew up eating Church's and KFC mostly.
This put to words how I was feeling about all this very well. Adam just seems to be trying to rationalize his habits, or is trying to create a defense case for himself if he ever slips up, and what he fears actually happens (him getting mini canceled). with this whole thing he’s acknowledging that he understands this can be bad (hence the hiding the habit in the first place), but instead of going down that path leads to him not eating there because it’s a bad habit in his mind he decided to go fully open about it, and double down for a lack of a better word. Hell as someone who is apart of the LGBTQ+ community I don’t really care that much about CFA, and most queer people don’t as well. Really the only thing queer people care about CFA is that it’s a good indicator on how much a person is actually an ally to the queer community.
Jaibin, love out to you, Man. Extremely articulate and all you have said here is true. I followed the entire story. Adam has obscured parts of the story which are important. Including the fact that after Chick-fil-A claimed that they were no longer donating, it was found that they were donating! By forensic accountants! MORE THAN ONCE! If that is true, then how can we ever trust them again? Also why would you want to put money in the pocket of a wealthy evangelical who even if he doesn't donate through his business he will donate through his own personal bank accounts ???? WHY ADAM WHYYYYYYYY??? Just eat the mediocre chicken, Adam. Stop whining about it. The rest of us will carry your weight if you're weak enough to need that mediocre chicken while feathering the pockets of a wealthy Evangelical family. The last thing we need in America is more evangelicals getting more money to donate to more crazy stuff they believe in. Probably Trump's legal defense.
My perspective as an outsider in a conservative state, Utah, is that Chick-fil-A achieved its cult-like status (at least here) *because* of their support of anti-gay organizations and legislation. We had a couple locations, mostly in malls, that got a normal amount of traffic for a fast food joint. They didn't start regularly obstructing traffic until calls for a boycott started going around and suddenly it was every Mormon's favorite restaurant. I never really ate there, so as Adam said, I wasn't really giving anything up by continuing to not eat there. But I still don't understand why people think their sandwiches are so good that they are worth supporting the morally reprehensible owners of the company. Owners who may have learned a lesson, but most likely the wrong lesson: if you're going to donate money towards supporting the death penalty for gays in foreign countries, do it quietly.
I take issue with the repeated rhetoric that "corporations are people too". No, corporations are not people, they're ran by people. That might sound like I'm being needlessly argumentative but the distinction is important. I sincerely believe that this attitude of treating corporations like people (especially in the legal sense when it's used to create separation between owners and a business and allows for huge corporate donations to be considered "free speech") contributes to a ton of issues with US politics, and the huge gap between the benefits the 1% gain from the economy and the crumbs that sift down to the rest of us. The assertion that "corporations are people" is dangerous, it protects the most wealthy while simultaneously disenfranchising anyone with less money than one of these corporations. You said yourself that your wallet is your most powerful voting tool, and these corporations have deep wallets.
re: Southerners feeling like outsiders are criticizing/boycotting their way of life. My opinion on this may be skewed bc I'm an outsider (an outsider from California at that), but it feels like the South reacts that way to any criticism of anything that happens down there? More relevant to the episode, while I've never boycotted Chick-Fil-A (couldn't exactly stop buying from a chain I never went to in the first place), I did pretty much stop going to our local fast-food-franchise-darling In-n-Out when I found out their owners were donating to anti-LGBT groups. I'm sure if I looked into other places I frequent I'd find similar, but so far I've just been ostrich-ing. I know lots of ppl here who'd never eat at CFA, but are totally unaware of In-n-Out just cause it doesn't brand itself as 'christian' so aggressively.
If you look at the bottom of your In-N-Out cup, you will find a Bible verse. It's written in almost microscopic letters. My friend show me the last time I was there
I don't eat at Chick-fil-A for a few reasons: 1, and the first - I do NOT like breaded fried chicken breast. AT ALL. 2. not fond of their anti-gay policies. 3. the phrase, "My Pleasure" would automatically have me asking the person behind the counter if they really truly meant that, or if their bosses made them say it or lose their jobs. "Is it your pleasure, or is it the knife at your neck?" Seriously - #1 means I don't say that I boycott them, I just dislike breaded fried chicken breast. And one cropped up around 2014-ish where I used to live. I didn't see the point (for me), as right across the street was a Panera's with much better (to me) food. I have no problem with Chick-fil-A franchises starting up wherever they do. I just don't need to eat there.
I have rather particular feelings about Chick-fil-A being a Black Northerner. The feeling is a discomfort about the "perfect being the enemy of good" thing. The Civil war and the period of Reconstruction and its aftermath suggests that the pendulum swing that Chick-fil-A will eventually do should not be forgotten. The Maya Angelou quote: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." and the final lines of that story of the Lady and the Snake: "you knew i was a snake when you picked me up" both come to mind. I think there are legitimate reasons why an outsider can criticize Chick-fil-A much as I can criticize the state of civil rights in the South; we have family there. We are seeing encroachments of Chick-fil-A here in the west and I expect we will pay a high moral price for it.
This! The idea that CFA isn't just biding their time waiting for a chance to seize on this conservative backswing is very short sighted. They may have "learned their lesson" about being hateful loudly, but they're absolutely still being hateful quietly and if they thought it would benefit them, they'd go back to the loud way in a heartbeat. He explained why himself- they're built on a foundation of conservative and religious idealism that runs a lot deeper than "The founder's children are idiots".
Firstly, I am wholly in support of gay rights. But, one thing to note about Chic-fil-A's support for organizations funded by churches that were anti-gay is that 10 years ago, when this happened, Obama and Clinton had just recently come out in support of gay marriage. ~4 years prior, Hillary had just publicly stated she believed marriage was only between a man and a woman. Adam and I could be wrong, but I think Chic-fil-A has pretty much withdrawn all that support, and when I said "organizations funded by churches that were anti-gay", that wording was very intentional; from my understanding, they never funded organizations that did things like directly lobby against gay marriage, they donated to programs for disadvantaged/poor youth and the like that were run by churches that had conservative takes on gay marriage.
In regards to the pickle juice - there's an excellent video on youtube by Jason Framer where he re-creates the Chick-fil-a sandwich recipe. He mentions that current and former employees say there's no pickle juice. I actually followed the recipe he laid out and it tasted spot on to me.
I worked in CFA during my freshman year in college. There’s no pickle juice because we don’t actually know. The chicken arrives in a brined bag already marinated in the liquid. You can definitely smell the garlic, herbs, and spices, so we can’t really say there isn’t pickle juice, however I wouldn’t rule it out given that it’s such a popular ingredient in many restaurants outside of CFA. Hell, we use it to make a special chipotle Mayo at my local bar.
@@robster7787 Yeah, he mentioned that it arrived in the store in a brined bag. He seemed pretty confident in the recipe, only thing he wasn't sure of was the exact ratio of the spices for the brine.
Corporations are not people. Corporations are ideas that represent decisions made by groups of people. It is fair to criticize decisions made by groups of people, and even individuals, in a de-humanized way. I'm queer, I live in Kansas, and there is no shortage of Chick-fil-A in my market. I think it's fair to say that I am in no way an "outsider" to this discussion. It's nice to know how well Chick-fil-A locations are run, and I'm happy to hear that they largely treat their employees well. But that doesn't change that they are a corporation that spent millions of dollars over many, many years actively trying to restrict my rights. I take their actions and decisions personally, because I was, in a sense, personally targeted by them. That also doesn't change that they are a corporation that is still owned by and run by a family who believes that my fundamental nature is somehow unnatural. I appreciate that they have ceased giving money to groups that hate me, but I have not (and likely will not) forgiven them for doing so in the first place. All that being said, I don't judge anyone who decided to resume their patronage of Chick-fil-A after these donations stopped, but I, personally, will not be. Adam, I always appreciate how candid you are about sensitive topics like this, and I find that I generally agree with your opinions for the most part. I disagreed with certain things you said in this podcast just enough to write this comment.
@Benjamin Earl Music They _aren't_ a corporation. If they were they wouldn't donate to organizations that would potentially target hate at their own shareholders.
Well said. Queer guy here as well and I agree with everything you said. I don''t care what other people do but I cannot support them. This episode kind of annoyed me because it seemed to be an overly long and unnecessary attempt by Adam to justify patronizing Chick-fil-A that I found insulting in spots.
As an LGBT person: I'm not going to yell at you, or shun you, or call you a homophobe if you walk in with a CFA bag. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's a little red flag with an acquaintance. It will make me more hesitant to tell you about my girlfriend; I'll be more careful about floating a test balloon to see if you're going to be a jerk about trans people; you're going to be the one whose face I glance at to check for a flash of discomfort when gay characters kiss in a TV show we're watching. As you say, there are other corporations that do worse, but come on, let's be honest; we live in a society, and eating there has become a political statement regardless of whether or not it should be. I also see your point about wanting to reward people (or corporations) for change! I'm all for that! I would be more convinced by this argument if CFA had shown any willingness to apologize for their past views, donate to LGBTQ+ causes, or remove the virulent homophobes from their board of directors.
You said this really well. I'm also queer and that's about how I feel. It also puts me in a weird spot whenever I'm "expected" to join a social gathering at Chic-Fil-A. I'm not comfortable at all spending my money there (and I live in an area with plenty), but it's pretty normal for people to invite me to lunch or something at a chick-fil-a and I always have a hard time navigating those situations, cuz it signals to me that the person never even considered that I (openly and visibly queer) might have a problem with it. I was on board with the "Reward corporations for change" when it was first leaked that they'd stopped donating to causes back in 2018. However, as I understand they still give to *some* hate groups, including the one that funded the Ugandan murder law (I don't have a source on-hand for this though, so don't take my word), so I can't say that I want to give my dollars to that.
100% this. Adam can talk as much as he wants about people not being effected by this because they don't go there anyways, but at the end of the day this is the reality of our experiences as gender and sexual minorities. And it's really annoying to be talked down to about not being effected by this by a straight, cis man.
I don't really understand why anybody would scoff at MSC (mechnically seperated chicken) I mean nuggets are just the hotdog of a chicken. they are a good cheap food. and plus it's probably better to use all the edible meat on a chicken, then to waste it because it's not good enough? it obviously is good enough for plenty of people. it's just feels like a scare tactic to make people fight over nothing. of course you have much better chicken as breast / tenders or thighs, but you'll still have MSC to use for something else.
@@BloodSprite-tan The hotdog of chicken is a great way to put it. I feel the same, sure it might not be the desirable parts of the animal but it still contains nutrition and it's tasty.
@@DaddyGandhi that's the other thing. they are functionally different parts of the chicken so you enjoy breat and thighs doesn't really affect nuggets at all. except just makes it possible? because unless you're buying breast with ribs attached and whole thighs, there will always be meat left over. you can have nuggets thighs and breast together with the same bird.
@@busimagen that's not what mechanically separated muscle is. If you ever disassembled a boiled chicken after making stock, you know there's lots of tiny weak fibers that cling to bones and between bones; they're hard to separate from gristle and generally don't have that great of a texture. That's what chicken meatballs and nuggets are usually made from, not actual large muscles. I usually feed them to my cats.
Re: the MSG component, there is another fast food non-Asian application of MSG that, in my estimation, is at least as prominent as in Asian food: Many Americanized taco chains (and convenience stores) put a whole lot of MSG in their nacho cheese sauce.
@@comlitbeta7532 nope, that's a myth spawned from a letter from a scientist writing a health journal back in the (I believe) 1950s. Said letter wasn't peer-reviewed research and might have just been an inside joke with other scientists. He described "Chinese restaurant syndrome" and how he felt bad after eating food with a lot of MSG, and the myth spiraled from there. If you eat most popular snack foods or fast food, you've eaten a lot of MSG. It's a flavoring that's about as harmful as something like salt or paprika, unless you're one of the very rare few people with a genetic intolerance for it.
@@comlitbeta7532 maybe if you ate like 3 pounds of it everyday for 30 years. But MSG is used in such tiny quantities that it's harmless on its own. The panic was invented to vilify Chinese takeout restaurants.
Depending on who you talk to, I live in the south. Not the deep south mind you, but Richmond was the capital of the confederacy. I've had the food, and I do like it, but I can't eat there anymore. I have so many friends who are gay or non binary, and some have been through conversation therapy. As good as it used to taste, the bad taste it leaves in my mouth knowing that on a corporate level, they don't view my friends as people. I won't attack you for eating there, but in America, more often than not, you vote with your dollar, and those votes do add up. Luckily though, we have many restaurants here in the city that are open on Sundays and have fun riffs on the sandwich like the vegan "chick fil-aint" and a local restaurant called Cobra Cabana that puts out a "Gay fil-a" that donates proceeds on Sundays to local shelters and LGBT groups.
Yeah, there are so many good alternatives that it's easy to avoid spending money there. And I agree, their un-american views on some of our population should be shunned
They don't view your friends as people? That's just you projecting your opinion onto them. I've seen no real facts about Chick-fil-A... just ridiculous hyperbole about how they want to put your friends in camps and eliminate them.
I find it kinda funny how Adam talks about Chick Fil A as it were some kind forbidden fruit, some irresisitible glorious temptation only resisted by those who don't have access to it
yeah there's plenty of them in my area. I will never eat there because I have a little something called morals and values that don't bend for fried fucking chicken.
@@dyldylwin I didn't, I don't even necessarily disagree with anything Adam said (outside one or two minor points). I just genuinely found that aspect funny. I'm not from the US, I've never had chick fil a, but after this video I really wanna try it. Even started looking up copycat recipes lol.
@@rodrigodemiguellamminen5244 I had it. It was a perfectly fine chicken sandwich. Us northerners just don't care about fried chicken like the south does. But yeah the 1st one we got was literally so packed that they HAD to open a second one nearby, just to try and relieve the stress on the first one. It basically took up half a homedepot parking lot just for the line of cars. The funniest part was that homedepot probably thought it was a great idea to bring in customers, but it actually drove wawy customers as their parking lot was destroyed.
It’s because giving up something you love is difficult enough if you know it’s run by horrible people. I myself tend to have the same issue. I’m bisexual and I still eat cfa because it’s delicious. The fact that they were able to make a sandwich so delicious that even someone who’s bisexual and knows about the donations still eats there is scary and incredible at the same time.
I'm a queer Tennessean who, basically has been boycotting Chick-fil-A for many years. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard that they had moved away from their anti-lgbtq views and donations, but that's great to hear, and I'll probably stop boycotting them as actively. But I am confused about your stance that it is "difficult" to boycott Chick-fil-A in the south. Due to my boycott, I have missed like, 2 meals across almost 10 years, when I was unable to convince a social group to not go to Chick-fil-A. It's not like Chick-fil-A is the only option anywhere, it would be difficult to boycott places like Walmart or Dollar General if you live in a small town, but I just don't think it's difficult to boycott Chick-fil-A, even in the south.
It likely depends on your particular social circles. Age bracket, income level, general "location", family-status, and what your interests are. It'd be helpful to know a little more about the people who Adam was thinking of, but he's travelled enough to - i think - get a good grasp of the "average" person. But like a bunch of other comments pointed out, it's probably more that CFA is the "we bring our kids to mcdonalds when they get good grades or we otherwise don't have time to cook" of the lower-middle to upper-middle income family-focused portion of the south that Adam has interacted with due to his kids being in school. I'm someone who prefers doing things that appear to be more-correct and consistent, and the initial lossses of social capital from nonconformity that often creates isn't a problem for me. But there are a LOT of people who are more about harmony than anything, to keep their support network up. And a chunk of those people get distrustful of those who break from the standard too much. This isn't limited to just the southerners of the topic, just to be clear.
Adam, isn't your stance here incongruous with what you said about buying Hogwarts: Legacy? I feel that the arguments you make in defense of yourself with respect to patronizing at Chick-fil-A/Publix could also apply to buying that game.
I don't think it's very incongruous. He argues in this video that we've seemingly won the battle with CFA, and they're no longer aggressively pushing anti-lgbt talking points/donating to blatant hate groups. Because of that, he's fine spending his money there. Personally I doubt the minds of the Cathy family have been changed on any issue, and I'm pretty sure Adam feels similarly, but at least outwardly the company has demonstrably changed its tune and its financial support. And that's about all you can realistically hope to accomplish with the boycott of a massive corporation like CFA. With hogwarts legacy, JKR is extraordinarily vocal about her ongoing support of TERF groups and is also directly benefitting from the game's sales. She's straight upsaid that she views the game's success as a metric for how much people agree with her. There's no way you can argue that any boycotts of the game have changed her stance, inwardly or outwardly. So, Adam recommended not buying the game to that one viewer who asked his opinion.
Part of the profits will go to people who will privately support anti lgbt efforts. I think its pretty similar. Though there really is no ethical consumption under capitalism blahblahblah.
@@adamlandy1322 yeah, and part of the profits from Chick-fil-A go towards massive animal abuse in cruel factory farming operations, and as of 2017 they were still funding the Salvation Army, an anti LGBT group. As he said in the video, Publix heiress Julie Jenkins Fancelli is an Alt-right nutjob who helped fund the stop the steal insurrection. Both of those are arguably worse than what Joling Koling Rowling is doing, but he's got no problem with that because, again quoting from the video, any sufficiently large organization will have some horrible people on board.
@@DiabetoDan Yeah, but the Cathy family hasn't recanted, and CFA has only been quiet on the issue. The money is probably still flowing, but it is flowing from the Cathy family (in private) rather than public transactions from non-profits. Unlike "some founder's asshole children", every dollar you spend at CFA probably does contribute some % to fighting against rights for LGBTQ. The fact that they "wised up" and do it behind closed doors is a victory, but a pretty minor one IMO. =(
That's been a consistent problem with Adam's neoliberal politics. He'll gesture vaguely to "safe" progressive stances, but he can only seemingly conceive of it in market terminology. The only engagement that's valid with CFA is boycotting or not boycotting, and therefore, seemingly in Adam's eyes, if you cannot boycott effectively then you have little place to talk about CFA. This, of course, conveniently makes it so the people who "get a say" in this matter is the same culture that demanded and favored the anti-queer stances of CFA's founders, despite their impact on queer rights reaching *far* beyond the suburban south. This centering of people like himself extends to his views about the taboo about CFA being about boycotting - they've "been punished" and changed their business, and so Adam views ongoing hostility as bullying them while they're down, the "them" being an extremely well off corporation that aims to become multinational. He doesn't seem to quite see the value that the people actually impacted by CFA's queerphobia get from the shared taboo of CFA - it's not *just* about the boycott, because boycotts are often ineffective in isolation anyways, but that the signalling he derided so much is important for safety. Knowing who values you more than a chicken sandwich is knowing who will meaningfully help you as conditions continue to deteriorate and lynchings become a more present threat. And a willingness to ignore that marker for a chicken sandwich chain, whose response was to avoid being "political" rather than avoid being queerphobic, makes someone seem a lot less safe to trust. And CFA is often seen and held up as a cultural signifier by the right. But to Adam, the people who raise a stink are just mistaken or obnoxious or looking down on him because he can't connect it directly to a dollar amount donated to a specific known bad organization. People are being mean to a brand he identifies with, which is _totally_ different from when people were playing the TERF game about putting down a revolt of goblins who were tricked by outside agitators to fight for their freedom. This happens in a lot of his videos touching on politics, his financial success seems to have indoctrinated him pretty heavily into this whole "markets will do what's right" mentality without really thinking about those that perspective is required to ignore. Capitalism has made the world the most prosperous it's ever been, so long you're not the majority of people who have to live where capitalism extracts all its resources and labor in order ro provide luxuries to people like Adam. He is a very bog standard rich white liberal, he's not going to object to the very idea of regulation like a libertarian and he's generally not going to identify as a bigot, but he's the kind of person MLK would complain about as an obstacle to civil rights, the man pleading for civility and thinking it's about changing hateful hearts as though liberation struggles are for the spiritual growth of those in positions of power. he makes good pan pizza though so i guess i'm stuck hearing this shit between food history facts.
Adam, I'm curious: I live in the suburbs of PNW (greater Seattle area) and if I were to go to google maps and draw a 3 mile radius around my house, I have 2 McDonalds, 2 Taco Bell, 2 Jack in the Box, 1 Burger King, 1 Chipotle and 1 Chic-fil-a. It is no more inconvenient for me to visit chick-fil-a than any other fast food establishment. In your estimation is my choice not to patronize them impactful? I think, with only limited anecdotal evidence, that you're under estimating the extent they've penetrated the national market in terms of accessibility (if I extend that radius to 10 miles there are 5 chick-fil-a). If you were referring to market share of total fast food $$ by region, you'd likely have a point but in terms of accessibility I bet most people, living near a metropolitan area have reasonable access to a Chick-fil-a at this point and their choice to patronize that establishment or not is a meaningful choice.
I was thinking the same thing. We got plenty of them up here in Ohio. I'm sure they are less prevalent in rural northern states, but there isn't a lot of other fast food restaurants in those areas either.
I think this really depends on your area. Up until fairly recently I lived in the suburbs of a midsize city the northeast and the closest Chick-fil-A that wasn't in the secure part of an airport terminal was a 2 hour drive away. There's been talk of one opening up closer by for ages with the comments sections of articles always devolving into exactly what Adam describes in the video. I've since moved to a southern state and within a 10 mile radius of me there are literally 18 Chick-fil-A locations. At least in my experience on the east coast, the prevalence of the chain (and relative ease of avoiding locations) isn't really comparable.
It's poppycock. The point is that Southerners don't like it when Northerners boycott "their" place. So Adam is annoyed that Northerners are boycotting. Period. 🙄 I am also a Seattlite. I was planning on doing a web show with my trans son and so we wore dark glasses and walked into Chick-fil-A to see what we would be missing for the REST OF OUR LIVES. We decided that we were missing nothing. The chicken was extremely mediocre and if it tasted anything like that heavenly chicken Adam has described, maybe I would regret not eating it. Instead I use the Chick-fil-Gay recipe that I got from the Internet. And I make it at home. Some of the best damn chicken I have ever made in my life and I'm a professional cook. Marinated in pickle juice. You can either roast it or bread/fry it. It tastes great either way. And it tastes way better made at my house.* It tastes extremely extremely extremely mediocre at the Tacoma, WA Chick-fil-A. ------- *Food made at home, imho, always taste better since you can tailor it to your own personal tastes. For instance, I always: 1) soak at least 24 hours + 2) use sweet, instead of dill pickle brine.
@@nicolechafetz3904 Thats really cool what you are doing with your son. As a trans person myself, I am still going to avoid Chick-fil-a. I might have to try that chick-fil-gay recipe.
The drive thru model Adam describes is also used by Portillos in the Chicagoland area, and they do it despite our frigid our winters. The employees either wait inside or sit in a tent with a space heater, or at least that’s how they do it at the one near my apartment
I don’t live in Chicago, but I’ve been to like 3 or so Portillos locations in the chicagoland area and never seen that so it doesn’t seem to be a universal practice.
I was probably a part of them putting doors in the drive through. In 2017, I received a severe concussion from giving a customer their bag of food in the drive thru and of course, chick fil a paid for everything…hospital bills and rehabilitation and all. I couldn’t work for a month. They were very kind. But they lost a lot of money, drive thrus aren’t safe
It's weird that I have researched the exact same information about Chick-fil-A, I have read similar articles and hold a very similar value/moral structure to Adam (hence why I've watched almost all of his content and listen to the podcast). After all that, I come to a much different conclusion and that's not spend a dime at that store. This is where we differ, corporations aren't people, and should not be treated as such. And no, not all consumption within capitalism is evil. There are absolutely businesses that operate with a higher moral standard than just profit and haven't historically or actively invested in evil, conservative special interests. Chick-fil-A might be full of hospitable and polite people, but as a corporation, they sure as fuck aren't allies to achieving basic human rights of the LGBTQ community.
I'm not convinced you actually read any of these, but here it goes anyway. 1. Asking who is doing the criticizing is valid, but for all of us queer southerners, it's a moot point. We do live here, it is an active choice, and we still hate that they have never made right with a huge swath of people who just want to be left alone. Withdrawing the most obvious of their financial ties is not some grand show of support, it's the bare minimum trying to mop up an ink stain they were proud to paint on their own faces at the time. That pride doesn't disappear just because they suddenly decided it was more profitable to be mum. It also speaks not at all to the personal donations that members of the CFA dynasty are very likely still making, and which are not a matter of public record. Back to the Harry Potter idea, it's JKR's personal stake and actions that matter, not the corporate entity of Harry Potter. This is no different. Money talks and they're spewing hate, still. 2. I don't know if you know this or not, but when I was in middle and high school, you could get Chick-fil-A IN YOUR SCHOOL CAFETERIA. I believe this has since been stopped for a variety of reasons, but their cultural pervasiveness isn't limited to purchases made by and for adults. They were allowed to spread their ideals into schools (the irony of a conservative bastion pushing ideals onto school children is not lost on me) through piled high mounds of sandwiches you could purchase in the cafeteria line. I had kids tell me, to my face, that they'd burn a gay person on a fire if it meant they could still have CFA sandwiches at lunch. Why? Because that cultural pervasiveness you explained as some kind of defense works just as well in reverse. 3. Just because they chose greed over their own moral grandstanding doesn't mean that we all just forgot about the moral grandstanding. I was a queer teenager trying to run a high school GSA and an active participant in state level pro-LGBT organizing during the "anti-boycott" era of CFA, and there is no single event that I can think of that drove home the message to me that the people around me cared more about tasty chicken in their day to day lives than about my rights as a human being and the life and well being of all the other queer youth around me. Some of which literally cried on my shoulder over the ordeal. Some of their families went and spend hundred of dollars at CFA during that period and would put it in front of their queer kids and tell them to eat or go hungry. It is about the money, but it's also about the message. "See? People care more about us than about you." And that's one that will never fade for me, even if it's not truly about CFA. 4. "Slavery was bad but- [Something that is not in any way equally as bad as the institution of slavery]." I get the point you're trying to make here but it just isn't a good one. At all. That's a false equivalence if I've ever heard one, and that's not even touching on the fact that the topic of the Civil War, individual reasons for waging said war, and the attitude of North vs South that persists is barely topically related. Starbucks was founded in the liberal epicenter of Seattle and I boycott them for their abysmal practices as well- it's not about hating on southerners (I am from Texas, so IMO I count as southern despite all the hemming and hawing that we're actually western) it's about standing up against the blatant and proud disposition of hatred and conservative idealism from some specific companies. They want the conservative cookies for being the way they are and are hoping moderate liberal folks just like you will rationalize away their prior actions. They get to have both, and stand for neither. 5. I don't believe for even one moment that CFA and those who are similar are actually "in our tent" now. They have done only the amount necessary to placate moderates and legal rules about non discrimination and to make sure they aren't the prime targets in any future culture war about the topic. They haven't magically changed their minds about gay people, they haven't suddenly come around on trans inclusion, they aren't giving mass amounts of money to causes that I personally deem to be in opposition of their prior views. They don't deserve my business, which is the sole reason that I don't give it to them. That is true of A LOT of companies and I try my very best to abide by that ideal, of speaking with my wallet because it's the only thing corporations are actually capable of hearing. Because they aren't people, not really. People can have empathy. People can be reasoned with. People are individuals with flaws yes, but also with positive traits. Corporations are machines to profit and the irony is that they are more than happy to steal from, oppress, downplay, ruin, and otherwise harm the people who are actually responsible for the success you attribute to them. The person who came up with the idea for the "masterful" service at CFA probably didn't get a lot out of that idea- it was taken and used so that a small percentage of people at the top, the already successful and wealthy, could become even more so. If that person got so much as a 2% bonus I would be incredibly shocked. 6. In short... not good enough, not for good enough reasons, and not informed enough. Ultimately I am not going to call someone a bigot themselves for their choice to eat at Chick-fil-A. I've been served CFA in settings where it would go very badly for me if I were to refuse and I stayed quiet because speaking out would come at too high a personal cost. This isn't about lambasting people who make different choices than the ones I make. However given all that, I DO think that we can make better- if not perfect- choices with how we spend our money and that as you just said, we should not allow perfect to be the enemy of better. There are more morally positive choices to make than CFA if you need to grab a 9 AM breakfast sandwich, and nothing you've said in this hour and twenty minutes has convinced me otherwise. Do I think you're suddenly anti LGBTQ for choosing CFA? No, no I don't. Do I think your idea of ethical consumption should be a little more focused on other people and a little less focused on yourself? Yeah, yeah I do.
Its really fun to go through the comments and see that the people agreeing with him are like a step away from just saying slurs at people like yourself.
Well put. I hope he does read this, it's a very concise, and thorough list of the problems I had with his explanation. I also had a problem with him saying that non-southern liberal states don't have room to talk because CFA isn't anywhere near them. California is lousy with them. 4th most locations in the country.
You're right that it's a far easier decision to make when you're not likely to eat their food regardless. I can't eat there (due to dietary restrictions) but I also avoid fast food in general, whether or not the chain in question has "cultural significance" here in the North--it was a big deal when (amidst all that controversy) they opened one in NYC and I think we now have a few of them. I don't guilt anyone for eating fast food, it just doesn't make sense for my lifestyle and thankfully I'm able to enjoy plenty of food I prefer. Still, I find it odd that, when options for fast food are plentiful, people will go to a place that has a history of supporting hateful organizations and other groups in support of their religious view of the world. Stopping payments to particular hateful orgs is great and probably a reason to lighten up a bit but it doesn't change the views and support of the people who own the company. It's great that their company is no longer directly funding a group that supports conversation therapy. But knowing that they *used to do that* (up until relatively recently) still colors my view of the company. Of course there's plenty of companies doing/supporting vile things that I may not know about and I don't take a particular stance on all (or most) of them. But I don't think it's hypocritical to take stances on the ones I *do* know about. And I don't think it's hypocritical to do so just because I'm not going to eat there regardless (whether due to region or diet)--even if that makes it easier.
Is very strange you fully concede but you are making empty platitudes and/or virtual signalling. But you decide to double down and in an effort to explain away the hypocrisy you claim it is okay because you are ignorant and actively choose to be so. Someone who also doesn't eat at Chick-fil-A you sound even worse than the people you claim to be protesting.
As you see it, that is fine. What you have no right to do is block locations with mobs so those who DO want to go there cannot. As you stated, you are not their customer so your voice means nothing to them in the context of what you view as hateful organizations. They are doing just fine, expanding even in Blue states. And yes, gay conversion 'therapy' is akin to human to fish 'conversion therapy'. One who objects to gays ought to have an imaginary conversation with their imaginary guy in the sky as to why gays are born to normal god fearing hetrosexuals.
Chick-fil-a is a central player in several formative memories of mine. We ate there all the time when I was growing up. The most formative memory was at some indeterminate point when I was in high school, there was a single day boycott organized nationally to protest chick-fil-a’s homophobia. My dad, being a homophobe, made a point for us to eat Chick-fil-A that night. I remember that I’d never seen the place so packed. I’m queer. I’ll never eat there again for as long as I live. It’s whatever if you want to eat their chicken, but making an hour and a half long podcast to try to justify that choice hits as kinda weird. And framing it as a Northerner vs Southerner thing is a pretty shallow take. Plenty of us are from the rural south and still boycott the homophobic chicken
This reminds me of when I was a teen coming out, and certain people were making a big show of buying orange juice from Florida, apparently to prove their homophobe bona fides or something. Same thing with Coors beer later. What's up with people trying to send social signals via food consumption?
This- the number of people who literally stand on ceremony about never eating fast food who came out of the woodwork to throw money at them was so gross. It wasn't the people quietly boycotting who made them a political lynchpin, it was all the people who then decided that eating a Chick-fil-A meant they were "real Christians" or true conservatives or whatever. It's ironic that he accused those of us who abstain from this one specific chicken place as "virtue signaling" when that's what all those people were doing explicitly for a couple weeks following the ordeal. They wanted everyone to know how much they hated us and wanted us gone and they got to eat a bunch of fast food chicken out of the deal.
The Chik-Fil-A in an American football stadium story makes for an interesting headline, but when you think about it, it's not exactly a stupid business decision. With 17 games per team per year, and only 8 or 9 of those at the home stadium, there's far more opportunity to sell chicken sammiches at the myriad of non-NFL events the stadium sees throughout the year.
Beyond that football stadiums aren’t completely empty when there isn’t an event. I can’t speak to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but Ford Field in Detroit has office space for the team’s management, and also has office suites that it leases to local businesses.
1:13:23 I’ll give Adam the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s not equating slavery with pretentiousness. “Slavery bad but elitist attitude bad also, so draw?” I don’t think that’s what he’s saying but it was careless phrasing. It’s interesting how Adam said he probably wouldn’t buy Harry Potter products because it supports jk Rowling who is actively supporting anti lgbt organizations. Yet he gives Chick-fil-A a pass because… they said they regret speaking out? Odd. Is that a win? I wonder if those affected by Chick-fil-A’s donations would consider it a win. Adam says that he found reports of Chick-fil-A still donating to questionable organizations. Is it fine if they support these organizations quietly, unlike rowing? Adam also gets up tight about people who claim they wouldn’t buy Chick-fil-A even though they live in an area without Chick-fil-A. As if that’s some kind of “gotcha”. Excuse me but I don’t need to live where an injustice is active to condemn it. It’s pretty simple to eat somewhere or something else, right? Adam also gushes about Chick-fil-A’s apparent efficiencies by repeatedly referring to them as “good”. Odd phrasing when you’re trying to have a nuanced discussion. It’s almost like Adam is trying to oppose the “bad” things they’ve done and do with these “good” things. Adam also says that he supports whatever boycott but you have to be consistent (or something to that effect). But I find the consistency lacking here. It’s not hard to avoid Harry Potter products. It’s not hard to avoid Chick-fil-A. If there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, why have the discussion at all? I don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water but why Chick-fil-A but not Harry Potter?
Others have said most of what I want to say about CFA, but I want to add something. Please do not undermine people for proudly boycotting hate groups. As a queer person who grew up in one of those tiny Badist rural southern towns, it is comforting to hear someone speak out against hateful movements. That mayor who would refuse a CFA that didn't plan to set up shop anyway is sending a strong message to LGBT people. The coworker who loudly denounces CFA when someone suggests it for a group order is telling every LGBT person in the room "I'm politically motivated to protect you." And don't frame the 2010 gay marriage controversy as a political phase. Attacks on transgender people are on-going, they are a major current issue. That battle is not won, CFA is not in "our camp", they have only lowered their flags while staying on the opposing side.
hello, a european here. a fast food chain serving chicken with a religious plan to exterminate all non hetero people, while having an advanced system for feeding people in their cars is the most american thing I've ever heard of. How come people with chickfilla in their area have to 'sacrifice' something by not eating fried chicken half-breast? are there not enough other options? Speaking of food industry businesses with moral problems: waiting for a podcast about bonappetit :)
Yes, they all wear little armbands and salute the chicken with one arm. You'll notice that NOT ONE FACT has been posted about how this company is actually evil.
Thank you, brother! Sometimes (despite what Adam says), ONLY an "outsider" can say how crazy something is. I will refrain from asking you how crazy it sounds that an American can wear a side arm into the Chick-fil-A. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Listening to a straight, cis man talk about how people who aren't affected by things shouldn't make a big deal out of boycotting shit - while implying the way that he is effected by the boycott is that he actually likes the thing and thus would suffer from the boycott - then going on to recommend going to the thing anyways because he personally thinks they have changed their ways is maybe one of the most annoying things I've ever had to listen to. Even if Adam is right that they have changed, which I'm going to be honest I doubt is the case considering the change was a business decision trying to placate both sides for money, it's not his place to talk. The cup thing in particular is really revealing to me. He's not getting rid of the cups because he wants to make gender and sexual minorities feel safer or more comfortable. He's doing it because he just doesn't want to have to deal with them commenting about it. The comparisons of this to slavery are also at least a little tone-deaf, if not outright offensive. I'm sorry we bother you so much, Adam but maybe reconsider this one.
Adam, that sounded like making excuses, not an argument, especially towards the end. That said kudos for Your courage. It's not really that hard to not to dine out. Really.
I think even though the institution CFA may have changed their values, institutions, as you said, are made out of people and the people who approved those past values still are there in positions of power, in fact they have the biggest power inside the company being the owner, so even though the massaging may have changed in reality your money still is going to be used to support this types of homophobic institutions, although now in a slightly more indirect maner And you can't just blame capitalism on this one, the "no etical consumption under capitalism" thing is basically saying that you'd have to destroy the entire system to solve things like child labor, but since the motivation is religious and not profits, the destruction of capitalism would have zero impact on the amount of support they give to homophobic institutions, so it's not structural problem of society, but something specific to this institution, which you can take active action against
Also, Chick-fil-A will only open a franchise location that are a certain number of miles away from another location, so there can only be one in a "region." They do exhaustive research to figure out if a location is good for a Chick-fil-A to open and will operate food trucks at various locations as research. I live in a rural area, right on the edge of an urban area. The nearest Chick-fil-A is about 25 minutes away and they have been coming by with their food trucks across the highway from me the last few months. On top of that, franchise applicants that currently work at a Chick-fil-A are heavily favored over outside applicants and they have extensive training courses you can take, as an employee, geared towards franchise ownership.
I listened to his entire argument and I just have to hard disagree to the notion that halting donations to a handlful of more openly anti lgbtq groups when controversy breaks out suddenly makes them an ally or that they should be rewarded. Especially when they as of 2022 are still making political donations to parties that advocate the removal of lgbtq people's rights. I am a queer person in the south. I have witnessed my rights and the rights of my loved ones come under attack and be revoked by people who this company has continued to donate money to so that can push their bigoted agenda and I strongly encourage anyone who has a Chick-fil-A near them to look into their recent donations and educate yourself before considering giving them your business.
I’m a queer Texan who lives in the largest city in the south. We have 58 CFA locations in Houston compared to Atlantas’s 42. It’s definitely a cultural phenomenon here, and I admittedly kept eating there from 2012-2019 after they claimed to halt anti-LGBT donations. I stopped eating there after their supposed support of a Ugandan LGBT+ death penalty bill in 2019. While CFA ended up only being connected to such a bill in a very roundabout way, I still haven’t gone back to eating there in the following years, especially since anti-LGBT sentiment in the US is seemingly on a very strong rise in the post-Trump whirlwind of political bullshit we’ve been dealing with for the last 3 years. I can’t say it doesn’t leave a really bad taste in my mouth when I see people eating there now, as hypocritical as it may be coming from me. I also live in the land of Whataburger, so it’s hard for me to justify going to CFA when I’m literally never more than 10 minutes away from a whataburger. I’d be lying if I said 45+ minute lines after 10 pm didn’t really make me miss the efficiency of CFA, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Those long nighttime lines have gotten so much worse since they're the only thing OPEN after a particular hour anymore!!! I get that people are having staffing issues but if you work night shift like I do, sometimes you just want food you didn't have to make yourself even if it's late at night. QQ
Adam, this attitude of “it doesn’t affect you, so you shouldn’t have an opinion, and if you do, keep it too yourself” is a very brave stance from someone who literally runs a podcast voicing their opinions about things that minimally affect their life. A more cynical person would say that you’re just being defensive because a lot of people, many of whom you greatly respect don’t like a thing you like and a lot of people, many of whom you have little to no respect for, really like that thing that you like. That more cynical person would point out that when you back a child’s argument into a corner with no mistake, they will resort to “Shut up” as their next argument. A cynical person would point out that by utilising the “shut up” argument, you feel that you have been backed into a corner and have no logical answer to your imagined critics and their imagined arguments, that you no doubt imagine to yourself as you’re hiding red and white cups. Arguments your own brain is confronting you with. Perhaps a cynical person would suggest that when you say that Northerners should stop voicing their opinions on chick-fil-a where you can hear it, what you are really doing is blaming someone else for the fact that to an external observer, your brain is pretty convinced that your money is being used to hurt people that you care about and all you need to do to stop hurting people you care about is to stop eating a salty chicken sandwich regularly. A cynical person would acknowledge that your brain is flawed in this thinking, but not so flawed as to undo its entire argument that you have no answer too. Addiction exists, for example. But I’m not a cynical person. I know that your stance isn’t hypocritical. I can’t be bothered to go back and check - mostly because your life and decisions doesn’t concern me, a random internet stranger, and so why would I waste my time. You do you. But I do look forward to the future of your podcast only reflecting things that directly concern you, I look forward to hearing only about political issues that maximally affect your life, surely the very foundation of a strong podcast is milquetoast issues presented without too much thought, at least not thought that strays too far from the core issue that directly impacts you. One question, should I watch the episodes in which you talk about things that don’t affect me? You are a good speaker and one with a talent for causing people to think about the subjects on which you are speaking. I’m worried that if I hear you speak about, I don’t know, for example the beef industry in the US, I might think about the beef industry in the us. If I think about the beef industry in the us, I might form opinions on the beef industry in the us, and worse, express those opinions _when they only minimally affect my life_ oh no!! That would be … er … bad?
Still watching through at the moment, but I'm really hoping the point is made about, despite the corporation stopping donations towards reactionary goals, does not mean the corporate culture has changed, nor that the family behind the company has stopped personal donations
I was looking for this type of comment. First of all I am really happy that this episode wasn't all like "Yea, the owning family may be violently homophobic and religious nutheads, but at least the chicken is good". Adam raised some good points about about privilege of one's knowlegdable and progressive childhood environment. I was this lucky person too. I know how difficult these topics are, however to my taste, too little of entire 1h 20min was dedicated to how harmful and tbh disgusting these "traditional family whatever funds" are. I expected a little more, especially after how damn good the pod about trans folks and Rowling was. Also a really good point of "no ethical consumption under capitalism" was raised, and about that every son of a b. CEO and/or company have some sins (pun intended) to their name. But it's kinda different here. It's not evil because you're money-driven million-/billionaire with no respect towards poorer societies, nations or enviroment. It was purely ideological. Question is which is "worse" or more dangerous. My gut feelings says the latter, but maybe because I'm so used to seeing the first one? Or because it's harder to get rid of / mitigate effects through proper legislation? You cannot make religious devotion disappear by changing the law. I dunno. I also don't expect Adam to do whole-ass investigation, but speaking as a European, who is hearing about this case for the first time, what would be really nice to have is just some info about existence of any investigations aimed to finding out if money still isn't channelled through other routes to these antihuman fundations and organisations. The visible company policy may have changed, as you said, because of political/sociological/financial pressure (and it's really great that it happened) but I sincerely doubt "little" son has changed his way of thinking. Rich people tend to find their ways behind the scenes. I hope it's not the case. What a long one, jeez.
@@Libcio97 Agree. Adam seems to have just read some corporate propaganda that said "we don't do that anymore", and decided his work is done. The fact that they never publicly stated that they don't fund these hate groups anymore is already raising alarm bells that their minds have not changed and that they will continue to secretly fund these causes. Chic-Fil-A has not "joined the team" as Adam wants to make us think. They're just hiding in the back of the other team. Give them a hug and they'll stab you in the back.
@@Libcio97 I think the working assumption is that the Cathy's have NOT changed their views. I expected Adam to say that the son went all anti-evangelical to try and turn away from his parent's craziness, thus everything is fine -- instead he says the son has doubled down on the craziness, but that it's still fine because the company doesn't explicitly say they do it any more. It's shaky logic, to me. Especially considering the recent Hogwarts Legacy episode that was basically exactly this.
The term dwarf came well before it was assigned to a specific medical condition. The mythological dwarves are not just short humans, they are their own species. The Dwarf house was started well after the lord of the rings had already popularized the term
After washing dishes by hand in the back of a restaurant, I know that the sinks are notoriously low... if a tall person stands there for an hour, they will go home with a back ache, and joke about how the restaurant owner should hire midgets to wash the dishes. Or dwarves. Whatever you want to call them, THEY should be washing the dishes in a sink that's 3 feet off the ground.
You would think Adam would have realized this considering how the restaurant is medieval themed. It's also hilarious that well Adam is complaining about how somebody from the 1960s wasn't politically correct for today he seems to not realize that many people today consider it to be politically incorrect to refer to small people as dwarfs. I think it's really cool that Adam acknowledges that people with his belief system can be obnoxious and pompous, but then he proceeded to make observations like this during a scripted podcast.
As a gay man who has lived most of his life in the south, I do boycott chik fil a. I cannot, in good conscience, give my money to a corporation that seems to get caught every other year “accidentally” still donating to people that hate my very existence. I’ve lived in NC, SC, AR, GA, and VA, and even now that I’m not in “the south” there are chik fil a’s in driving distance to me, I see at 2 locations during my commute every day. “It tastes good” isn’t a good enough excuse for me, personally, to spend my money there
Yes, this exactly. Why is it so hard to understand that valuing a chicken sandwich (even a tasty one) over the civil liberties of other people makes you the bad guy??? It was never solely about the finances, it's about the fact that they built the entire company from the ground up with bricks and mortar of conservative fundamentalist values. That didn't change just because they pulled a couple names from their funding list.
@@swiftythegathering And neither of those is very comparable to what we're talking about. Sometimes you just need to get some fast food for whatever reason. I don't really agree with a lot of Adam's points in this video but I do think that pretending it's not normal to eat something on the go in the USA is a bit silly.
Adam, with dwarves you got it wrong way. It was the opposite- dwarfs/ dwarves ("dwarves" is preferable in mythology thanks to Tolkien) are mythological beings, that are similar to what you can see in Tolkien books and movies. And was used exclusively for mythology*, nor for people, for centuries, if not millenia. Only later, because of freak shows it become commonly applied to actual people. And sadly, probably because dwarfism was a thing in biology (dwarf pony, island dwarfism for example) it was applied in medicine. Because it was used in freak shows, I doubt there are many people fighting for this name. And from what I read, most people diagnosed with any of the disorders that lead to very small height prefer other names (like person of short statute), and would probably not be identified by their disorder at all. *Although you can argue with whether or not that mythology was inspired by real people in some way. But right now it lives on its own. And if it was, it probably was inspired not by single individuals that had disorders, but by tribes that genetically drifted to be smaller, or were malnourished for generations, or for any other reason were shorter. Or maybe even by Denisovans but that's hard to believe since they lived so long ago.
As an Atlanta resident, I avoid it because we have better food everywhere, but also because Dan Cathy is still Dan Cathy. He has continued to give money to orgs including National Christian Charitable Foundation, which spend their money to attempt to stop Equality legislation and push for anti-choice legislation.
@@illboi42069 My guess is that the "average adam viewer" isn't in the demographic he speaks about (and he KNOWS what demos he reaches because of the analytics - he's mentioend it before!), but he meets them at PTA meetings and whatever sporting or school events he goes to for his kids.
@@Aubreykun I know conservatives, evangelicals, liberals, socialists I cannot think of a person in any of those demographic groups that wouldn't laugh in your face if you described CFA as a cultural touchstone for the South.
@@illboi42069 Lower-middle to upper-middle class "normies." Not the highly politically-engaged ones. And if you described it that way to them they'd probably laugh at you, and then proceed to go to CFA as their first choice for anything fast food. I admit that Whataburger is a stronger "cultural touchstone" for Texas than CFA likely is for the south, but Texas as a very strong regional/state identity that the chain ties to while CFA is one of those things that's so ingrained it's only noticeable to people from outside. Like how someone from outside the US might say that McDonalds is a "cultural touchstone for america", or how Coca-cola is a "cultural touchstone" for mexico.
Despite living within 20 minutes of FOUR Chi-fil-A (I live in South East Texas), I haven't had this resturant in 7+ years because every other year there's unearthing of more money to these groups. I'm not saying that to brag or anything remotely similar, but just to say while I think your comments on the Northern attitude towards Southern states is pretty on par, not everyone in the South is satisfied with the companies changes to the extent that they'll continue to dine there. There's just enough people that 1) don' care, 2) think the winds have shifted enough, or 3) actively love the companies stance. For example there's leglisatuion that's been crafted to keep the business in airports of metro areas of TX pushed by our current governer (Abbott.) Aside from the direct politician donations, it's usually not as direct because they have a less overtly hateful middle group. The last time I looked deeply was 2021 because I really missed/miss it. Unless the recipe has changed, they had the best and most consistent sweet tea of all fast food restaurants. I am one of THOSE people about sweet tea where I like it cold, sweet, and can drink it by the pitcher if I'm not paying attention. The food is good, but it's the drinks I miss the most. Anyways, I was reminded of my commitment to not lend my dollar as the Uganda passed it's most harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bills. A handful of the groups that help lobby against queer people in the country are funded by orgs the company donates too. That's what I mean by separation. Also, I've found that journalist are less likely to dig into the global aspects of this stuff because people just don't care. It doesn't drive clicks, legislation, or anything. The more outside US terrority you get, the less halfway decent any company gets supply chain wise. This company just dives into the less savory in the charity elements too. edit- I liked the episode though. Great per usual even though I'd def upvote/like a comment I saw pointing out a cup in frame.
RIGHT?! I actually resent Adam lying to his audience like this. Every time they say they're not giving money it's been found that they've given more money! It's happened at least two times. So how can we trust them? They obviously hate the gays !
When I was working at a Starbucks up in "The North", we went outside with a tablet in the summer, copying Chick-Fil-A's model. I generally think Starbucks handles the drive-thru speaker pretty well-no automated answering, friendly conversation expected, most locations show you what you're ordering on a screen as you order it-but one further big benefit of going outside with the tablet is being able to build up a "car stack". See, at a competitive location, fast food places start making your food the moment the words come out of your mouth. They have to, if they're going to keep the line moving at the breakneck pace that it does. However, this often leads to waste, as changes and clarifying information are often added late into the order- e.g. "... oh, and could I get that made with oatmilk?" as the lid is being put on the drink. Being able to take orders very far back down the queue allows ample time for the order to be locked-in and finalized before it starts being made, and it also allows workers to prioritize better, regarding what's going to need a little extra time and thus needs to get started sooner rather than later.
8:36 dwarf is from Old English, from Anglo Saxon, from Proto Germanic _*dweraz_ while dwarfISH is only from the 1560s and dwarfISM is much younger. In postwar America, "midget" was the most common term for little people. You might want to take a mulligan on this podcast.
From a medical perspective, a dwarf and a midget are two wholly different conditions. While both are under a specific height, I believe the cutoff is right around 4 feet tall, a dwarf has truncated limbs while a midget has typically proportioned limbs.
Woof, Adam, normally I expect a smidge more nuance. There is a lot of "you're attacking my culture" when "outsiders" criticize Chick-fil-A. As someone who has boycotted on a long road trip (and thus didn't eat for many many hours) despite not interacting with CFA very often, just because I don't drive by one every day doesn't mean that I am completely insulated from them. Outsider criticism is necessary - - it forces the in-group to reassess their actions and positions and make sure they are not holding or taking them just for traditions sake. I admire CFAs operational efficiency as well, that I can appreciate. Corporations are made of people. But much of this rant veered into dumping emotions onto a strawman 'outsider' that only served to weaken your core message.
I think the problem that is being skipped over here is that while the company may have shown themselves in a public manner to appear fine they are still using their profits to fund hateful and horrendous groups they still take those funds and donate to people that are actively attacking the LGBTQ+ community. Early on you had talked about corporations being people too in the concept of that if they do good we should reward them. In this instance the corporation is very much virtue signaling by simply hiding their donations instead of doing so as a blatant matter of public record. The people who own it are still the same and did not stop their campaign against LGBTQ people they just said why don't we make nice so we can use their money against them. I am a like you northerner and in this instance this very much didn't directly affect me for a long long time. Now they are building one in my town and far too many people look at it and say well they are not hurting me directly so why should I care. They were allowed in by a local republican led government that ignored the concerns of the locals that spoke out about it and allowed them to choose a part of town to place their establishment that is already plagued by traffic issues. I listened to this whole podcast and respect your opinions on things but for the first time ever I have to solidly disagree with you on this one thing. Chik fil-a no matter how nice the individuals working there may be the company itself is using the profits for bad things and until the owners stop that campaign of hate towards people that have never done a thing to them except exist I can not and will not be a patron of theirs. I will say that I entirely see the reasons to praise them for the way they do business itself and respect the way you talk about the local ownership and employees because it is very important to note that those people are not the problem the person who owns their business however that is a very different story. It was very brave of you to talk about this though and I look forward to your next video as always, I do however hope that its on something to contrast this.
Anyone who doesn't know that is being intentionally ignorant. The company funded heinous lies and then the sun says he stands by those heinous lies. Then he said just kidding. So now we're supposed to make sure his family remains as wealthy as possible so that the money that is not spent through the company can be given to these heinous organizations through their private accounts. Adam's fine with that.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Yea, I agree. Can you post some links to recent events in which Chick Fil A has been caught indirectly donating to hate groups? Or was that all just feelings?
can you stop accepting financial advertisements, especially from masterworks since it is well known that they have seriously scummy advertising practices
@@alexismaldonado9707 Given Adam Ragusea’s channel size it’s reasonable to expect that he has options for the sponsorships he can take. It is irresponsable for creators to take sponsorships without critically analyzing their business model and products and how they may impact their viewers. If masterworks wasn’t making money from Adam Ragusea’s viewers, they wouldn’t be sponsoring him (and are making more money than they are paying him). They can track that and I’m certain they do. If Masterworks is engaged in shady business practices, it should be Adam Ragusea’s responsibility to prevent his viewers from potentially getting “scammed,” essentially. It’s well within reason for random viewers to inform creators if their sponsors may be engaging in irresponsible behavior so they can decide if they want to continue working with them.
I work at a cfa in Tennessee. We recently received a new piece of equipment called a filet roller, it is two plastic rollers on a metal frame with a crank and we filet all of our chicken for the day at the beginning of our shift. Much better than doing by hand, breaks no tendons so the meat holds together better while eating on a sandwich and saves our breaders time while it's busy, takes a step out of the process.
As an ex dishwasher and filleir I hated it, took just as long to clean the thing as it did to do it by hand and when filling I would occasionally roll my finger into it.
@Drew Powell sorry to hear you didn't like it! Maybe it's because I'm in a low volume store but it makes our day a lot easier. I will agree it is a bear to clean though and I have also pinched a finger in it, not fun.
During the peak of COVID when no one was allowed inside restaurants, the local Chick-fil-a did a better job of managing the traffic than any other drive through in town. I remember driving by a McD's and seeing people lined up literally around the block, totally screwing up traffic. Meanwhile at CFA, they had 2 lines, 5+ people taking orders and 4+ people running orders to cars. Even when the line was backed up outside the parking lot, the line moved at good pace. And to their credit, all of CFA's employees are always happy and friendly. I was waiting around for a while picking up a carting order and got to watch the staff interactions. The floor manager genuinely seemed to care about her employees. At one point she was helping one person find a shift that would work with their schedule. A few minutes later, she was checking up on employees who were taking orders outside, making sure they were warm enough (it was the dead of winter).
I’m from the south. I thought their food was pretty tasty last I had them, but I don’t give them my business. The company’s donations habits and the foundation’s donation habits are just not something I can support. They have donated to organizations that would hurt me multiple times and lack the transparency for me to verify that they have stopped. I fully expect them to slip bigotry back in wherever they can. They keep screwing up. I have definitely run into the “southern way of life” issues with them. People are *incredibly* defensive of the company and view that it can’t do any evil or that is needs support as “God’s Chicken”.
i don't think he's equivocating slavery to having a moral superiority complex... but it sure sounds like he's equivocating slavery to having a moral superiority complex! :P
This really feels like Adam is trying to justify his identity as a "Southerner" (Adam was born in Pennsylvania) by trying to find cultural reasons to defend this company. I'd rather if he just said he likes eating at Chick-Fil-A cause he likes the food than spending 80 minutes trying to say it's holy.
1:53 Hey, Adam, I've lived in the Deep South of the USA for my entire life, and I disagree with this. I thought you weren't the type to make these over-prescriptive statements (I like flaky salt, and SO DO YOU). I've had their chicken throughout my childhood, and when comparing it to other chicken places, Zaxby's and Foosackly's comes to mind, Chick-fil-A is just... fine I guess. If you put the chicken in the restaurant's special sauce, I literally can't tell the difference. If you compare Chick-fil-A chicken to the Popeye's chicken sandwich, in my opinion, Popeye's blows it out of the water. I think that Chick-fil-A is probably the most overhyped, over-discussed, and overly cared about fast food chain in the world. I don't eat there, and it's no struggle to me, even living in the deep south, because I don't really care about Chick-fil-A. If I want good chicken, I'll go to Popeyes, and if I'm looking for a lot of cheap food, I'll go to some other fast food. Because Capitalism, every fast food place is within a stone's throw of another fast food place, anyway. A slight push away for me is of course Chick-fil-A's religiosity and homophobia, but I probably would never eat there anyway without that. Their chicken is so undifferentiated from other similar places to me that it's not even worth doing the research to really make sure that my patronage would support homophobic causes. I won't eat there because I don't care.
All of this, Miguel--and I'll raise you a Bojangles. Adam, this is pretty bad. The suburban, affluent South isn't "the South," and Chick-Fil-A is the chicken of THAT South--and of the people who think of boneless, white-meat chicken as "fried chicken."
Most underrated comment here. As a queer person, I've faced this same argument style from people who support Chick Fil A, and those types of people rarely stay friends with me for long. There's no quicker way to show me that you're not actually an ally than to virtue signal about LGBTQ support in between bites of your Chick Fil A. It'd be one thing if they actually made a unique product, but everything they do can be had better at other places now. To deny that is exposing your biases IMO. I think Adam lost quite a few supporters today and I'm not even halfway through the episode yet.
Alright, here's the thing. As a queer person, do I care if you eat a Chick-fil-A sandwich? No, not really. But in a world where bigots so seldomly come right out and broadcast their hatred, because of social repercussions, Chick-fil-A is one of those things that I notice. I don't judge if you're safe or unsafe because you bought a sandwich from Chick-fil-A, but I notice. Because in a world full of homophobic/transphobic people, queer folks have to ask that question of every stranger they meet: Are you safe? Can I be alone in a room with you? How much can I trust you with knowledge of my life? These are questions everyone should ask of the folks in our social groups, whether you're queer or not, but when you're queer, the stakes are a little higher. You know there's a target on your back. You know there are people--total strangers--who want you dead, and you know they could be anyone. Do I think you're unsafe if you buy Chick-fil-A? Do I think you hate queer people? No, but I notice that purchase. And I'll be watching you a little more closely than I would have otherwise, because maybe one day, you'll say or do something that really is a dog whistle. You'll say something that really does tell me you're dangerous, and that I shouldn't spend my time around you. And when that day comes, I'll just politely and unobtrusively dip out of your social circles--because believe me, people who don't want queer people in their spaces are the last people queer folks want to hang around. Or maybe that won't happen. Maybe I get to know you better and learn that you respect queer people, and I can trust you the way I ought to be able to trust my neighbors. And your Chick-fil-A order was exactly that--nothing but a tasty chicken sandwich and some piping hot waffle fries. It's not always a matter of moral high ground. It's not always a matter of political correctness. But, for queer folks, it's always a matter of staying safe. And when we have to deal with not only individual acts of homophobia/transphobia but also organized efforts to push homophobic/transphobic policies through legislation, we are on alert. Sometimes that alertness develops into a kind of evolutionary shorthand--the same way hunters and gatherers might have seen a long, coiled shape out of the corner of their eye and jumped because, for that split second, they thought a harmless vine was a snake. It's natural human behavior, and it's behavior that develops from deep-seated memories of past dangers. So no, my Chick-fil-A-loving neighbors, I don't think you hate queers or support nasty legislation because you buy from Chick-Fil-A. But now I can't let myself relax, until I know you better. I have to pay attention. And sometimes that gets heavy. TL;DR: This is America. You have the right to buy whatever chicken sandwich you like. But please don't get mad if it makes your queer neighbors feel a little on edge. You may be a harmless vine, but to a stranger, in a strange place, you might look just enough like a snake to startle someone.
If your bar for bigotry is just that someone practices one of the many religions that don't condone homosexuality then your bar is absurdly low. And this is coming from an atheist. You're basically saying you can't be in the same room as most of the planet. TL;DR - Calm down. Besides, statistically, the list of people who actually want to kill you is most likely limited to people you know well anyway. Not religious bogeymen selling fried chicken.
I’m inclined to agree with your conclusion about CFA. I used to be really adamant about avoiding it and encouraging people to avoid it, but this is mainly due to my extremely negative experience working at CFA. I won’t get into the details, but I dealt with blatant racism and a gay friend of mine had to deal with aggressive homophobia. I’m willing to label this as an individual experience, but the company culture definitely influenced the behavior of my store. It’s definitely cultish tho and there’s really no other way to say it. We literally have to watch multiple documentaries about Truett Cathy’s family. We were harshly reprimanded if our behavior didn’t meet CFA’s standards. It’s a well run business, but like all fast food places, even places that Pay better than most, you usually have to work extreme hours to make a living wage. I remember working 6 days a week from 5am-3pm in the kitchen. The food is fine (I’m a vegetarian now but it’s fine) but overall, I wish worker experience was more of a reason for boycotts these days. The lines move fast, the food is good, but the employees are worked like dogs, and that’s not worth $12 an hour.
Also, I’m from a place where CFA’s zoning guidelines are blatantly ignored. If you’ve heard of the two CFA restaurants literally across the street from each other, I worked at CFA when those were being built. Also, operators are almost NEVER present in stores. My store had an operator who had operated 2 locations, and he always appeared, though he was always at the Christmas party!
The fried chicken breasts weren’t brined in the store - not when I worked there in 89-94. The chargrill was though. I do know the switch you mean, and I don’t think it was a good change wrt flavor.
31:00 Yeah, my Chik Fil A has 2 lanes and it helps a lot. There is literally nonstop traffic from 7AM to close. Here in Ohio, they have heater and an large awning for inclement weather.
Yeah, I guess corporations are “technically” people. Rich, powerful, and largely out of touch people. But that’s just me being pedantic, I guess? I sincerely wish anyone attempting to appeal to a corporation’s sense of humanity the best of luck. You’re a good person, Adam. It feels weird hearing you tell your audience to be grateful for a “win” and to butt out if we’re “not from here”. Who exactly switched to our side in all this? And isn’t Southern culture still American culture? It might be a good idea to stretch a little before attempting such complex mental gymnastics.
The idea that CFA is southern culture is such absolute horse shit too. The kind of idea only some northerner could get by not actually engaging with our culture. Its really annoying having a northerner but into the conversation about a southern company doing bad things, talk them up and act like they should be critiqued because they're a part of our culture? Its a fast food place, its no more a cultural icon than Dr Pepper is.
@@klubberzvonhatzenbuhl563 no I picked DP because it's a southern thing. It isn't really sold outside of the south it fits more closely with Adams dumb idea that CFA operates almost exclusively in the South
@@illboi42069 - Dr. Pepper is literally everywhere I’ve been. I’m also from Tejas and have been to the original bottling plant. As for my ‘Coke’ comment…it’s related to the fact that lots of people in the south will call EVERY carbonated beverage a ‘Coke’. 😉 Also, I’m now in San Jose, CA. We have a Chik-Fil-A 2 miles away. Ain’t never been there, though…
I'm from Utah, and when I was like 14 I worked at Chick-fil-A for the minimum wage at the time $7.25 we got one free meal a shift and free drinks anytime. we had to say "my pleasure" it was required, we also had to say "beverage" instead of "drink" Our chicken breader went crazy on those mf chickens. he was slamming that flour into them like his life depended on it. one time for our Christmas party the owners of that specific restaurant made everyone join them in their mormon/LDS prayer. hilarious.
Breaders are no joke. My buddy throws on some black metal, cranks out a $5k hour and sits on his break eating a soup and blueberries while hes absolutely drenched in flour. Absolute menace.
"one time for our Christmas party the owners of that specific restaurant made everyone join them in their mormon/LDS prayer. hilarious." No way i'd ever do that shit even if my life depended on it, yuck.
Almost every single positive thing you mentioned about how Chick Fil-A is run you can say the same about In n Out Burger. From them taking orders in-person outside to creepy level niceness.
@@robster7787 I feel like many people who weren't raised in the south don't understand that. They aren't used to people being friendly like they've always known you even though you have never met before in your life. Manners are drilled into us and so are the Christian values of "Love your neighbor" so when we are being nice and friendly it isn't to trick someone its just how we are lol. If I interacted with people the way I see some people out west or up north interact with strangers I would get my ass beat by my grandma lol
@@douglassmalls6934 I mean doesnt that by definition make it "creepy level of niceness" if you have never seen someone be so overtly "nice"? people have different ideas of what "polite" means based on the culture and area they have grown up in, just like how northeners would be seen as rude in south the southern politeness would be seen as faked in north I bet. infact that is reason why many USA brands that try to just copy their USA stores 1 to 1fail to find success largely across the globe, because many places do not have the same culture of hospitality as USA does to put it diplomatically.
The FRC also had a huge impact, due to missionary work and lobbying, in Uganda's recent decision to kill people for being gay. This was known at the time of CFA's vocal support of them. The salvation army's "regressive policies" involve, among other things, letting starve or abusing poor LGBT people (often children. Homeless children are disproportionately LGBT. Guess why.) they've spent a lot of words and very little effort towards fixing this. Dan Cathy's own response to all of this controversy was to say he should be quieter about this stuff in public. No statements about, say, thinking it's wrong to kill gay people for being gay, something the FRC would disagree with. So while CFA's official business may have divested from those orgs, I see no reason to think that the Cathy family isn't still a massive contributor.
As a gay man in the south who enjoys chick fil a, perhaps a straight person who was never harmed by the ideas pushed by the founders should not imply that those who are/were offended should get over it because they’ve come to our side. Someone who’s not a part of the oppressed group should never tell members of the oppressed group to get over something in my opinion (no matter how small/large the oppression is, let’s not compare oppressions of different minorities). Although I do agree that it is morally okay to eat chick fil a, when you implied that people only bash on chick fil a to feel morally superior, that was not right. It is not possible to measure the continued effect of cfa’s funding of the hate group or the influence of their founder’s statements. I am still harmed by extreme homophobia in my own family and if I think about it too much I hate supporting a company that has financially supported that world view so recently. People are wrong to bash you for eating it, I agree, but I think you are wrong in that your statements seemed to imply there is no legitimate reason to still be against the company with regards to their homophobia (I am unsure if you meant to imply that, I think all you meant is that people should not shame you for eating it, which again I agree with).
To clarify, I don’t think you meant this, but what you said towards the end of your video could be taken as “a minority individual should cease being angry at a supporter of their oppressor (or at the oppressor themselves) as soon as the oppressor-supporter/oppressor stops supporting the oppressor/oppressing them”. You call out northerners for being outside the situation where cfa isn’t really a thing, in other words they’re detached from your perspective , but you forget that you’re outside the situation too as far as the pain/shame/trauma felt by oppressed LGBT members.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I never said they oppressed me, I was speaking for people who were harmed by the hate group they funded. And I’m saying the fact that they so recently funded a group with that world view hurts. But I also recognize it’s not realistic/I don’t care enough to boycott cfa and I love their food
Adam quoting Mitt Romney and also saying that "Corporations are people too" makes me want to vomit. Corporations are not people, their only need to appease their shareholders not their customers. Sometimes that may overlap, but its purely coincidental.
Their "polynesian" sauce is literally nothing more than Marzetti's Honey French dressing. There are a good number of clones of their stuff and most of them I've found to be much better than the original. I know mine are because I started making mine closer to karaage.
High end Art as an investment has a notorious history as vehicle for wealthy individuals to hide income/dodge taxes. To what degree if at all does Masterworks investments address this issue? I am curious if the increased small investor demand helps to obscure/provide cover for high end tax avoidance or does it help reduce it? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic since you are advocating their services! Thanks!
"High end Art as an investment has a notorious history as vehicle for wealthy individuals to hide income/dodge taxes" Ok?!?!? Same can be said for cash / gold / bitcoin and things of that nature. As for Adams thoughts on the matter? I do not think Adam has the expertise to even delve into that question. I think Adam has said he tries to check out his sponsors to the best of his ability and if he finds something bad he would pull ever working with them again. If you have direct information into maleficence; I am sure Adam would love to hear about it. Just saying, I hear a Sponsor is bad, does nothing - when all he has seen in his vetting of a sponsor is that it checks out.
If corporations are people too, then corporate tax rates should be the same as personal income tax rates. Also, any time an organization has "Family" in its title, you can probably substitute the word "Fascist" with no alteration of intent. Also also, I have refused, since the 1990s, to patronize any company that won't allow its employees to unionize. And I've been living in cities with no shortage of McDonald's, Starbuck's, and Walmart.
His statement of "corporations are people" is more about corporations only existing as a group of people. Kind of a collectivist take to me but I see where he was coming from with it. I am poor enough that I'll buy certain food items from walmart, but not most anything else. There's a point where it's saving 10$ for the same thing off another store's sale price, which is a huge amount of my grocery budget, or the quality of the produce being legitimately better. But my problem is more to do with them pressuring manufacturers to lower their quality and being generally anticompetitive. Same with made-in-china stuff - if I really cannot find something in an affordable non-china form or at least open-box/used (so the money I spend isn't going to the CCP, at least not directly), then I have to weigh my options of having it vs going without. And if I later find a version that isn't china-made I definitely go for it. This has only happened a handful of times twice in the past 8ish years though.
your point about rewarding people that come over to your side would make sense if there was any reason to think that these still weren't Christian extremists-hateful people that would prefer it if gay people didn't have civil rights.
I think you (Adam) missed the point here, it's not about CFA the organisation stopping donating to hate groups - it's about whether you genuinely believe that some of the money you're spending isn't still being donated to those same groups but ptivately through the Cathy family themselves; after all, not nearly all of the money that is made at CFA is paid to the workers. This is wholly analagous to JKR and Harry Potter and your decision is different, I suspect because you like CFA more than you wanted the new HP game, and so it was easy for you not to buy the game, but it's harder for you to not buy CFA; it seems like you're falling foul of the same thing you accuse "northerners" of - a kind of virtue signalling when it doesn't directly impact you and ignoring it when it does.
First thought about "southern baptist agenda": cringe. They may be "people" but they're not your friend. Doesn't mean you have to be mean just that the most important part of you to them is your money.
I'm sorry Adam, and I don't want to be that kind of person, but I don't think you have the credentials to talk about this. CFA is openly hostile to queer people like me both in the USA and abroad. In 2021, the new CEO of CFA lobbied to oppose the Equality Act which would expand civil protections to queer people, including employment rights. They've also recently donated to the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage foundation, both of which have made efforts to ban trans youth from participating in sports. They did a good job marketing that they don't donate to anti-queer operations anymore, but they do. And that's just local. In 2019, the National Christian Charitable Foundation (which is majorly funded by CFA) lobbied to make homosexuality punishable by death in Uganda. I'm sorry, but if any corporation did that, how could you not think about that any time you walked into their doors? How could you even want to eat there anymore? And it hurts that none of the straight people I look up to--IRL friends and online people I think make good content--really care. I do live in the American southeast, and you're right, it is super common. But CFA managed to market the idea that they don't fund anti-queer legislation anymore, and people ate it up because they want to eat their stupid sandwiches. Don't get it twisted, CFA does not want people like to me to have the same rights as people like you. If you don't care, you don't care, that's fine. But I can't stand straight people handwringing about their justifications for eating their mediocre pickle chicken.
Its honestly ridiculous that people act like its a matter of opinions at this point. For someone who is famous for doing a ton of research he really just dove right into this with a bs 'you're either cis and straight of you're political' attitude and its really depressing. He's bent over backwards before to not offend people's family recipes and the like but when it comes to the LGBT for some reason we aren't owed like, ten minutes of research. It almost feels more like willful ignorance at this point.
hearing people talk about Chick-fil-A just answers the question for me: "who cares about me and people like me more than a chicken sandwich" (also the brand may have stopped donating publicly to hate groups who cause the murders of queer people, but the same people who made the original decisions still profit and can use their profits to donate privately to those groups)
Adam, not trying to be accusatory or contrarian with this question, but truly curious about your thoughts: Could your own words "it's easy to walk the moral high ground when you're not even walking the same path as me" not also be said of an LGBTQ+ person in response to this video?
I am just wondering who pioneered the efficiency model that you describe because In-N-Out has been using all of the drive thru tactics that you described for at least a decade. In my hometown in California there is a Chick-Fil-A and In-N-Out in the same parking lot and I saw In-N-Out doing it first there. They also have strict franchise guidelines and pay there employees well above minimum wage to be happy and well mannered. Maybe they are not connected stories, but I feel like there might be some corporate idea thievery going on here...I just don't know which corporation took what from who.
It's hard to be level-headed on a topic like this when you grew up gay in the south. Straight people cannot understand why this issue is so painful for us
I said it in another comment, but I'm LGBT in the south. My high school even served Chick-fil-A on Friday during lunch as a special program. I just fundamentally don't believe they aren't doing other sketchy shit against us.
I grew up in a country where being gay is illegal. Not same sex marriage, homosexuality itself. The owners of Chick fil A are lobbying for even worse laws around the world (including state sanctioned murder of gay people). So it was pretty jarring for me to hear Adam say that because I'm not from the south, my opinion doesn't matter and he doesn't want to hear it. And it's pretty weak to say "no one could buy anything if they boycotted every company that has jerks on its board of directors". No you actually can avoid companies that literally advocate for state sanctioned murder of innocent people. Not everything is grey.
No, we understand it better than you think. You're terminally online and have whipped yourself into a frenzy over bogeymen that for the most part exist solely in your head.
I overheard a manager at a CFA talking to a customer, and the customer asked when he would become an owner. The mgr said he had a divorce so he was out of the running (because it was seen as indicative of not having strong family values). This was just a few years ago, (2016 maybe) so nothing has changed. If a divorce puts you out of the running I'm sure a same-sex relationship would too. Also, it is very much buying a job since as an "owner" you don't really own anything. That is simply a mask you wear to back up the protestant work ethic that is part of CFA's brand.
First paragraph is 100% misleading. Come to NC, there is a particular CFA where the operator is openly gay. The divorce component actually falls in line with the decision process, but being an LGBT member dose not.
@@doghat1619 I imagine when he says openly gay it is more the kind of thing where you interact with them and immediately know. We all know a gay guy like that, lmao.
20:32 I'm sorry but the chicken "tenderloin" absolutely doesn NOT have the exact same texture as the rest of the breast. Maybe it differs from country to country but where I live (Greece) that part is definitely noticably more tender.
The Cathy family still openly donates to anti-lgbt causes and funded opposition to the equality act. Since the money is derived from the family business its safe to say supporting their enterprise supports anti-lgbt causes. So this video feels dated with its information. While I agree with the argument of rewarding change in behavior with your business. It’s hard to apply that to chick-fil-a when they haven’t changed their behavior.
Adam is making a lot of bold assumptions about boycotting bigot chicken. I am from thr same part of the us as he is. He vastly overstated the culture around the company. As an lgbtq+ person I am super pissed that he waves away the morality of it under conspicuous consumption. With many items in our economy there isn't much way to avoid the items. A fucking chicfila sandwich is not one of those avoidable things. You can avoid it just fine
Duh. It's not even a difficult calculation. It doesn't even take a PhD, which I have. All you have to think is if you give money to biggest the biggest will spend money on bigotry. And for some reason Adam will not addressed that question and has not responded to any of this. He's fine with giving bigots money is the point.
As long as there are alternatives who haven't spouted anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric (I mean, shouldn't one of the first rules about being in business be "don't piss off your customers"?) I will get my chicken sandwiches from the local Popeyes
I honestly think teh first step to asking for forgiveness is admitting you are/were wrong. If corps are people too ( and they aren't fuck that noise ) then where is teh "Hey queer folks, we're apologetic for being bigots hate mongers that riled up other bigots into being even more bigoted than they already are. We are also apologetic for supporting orgs that treat queer folks are less than human or mistakes in need of fixing. We will do better and will make up for our donations with some totally transparent corpo pride donations and cups." .... i wont be holding my breath on that. While i'm all for leaving an open chair at teh table for those who have stormed off in fear and ignorance i'm not going to trust that their intentions are real without proof. Respect and Trust ( thats more than general respect and trust for just dealing with people day to day of respecting people and their time and space and trusting they aren't gonna ram their car into you ) are earned not given espicially after they have been proven to not extend teh same. While there is "no ethical consumption" there is not feeling totally icky when you've bought something. Any bigot ( and that includes myself when i've had less than progressive views) that does apologize, admit they made mistakes ( and we all do), and attempt to do better is welcome, if you don't how in teh everlivingfuck do "we" know that you've changed?
I get where Adam is coming from. I’m still not going to spend money on fast food, maybe occasional In N Out. But honestly, fuck fast food in general. In N Out is interesting though.
I use to go to Chick-fil-A with my mom all the time. I read Kathy's biography. They have my favorite fried chicken sandwich, they are polite, they are efficient, and I will never go back there. Just can't do it. Plus, they got rid of their cole slaw and I feel personally slighted by that.
I really don't see why chick fil a is so popular, like they're homophobic and awful and i don't go there bc of that but honestly? Canes is 1000x better flavor wise
You're coming out with this literally just after you told people not to buy Hogwarts: Legacy... Have some ideological consistency, my guy; the same logic still applies, this is all just excuses. It is *never* hard to boycott a company whose owners still very much contribute to the oppression of marginalized groups. The company going silent and dropping a few organizations that the company donated to means nothing, because the Cathy family is still very much involved in the funding and passage of queerphobic laws at home and abroad. No chicken sandwich is so good that you just can't give it up for the sake of the people who are being killed by the money you spent on it. I'm a queer southerner myself and I haven't been to CFA in proper years because I don't want my money, directly or indirectly, going to people and organizations that want people like me dead. I've yet to experience social ostracization for not eating at CFA that I wouldn't already have experienced being openly queer. The signalling you so readily deride helps me identify who I can feel safe around, who will value me over a fucking chicken sandwich that, honestly, is kinda trash compared to any other out there.
Both of my daughters are part of the rainbow squad and my money won't go to any business that supports gay conversion "therapy" 🤷♀️ I should say, I won't support those who openly and proudly support such abuse, because I'm sure others do it on the down-low.
Clearly he is the defender of southern morality and he does care. Or like you said he could've moved on by. They are greatly illogical. All they know is that they're mad enough to elect the meanest, crassest, stupidest president ever. And if they can defend that, they can defend anything. There is no point in arguing with them because logic obviously doesn't make sense to cult members.
We have one in Toronto right near the gaybourhood. That feels wrong. I can eat another chicken sandwich. I did find your breakdown of the sandwich interesting.
No, I don't think I will have to wrestle with anything, I simply do not give money to people who want some of my friends, family and other loved ones dead and who fund that project. People do not, in fact, have to hand it to them.
I’m only a min into this, and I guess I’ll edit this as I go, (maybe) but I’ve got to say that Asia probably won’t get a Chic-fil-A because KFC is bigger, and they already offer things that are very Asia-specific. As a Japanese American, and having been to japan many times, I can say that KFC japan is nothing like KFC USA, looking past the obvious similarities considering that they’re the same company.
I have not been to Japan but wen to KFC China. It was certainly much better than KFC US. KFC in the US use to be quality in the 80's but I think starting in the 90's, they felt pressure to compete in pricing and started lowering their quality. Then later some regional chains serving higher quality chicken start dominating the US market. Chick-Fil-A and Raising Canes took a big chunk and then popeye was more of a direct competitor on pricing and served better chicken. Today, nobody talks about KFC in the US.
Dwarf doesn't only refer to small real humans. It is also an adjective for something small (ie dwarf star).
It's also a main component of mythology as in the Lord of the Rings where dwarfs are not humans but a separate race.
And they are also a European mythological creature which explains the theme
Or a noun
That building also appears to be modeled after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Thank you, jeeze. That really bothered me.
Adam, I know you have to pay the bills, but your sponsor appears to be pretty sus after you look into it a bit more.
Yeah, that masterworks shit and frankly every single one of those "here's how you invest ;)" sponsors are very concerning and likely a scam.
Any investment suggestion from UA-cam is not done for me.
Im glad this is the top comment
Love your channel and your content, Adam. That said, I must admit I was a bit surprised to hear your take on Chick-fil-A, especially given your recent podcast re: the new Harry Potter game. Chick-fil-a itself may have stopped donating directly to anti-LGBTQ organizations, but the members of the Cathy family still very much do. In my mind, buying Chick-fil-a supports this family and the ideals they stand for in a similar manner that purchasing the Harry Potter game supports J.K. Rowling and her ideals. Should you feel bad purchasing a Chick-fil-a sandwich every once in a while? No, but as you said in your Harry Potter podcast, purchasing these products does-albeit indirectly-fund these ideals. Regarding "boycotting the south", I agree with other commenters that you may be under-representing Chick-fil-a's presence in the rest of the U.S. There may be MORE chick-fil-a restaurants in the south than in say New England, but 1) Chick-fil-a's certainly still exist up there and not eating their food is still very much a choice, more importantly 2) it is very much a choice for people in the South to eat at Chick-fil-a. There are plenty of competing restaurants that do NOT support anti-LGBTQ ideals as directly or indirectly as Chick-fil-a does. I understand that there is a certain "social cost" to not eating Chick-fil-a in the south that does not necessarily exist elsewhere in the country, but I just don't think "I choose to support the evil corporation because if I don't my friends and family will look down on me" is a very good argument. If Chick-fil-a is so much a part of Southern identity that choosing not to eat there is a significant inconvenience, socially or otherwise, then maybe that part of the Southern identity needs to be reconsidered.
To conclude, I wanted to paraphrase one of your own conclusions from your Harry Potter podcast, because I think it was an incredibly apt observation at the time and I think just as apt here: "Chick-fil-a's deeds (if you consider them misdeeds) are not ancient history. Their campaign against LGBTQ inclusion is still large, active, and ongoing through those that own and run the company. Buying their sandwiches funds that campaign. It probably doesn't matter that much; they're probably going to have more than enough money to keep doing what they do whether you buy a sandwich or fries or not. The whole word could boycott Chick-fil-a immediately, and they'd still have far more money then they could ever need for the rest of their lives... But... I think you should think about how your consumption looks to your friends who do not fit comfortably into traditional family values... I think the most important factor to consider is their feelings. Because, as uncomfortable as this moment of societal transition may be for cis-gendered straights like me, it is far more uncomfortable and scary and dangerous for LGBTQ people."
You’re an Incel
@@unfairtrout this comment your replying to is not a mirror
I came here to say this but you said it better than I could have.
The Cathy family's private donations are just that, private, but we have no reason to assume they have stopped. They could be worse than ever, and with the recent changes in the supreme court, they are *making (anti)progress*. That does worry me.
Totally agree
Well put.
I think in the same spirit of "don't let perfect be the enemy of good", I don't know every product whose company's owners are awful people, and honestly I don't have the time nor inclination to zealously research every one of my purchases in this way. But what I can do is put in the minimal effort of boycotting products I *DO* know will profit bad people, when I remember to. I don't think that makes me ethically inconsistent.
thank you for posting this comment. exactly how i feel
I mean that's definitely ethically inconsistent since you also KNOW there is no real ethical consumption 🤷♂️ you are choosing to remain purposefully ignorant about other products you consume while also making some kind of moral stand about other products that are equally unethical. Definitely inconsistent.
@@GodOfTheDisturbed I can't realistically do a deep dive into every product I use. I just can't. That's not being "purposefully ignorant", that's just the reality of being a functional adult with responsibilities in a globalized society.
If I see someone beating his wife and I say/do something about it, does it make me a hypocrite because I haven't dedicated my life to stopping every single instance of domestic violence ever? Do I only have the right to say something or think poorly of him if I've investigated everyone I know and determined that none of them are domestic abusers?
That seems like a patently absurd position to me, the logical conclusion of which is that no one should criticize anything, ever.
This strand of argument I find tends to correlate strongly with conservatives (eg Jordan "clean your room" Peterson) who just resent that something they admire is being criticized by people they perceive to be "others".
@@SacredDaturaa BTW you have the culmination of mankind's knowledge in your fingers. Researching even 100 products would take you an hour or two. So yes you are the definition of willfully ignorant. There's easy relevant info you're purposefully ignoring because it's nor convenient for you. Your entire comment was disingenuous from top to bottom 😂
Boycotting a restaurant is *never* difficult, doesn’t matter where the restaurant or the boycotter is located, it’s a simple matter of *not* going in, *not* buying food there. I know of no place in the USA where food choices are limited to a single restaurant chain, there are always alternatives to the one being boycotted.
That ignores the social element Adam mentioned. If you grow up going to a restaurant, most people you know go to that restaurant, it's a common chain restaurant around you, AND people still want to go to that restaurant since they make good food, there's absolutely a social cost to that boycott that a ton of people aren't gonna pay. If you don't experience that cultural phenomenon, there's no social cost for you to pay with that boycott.
Not to say that said social cost excuses any and all unethical consumption. But it absolutely exists.
I lost my first office job because I refused to eat the chicken my manager bought our team and put on our desks. I told her thank you but I wouldn't partake on moral grounds and I was fried the next day for being confrontational with management.
@@DiabetoDan I must be missing something. What is the social cost? I'm not saying that people need to put "I boycott [x]" signs in their yard or anything like that! I'm just saying that NOT eating at a particular restaurant is always a choice, and an easy one at that. Thinking about possible social cost, I can imagine a scenario along the lines of: Friend says "let's go out for lunch at [X]" and I say "lunch sounds good, but how about [Y] instead?" and friend insists on going to [X], but I don't like eating at [X], thus I wouldn't have lunch with that person at that time, mildly disappointing, but hardly a big "social cost." Obviously you are not suggesting that everyone always exclusively eats out at Chick-fil-A, so I just don't see the problem... personally, not only have I boycotted Chick-fil-A since 1985 or so, I've not entered a McDonalds since around 1998 or so, not for any particular boycott or other reason, I just have zero interest in any of their food, so I don't eat there. In the 25+ years I've been avoiding them, there have only ever been two occasions when this has been the slightest bit of a problem, one time was in rural West Virginia, and McDonalds was literally the ONLY restaurant open within a 25 mile radius of where I was... so I didn't eat dinner that night, no big deal, I had a nice breakfast the next morning. Similarly, on the other occasion, I was on a charter bus that stopped at a rest area that only had a McDonalds, so I didn't eat; I knew I would be able to get food at the destination, so I just waited 4 more hours, hardly a problem.
I just had another thought as to possible social cost: what if someone arranged a big social event, something like a wedding reception, at a Chick-fil-A? In that case I can definitely see how there could be difficulties, that not attending the event would have a high social cost, and I don't have a good answer for what to do in that situation, but I don't think that that is a common scenario.
@@icecreamorc wow, sorry that you had such a clueless and arrogant manager! It sounds like you perhaps dodged a bullet there, getting out of a toxic work environment early on, and (hopefully) with unemployment benefits.
@@icecreamorc interesting tale, never worked offices, I can see where the confrontation issue was in your reaction... just waiting and sliding it into a garbage can if you didn't want to eat it, either way it was bought for you so the damage was done whatever the fate of the sandwich was... if you didn't want to work for a company that didn't want to have to cater to your values, you found a way out. The sandwich may have been a one time sharing of what the public whohaw was about at that time, and not really a support for the issues, did they do other foods as lunch gifts like pizza?... it might have been a one off event, had you been working there long enough to know the context of the likelihood of the sandwich would be what you would be eating for the rest of your career... the confrontational response to perhaps a clueless gift of food by someone who thought they were making and extra effort to be nice... like going after a box of the Crispy Cream doughnuts as a treat for their fellow workers... on the rare occasions when the lumber mill I worked in wanted to treat us to a free meal... they would barbecue hamburgers and hotdogs with stuff like chilli on the side, made by the owner and office staff... or maybe ordering a variety of pizzas from a local chain like Alfys Pizza... that kind of stuff is "team building ", when you only have a half hour to eat... something hot is a nice change from years of make do foods. If you were taken by surprise by a gift and then refused with complaint, I am not surprised by the reaction, a private explanation of the hazards of offering controversial food, might have made you a team player, concerned about that person's future and it might have stopped future repetitions of that food being gifted, as a hazardous team building effort... you might still be working there in a better position. I did rise though the ranks of the lumber mill over the years almost at the insistence of my bosses... if I had issues I avoided being confrontational, like getting the lubricant changed in a machine center by doing research and offering it to the bosses... the air quality was improved as a result of them seeing the research done at another lumber mill that showed diesel and water was no better than water alone in the quad saw (4 bandsaws on 6 foot spinning wheels cutting at the same time)... I was not confrontational, I appeared helpful... my interest was in improving my air quality... like I said, I never worked offices, so I might not guess what else might have been involved in your experience. I am retired now, pension and so on... it is an interesting state to be in.
I'm indifferent to their food but I absolutely avoid any area that has a Chick-fil-A because it's a traffic nightmare and adds like 5-10 minutes on my commute. It's like dumping kerosene on the fire that is US infrastructure
NJB subscriber?
It's the same here all day long. We have three in driving distance and every one of them clogs up the turn lane.
100% true, and I don’t get it either. Do they make a good chicken sandwich? Sure. Is it good enough to wait in a huge line for? Not even close. It’s way overrated IMO
We have one and the lines are clogging up a side road more then a main drag... I never bothered to get in that line more because I am not into long lines, the other fast food places tend to have shorter lines... so I am a bit clueless about the PC blow up... how can you boycott someone you can't get to anyway... so I am hearing Adam explaining why the lines are so long.... it might be easier to reproduce a version described by Adam.... got a hot pot?....then to face those lines. I have run into their sauces in the local grocery store.... okay I guess, but I like the Arby's Horsey sauce better, also on the shelf lately.... I tend to get very tender moist pork, beef, chicken using my induction cooker...and I can add Horsey sauce on my maybe not so fast food... So if I ask can someone tell me what PC sin the management did, I would guess someone could tell me, or I could Google the issue. And Adam is nice enough to outline the issues involved... nicely done.
This is just like the In-N-Out in my neighborhood, I actively avoid that street!
Adam after talking about Chick-fil-A for over an hour: Boy these beans may be controversial
poot poot
I remember, similar to the Publix incident, one video where Adam used Goya beans for something and got complaints in the comments. I thought from this comment that that's what the controversial beans were, but nope. Now I'm terrified. I hope it's not black bean brownies.
@@yaqubroli1804 I mean bean sweets aren't unheard of, see t asian red bean desserts or the infamous bean pie of the Nation of Islam
@teslaClesDeviant navy bean pie > sweet potato pie. My mind was quite literally blown. I couldn't believe it and relatively speaking it's actually pretty healthy for you All Things Considered (protein and fiber and to slow the uptake of sugar plus nutrients not found in sweet potatoes almost make you feel guilt-free devouring this desert 😁)
I'm a Southerner who dislikes Chick-fil-A and doesn't eat there partially out of distaste for the food and partially out of principle. Believe me, I know of what I speak, am not lying to myself or you, and am not a total cynic.
I ate there many times as a kid, mainly because it was a favorite of family members from Georgia, and long before the company started it's late 20th century expansion. The only Chick-fil-A in our area was in a mall food court, right outside the movie theater, so it was more of a special treat at the time (70s & 80s). The food was better then, but mainly for the nostalgia factor.
Back in the day, my favorite was the old school chicken salad sandwich - minced breast meat with slightly sweetish mayo and pickles (and a very occasional, finely chopped almond) on crisply toasted, thin whole wheat bread. I think I liked it most because it was my grandmother's favorite also. That menu item went the way of the dodo long ago. Doesn't sound very appealing to the current me in terms of quality, but it was good when I was a kid. I'd give a lot to get to eat another one of those with my grandmother.
Fast forward to 2023 and their food is middling at best, even more overly sweetened, and, as Adam notes, heavily MSG laden, so not really my thing. It's almost a caricature of itself. If I'm going to spend all those calories, I'd choose Zaxby's, Culver's or Whataburger any day of the week. Incidentally, Culver's and Whataburger manage to pull off a similar service strategy without the creepy factor, and Zaxby's chicken is better.
That having been said, I happen to be gay and the company's and the family's very public spending and support for anti-gay causes would have been more than enough to sour me on their food even if it truly was extraordinary. Luckily, my local Chick-fil-A is surrounded by many choices including a Zaxby's, Bojangles, Popeye's, and a KFC. I'll never have to face that harrowing gauntlet of the multiple drive thru lines poking out into heavy traffic and the creepy employees blessing me unless someone requests that I stop there.
This world is full of numerous options for where to shop. If I can buy food at a place that I like as well or better and doesn't make me feel creeped out and despised, forgive me for taking my custom there.
I don't have a problem with people who like to eat at Chick-fil-A or to shop at Publix whether out of habit or preference, but the way Adam pretends these two establishments are the pinnacle of corporate efficiency and excellence kind of boggles my mind. Both are mid at best, both are overpriced for what you get, and both are suffused with the kind of faux (and enforced) religiosity and self-congratulation that I find very off-putting. Don't get me started on all the customers who consciously go to these establishments BECAUSE of their reputation for supporting causes that denigrate gays and supporting insurrection.
Nonetheless, Publix is my closest grocery store, so I will run in there occasionally for convenience sake and regret the high prices I pay every time for their mediocre fare. Luckily, I don't have that problem with Chick-fil-A often, but even I still might stop there in a pinch if it was the only option at an interstate exit, for instance. Truthfully, though, I do feel a little guilty, a little dirty after having gone either of these places because of their association with the forces of hate, and I'm glad that I do. You can call that virtue signaling if you like, but I think it's a lot closer to a virtue itself. Awareness of the reality, compromise with the reality, trying to do better, wrestling with it. I like to think that's what Adam does in his better moments, too.
However, the worst part of this podcast was Adam's bit about his privilege as an educated Northerner. Somehow he managed to be even more condescending to the South than the standard, more straightforward, and frankly accurate case many Northerners make about the many ills of Southern culture. (Yikes, what was that uniformed blather about the Civil War and slavery? Better luck next time!) Some of us poor, benighted Southerners managed to get excellent educations and figured out how our culture sucked all on our own -- and guess what, there were Southerners, white and black, who opposed slavery before and during the Civil War. Don't get me wrong, Southern culture has good points, too, plenty of them. Sugary, additive-pumped, fast-food fried chicken isn't one of them. Wish y'all could have tried my grandfather's recipe, fried in cast iron, now that would have been something worthy of an hour+ long podcast.
Whatever who cares. It tastes good and it’s fast. And you know some of us don’t want to eat at the LGBQ places too but if we boycotted all those we wouldn’t have anywhere to eat. Not everyone is as morally perfect and Puritan minded as you are
I’m currently living in New England temporarily, you can get the pretentious vibe here and also a subtle level racism as someone that’s a POC.
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one to have gotten the education superiority vibe from this podcast. I grew up in the south, but attended university in an Ivy school. Even in that environment they look down on you despite a stellar status of an Ivy League student.
As for the racism, I can definitely confirm they have a misunderstanding of the preconceived notion that the south is full of racists, and they would look at my in pity as a POC that grew up there. Tbh, I’ve experienced more racism in my first 5 months in New England than my 20 years in the south. Talking to me slowly as if I didn’t understand English, like are you kidding me?
On a side note, as soon as you mentioned Bojangles, my immediate thought is NC, but only because that’s literally where it originated. I miss NC…
@@Yallquietendowndid u read the whole message?
@@spaalqutsitoo long, didn't read
@@robster7787the data shows that the group most likely to change how they speak when talking to different ethnic groups is white liberals (self identifying), which MA is full of. As a new Yorker, you see it all the time, they can't imagine how blacks would be able to do anything without their help
Some (hopefully) legally protected answers to the chicken questions/comments, from an anonymous Chick-Fil-A worker:
The chicken is absolutely brined. It's shipped in bags where it's packed in a semi-thick liquid, not like the chicken juice you get in any old pack of chicken breasts. That being said, it is probably not pickle juice. The brine smells mostly like garlic, onion, and pepper, and really not too acidic. The brine might have something like citric acid or other tenderizers, the only issue is that chicken being shipped and then held before breading might be sitting in a tightly sealed refrigerator bag of brine for several days. If it were something like pickle juice, it would be mush by the time we cook it. The pressure fryers really do quite a lot for retaining moisture, but the chicken definitely gets hotter than 165F. We temp it multiple times a day to ensure safety and it usually sits between 180 and 200F. I think it's more important that the chicken is not raw and the outside is brown, so understandably overcooking is not the biggest concern. You got the battering pretty much spot on, though I can't make any claims on what's inside the flour dredge, it's all pre-packaged. I've never seen anyone do the "thumb rubbing" action you described, and I'm not familiar with the video you mentioned, so I can't speak to whether that's true or was just a marketing stunt. To get uniform thickness, we use "fillet rollers" that are essentially a big corrugated pasta roller to flatten the breasts into fillets. The breaders do push the dredge really hard into the chicken, honestly though that's just good practice for any fried chicken. Also I know it's nitpicky, but especially when we're busy, the chicken isn't exactly small batch. we'll drop like 9 fillets in a single batch, using one of those layered frying baskets so every 2 or 3 fillets is separated by a little metal rack. The timers to keep the chicken fresh is a very real thing, but the corporate heated storage systems have the window set for like 20 minutes so there's plenty of time to sell it.
I hope this doesn't sound too good to be true, I was careful not to make any outrageous claims or share intimate details since that's probably against company policy, but I haven't hidden any significant detail or bad practices. I definitely stand by our chicken, it's consistently well-prepared.
Thank you for posting this. I've had a lot of friends from CFA tell me some of this but I don't think I've ever seen it written out in detail
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the peanut oil yet. A huge part of the flavor and the crispy texture (in my opinion at least) comes from the fact that it's fried in 100% peanut oil. KFC and Popeyes both use a blend of canola and soybean oil (as do most of the less chicken-forward fast food establishments, although interestingly, Five Guys does use peanut oil for their fried items)
@@macerra4401 wow, the peanut oil would both be important for temperature and flavor, but very dangerous to people with peanut allergies. It’s a good thing they post ingredients these days, or that would be a problem for a significant though small minority of people.
There are obvious and indisputable reasons why Chick-Fil-A is so good and so successful.
Adam is 100% correct when he says anybody who disagrees is lying/full of shit etc.
When you drive up to that crazy looking drivethru queue, it can be quite intimidating. Especially if you're in a hurry.
Then you bite the bullet just one time instead of driving off and prepare to wait 30+ minutes to get food.
10-15 minutes later *_at worst_* as you are driving away from the store, you realize the truth of the entire system.
Even here in MO where it gets legit hot and cold, they installed hanging fans and IR heaters for the drivethru workers comfort.
I'm sure that job still sucks, but it could be worse.
well said
Alright Adam, I've watched this whole episode start to finish. I feel like I've done my due diligence and heard you out.
I wasn't particularly frustrated with you (or even against what you were saying) until the last 15 minutes or so. At that point, you took a pretty radical turn that I just could not condone.
CFA didn't stop the bulk of its nonprofit donations that caused *active, deliberate, and widespread harm* until 2018. Even since then, it has continued to donate to PACs and politicians that espouse *dangerous positions rooted in lies* on queer and trans people as recently as last year. They haven't "come into our tent". They've just stopped lighting it on fire in favor of running it over with their car.
I'm a queer trans person in the South. One of my first job applications was to CFA. I was in a group interview, and the interviewer stopped addressing me as soon as me being trans came up (my legal name had not yet been changed, hence why it came up). My family still goes to CFA almost religiously. There are seven CFA locations where I live. As such, I am frustrated that you painted the CFA boycott as a movement made up of Northerners who have no dog in the fight, and thus, have the privilege of taking an easy side.
Most of the people I know who still boycott are Southern queer people. We're facing undeniable and ever-rising levels of hateful and harmful legislation, discrimination, and violence. CFA is donating to the people causing that harm. To a lot of us, the people who defend going to CFA are showing that they won't stand by us if it's inconvenient. This might not be immediately apparent or intuitive, which is why I don't put that to everyone who eats there. But for the people who know, there isn't an excuse.
There is no circumstance under which I can condone supporting a business that not only has done nothing to put out the proverbial fire it fueled for so long, but one that still throws on sticks every now and then while people say we should be grateful that it's not logs and lighter fluid. It's disingenuous to say that "we won" when all they did was dial back the harm a bit.
I hope you're able to read this comment. I'm not, like, writing you off as "evil" or anything here, but this is context that you absolutely need to know.
Thank you! I stand with you and against Adam on this issue. I may continue to visit his page but I am going to withdraw my subscription I believe.
Other people can have different opinions about things, and that doesn't make them hateful or evil. You don't get to tell everybody what to believe, or bully them with nonsense phrases like "active, deliberate and widespread harm", or "dangerous positions rooted in lies." Especially when your view is anti-science. I get that you're frustrated in life, but that's because your swimming upstream, against reality. I can't help you with that.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I think you might be replying to the wrong person.
@@kittycatcaoimhe No, I quoted YOU. Still swimming against reality, I see.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 If you think talking about actual events is "bullying" or "nonsense", or promoting science is "anti-science", I think you have bigger problems than helping people who don't need your help.
Adam when it comes to Dwarf the term it was used almost exclusively for the mythical race of Nordic/German folklore. Then it became a term for smaller versions of things particularly animals. When Truett started to make fhe Dwarf house restaurants Midget was the term du jur for people of limited verticality with Dwarfism being the clinical term.
Yeah, on the whole weird "dwarf" bit, I suspect that's why many people with dwarfism prefer the term "little-people". I've honestly never met anybody who's thought that dwarf is an offensive word in general.
@Svenskanorden1 Or Zwerg (pronounced /tsverk/ in German. But "Person of limited verticality" definitely wins the day.
Thinking 'dwarf' as a term in general is offensive is like thinking fatty in fatty acid is offensive just because it's very rude to call a person fatty
the term "dwarf" is generally accepted as a term for a smaller version of a plant or animal in botanical and zoological literature, and i think it's a bit disingenuous to imply that the naming of a location as 'dwarf' for being small is anything more than the same thing. i don't want to be rude or offend anyone with a medical condition either but i don't think it's okay to imply that certain terminology is unacceptable just because it might offend someone when the domain of that is so far removed from anything that could potentially cause offense.
There is also the mythological creature called the dwarf which also fits their theming
Isn't dwarf the term that really short people generally prefer? Correct me if I'm wrong.
@@oskarileikos I hear mixed responses between dwarf and little people. Dwarf is more clinical, whereas little people is euphemistic, so it varies. That being said I think the issue he discussed is if you make a restaurant themed after dwarfs, that's a problem as opposed to a restaurant just themed to be small. When you call something a dwarf diner, my mind conjures the mythical creature long before it things of small mutant species. Context matters for such things.
@@KWade-bt4dc yes! I posted my comment almost right when I started watching this video so I had no context. Probably should've waited.
Glad someone else feels the same. Literally searched Dwarf in Google to check myself and it's defining a "mythical race of short, stocky humanlike creatures" as number one. I was like, I think they get a pass there.
A thing that confused me about the episode is this idea that Chick-fil-a is a ubiquitous thing that Southerners eat at all the time and seemingly worship at the altar of (I may be exaggerating, but it seemed the me that Adam mentioned this multiple times)
I grew up in suburban Texas, I ate there all the time growing up. My family is Christian. My high school was across from a Chic-Fil-A. Even with every single one of those factors, I don't think there is this slavish allegiance to the fast food chain. I mean I grew up in Texas, so Whataburger is the crazy cult, not the chicken sandwich place. So, the idea of boycotting it or giving it up, is really not the craziest thing, especially cause it's not like the South lacks in good fast food, we invented chicken buckets and Louisiana fried chicken and fish fries (did not fact check this).
Also not trying to make a moral judgement there. I used to eat there very frequently in high school, it was very convenient, when I learned of the anti-LGBTQ+ stuff, I generally stayed away (I liked Popeyes better but have not heard of the presumably horrible stuff they do as a corporation). Some of my queer and straight friends eat there, some don't. I think in daily life most people don't care too much because frankly, there is more important stuff to care about that (like active queer discrimination in legislatures rn)
I get why Adam is so wary to include his patronage at the place though, it must be frustrating being a public figure and therefore being scrutinized to that degree. But I think it's also an odd move to post an hour and a half long podcast about the chain. It's cool that he praises its efficiencies, but it seems like he's lighting a fire that no one wanted burned.
Overall, it seems like he wanted to make a podcast justifying why he eats there. It just seems like the justification of it being a way of life in the South feels off, at least according to my experience as a Southerner. If he likes the chicken, he likes it, but trying to create this Northerners hate on Chick-Fil-A because they don't get it because they're Northerners, feels misguided. It's a good chicken sandwich, the people ARE nice, but it's not in the South's DNA like brisket or cold beer on a Friday Night.
My question is, is the chicken really worth it? They were actively homophobic, less than 10 years ago. They still donated to anti-LGBTQ within this past decade. They lobbied for shit not too long ago. I'm for forgiveness, and accepting people (or corporations in this case) when they do wrong and try to improve. But it's not like Chic-Fil-A does right, they're just quiet about the homophobia, and personally that feels gross, which is why I get my chicken sandwiches elsewhere. Not getting CFA is virtue signaling, and that's can be a good thing, I personally want to indicate that I would prefer my corporate overlords to be actively anti-homophobic rather than the other way around.
Adam if you like Chick-Fil-A, go for it. It just seems silly to argue that it's integral to Southern Living or something like that. Just eat it!
I agree with this. As someone born in Texas and lived here all my life, I was surprised to hear that Chick-Fil-A is somehow a way of life in the South. I'm not sure I've ever met anyone super passionate about Chick-Fil-A. Now, burger places? Absolutely yes. Whataburger is huge here. No one seems to care that much about chicken, and if they do, it's about fried chicken, not chicken sandwiches. I grew up eating Church's and KFC mostly.
This put to words how I was feeling about all this very well. Adam just seems to be trying to rationalize his habits, or is trying to create a defense case for himself if he ever slips up, and what he fears actually happens (him getting mini canceled). with this whole thing he’s acknowledging that he understands this can be bad (hence the hiding the habit in the first place), but instead of going down that path leads to him not eating there because it’s a bad habit in his mind he decided to go fully open about it, and double down for a lack of a better word.
Hell as someone who is apart of the LGBTQ+ community I don’t really care that much about CFA, and most queer people don’t as well. Really the only thing queer people care about CFA is that it’s a good indicator on how much a person is actually an ally to the queer community.
Jaibin, love out to you, Man. Extremely articulate and all you have said here is true. I followed the entire story. Adam has obscured parts of the story which are important. Including the fact that after Chick-fil-A claimed that they were no longer donating, it was found that they were donating! By forensic accountants! MORE THAN ONCE!
If that is true, then how can we ever trust them again? Also why would you want to put money in the pocket of a wealthy evangelical who even if he doesn't donate through his business he will donate through his own personal bank accounts ????
WHY ADAM WHYYYYYYYY???
Just eat the mediocre chicken, Adam. Stop whining about it. The rest of us will carry your weight if you're weak enough to need that mediocre chicken while feathering the pockets of a wealthy Evangelical family. The last thing we need in America is more evangelicals getting more money to donate to more crazy stuff they believe in. Probably Trump's legal defense.
This comment deserves to be at the top of the heap because it is spot on!
My perspective as an outsider in a conservative state, Utah, is that Chick-fil-A achieved its cult-like status (at least here) *because* of their support of anti-gay organizations and legislation. We had a couple locations, mostly in malls, that got a normal amount of traffic for a fast food joint. They didn't start regularly obstructing traffic until calls for a boycott started going around and suddenly it was every Mormon's favorite restaurant. I never really ate there, so as Adam said, I wasn't really giving anything up by continuing to not eat there. But I still don't understand why people think their sandwiches are so good that they are worth supporting the morally reprehensible owners of the company. Owners who may have learned a lesson, but most likely the wrong lesson: if you're going to donate money towards supporting the death penalty for gays in foreign countries, do it quietly.
I take issue with the repeated rhetoric that "corporations are people too". No, corporations are not people, they're ran by people. That might sound like I'm being needlessly argumentative but the distinction is important.
I sincerely believe that this attitude of treating corporations like people (especially in the legal sense when it's used to create separation between owners and a business and allows for huge corporate donations to be considered "free speech") contributes to a ton of issues with US politics, and the huge gap between the benefits the 1% gain from the economy and the crumbs that sift down to the rest of us.
The assertion that "corporations are people" is dangerous, it protects the most wealthy while simultaneously disenfranchising anyone with less money than one of these corporations. You said yourself that your wallet is your most powerful voting tool, and these corporations have deep wallets.
Did you listen to what was said after that?
re: Southerners feeling like outsiders are criticizing/boycotting their way of life.
My opinion on this may be skewed bc I'm an outsider (an outsider from California at that), but it feels like the South reacts that way to any criticism of anything that happens down there?
More relevant to the episode, while I've never boycotted Chick-Fil-A (couldn't exactly stop buying from a chain I never went to in the first place), I did pretty much stop going to our local fast-food-franchise-darling In-n-Out when I found out their owners were donating to anti-LGBT groups. I'm sure if I looked into other places I frequent I'd find similar, but so far I've just been ostrich-ing. I know lots of ppl here who'd never eat at CFA, but are totally unaware of In-n-Out just cause it doesn't brand itself as 'christian' so aggressively.
If you look at the bottom of your In-N-Out cup, you will find a Bible verse. It's written in almost microscopic letters. My friend show me the last time I was there
I don't eat at Chick-fil-A for a few reasons:
1, and the first - I do NOT like breaded fried chicken breast. AT ALL.
2. not fond of their anti-gay policies.
3. the phrase, "My Pleasure" would automatically have me asking the person behind the counter if they really truly meant that, or if their bosses made them say it or lose their jobs. "Is it your pleasure, or is it the knife at your neck?"
Seriously - #1 means I don't say that I boycott them, I just dislike breaded fried chicken breast. And one cropped up around 2014-ish where I used to live. I didn't see the point (for me), as right across the street was a Panera's with much better (to me) food.
I have no problem with Chick-fil-A franchises starting up wherever they do. I just don't need to eat there.
I have rather particular feelings about Chick-fil-A being a Black Northerner. The feeling is a discomfort about the "perfect being the enemy of good" thing. The Civil war and the period of Reconstruction and its aftermath suggests that the pendulum swing that Chick-fil-A will eventually do should not be forgotten. The Maya Angelou quote: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." and the final lines of that story of the Lady and the Snake: "you knew i was a snake when you picked me up" both come to mind. I think there are legitimate reasons why an outsider can criticize Chick-fil-A much as I can criticize the state of civil rights in the South; we have family there. We are seeing encroachments of Chick-fil-A here in the west and I expect we will pay a high moral price for it.
This! The idea that CFA isn't just biding their time waiting for a chance to seize on this conservative backswing is very short sighted. They may have "learned their lesson" about being hateful loudly, but they're absolutely still being hateful quietly and if they thought it would benefit them, they'd go back to the loud way in a heartbeat. He explained why himself- they're built on a foundation of conservative and religious idealism that runs a lot deeper than "The founder's children are idiots".
It’s a chicken sandwich
@@jesseortegon3264 do you give your money to the sandwich?
@@jesseortegon3264 But that chicken sandwich doesn't exist in a vacuum. You'd have to be willfully ignorant to not see that.
Firstly, I am wholly in support of gay rights. But, one thing to note about Chic-fil-A's support for organizations funded by churches that were anti-gay is that 10 years ago, when this happened, Obama and Clinton had just recently come out in support of gay marriage. ~4 years prior, Hillary had just publicly stated she believed marriage was only between a man and a woman. Adam and I could be wrong, but I think Chic-fil-A has pretty much withdrawn all that support, and when I said "organizations funded by churches that were anti-gay", that wording was very intentional; from my understanding, they never funded organizations that did things like directly lobby against gay marriage, they donated to programs for disadvantaged/poor youth and the like that were run by churches that had conservative takes on gay marriage.
In regards to the pickle juice - there's an excellent video on youtube by Jason Framer where he re-creates the Chick-fil-a sandwich recipe. He mentions that current and former employees say there's no pickle juice. I actually followed the recipe he laid out and it tasted spot on to me.
I worked in CFA during my freshman year in college. There’s no pickle juice because we don’t actually know.
The chicken arrives in a brined bag already marinated in the liquid. You can definitely smell the garlic, herbs, and spices, so we can’t really say there isn’t pickle juice, however I wouldn’t rule it out given that it’s such a popular ingredient in many restaurants outside of CFA.
Hell, we use it to make a special chipotle Mayo at my local bar.
@@robster7787 Yeah, he mentioned that it arrived in the store in a brined bag. He seemed pretty confident in the recipe, only thing he wasn't sure of was the exact ratio of the spices for the brine.
There is no pickle juice involved. Strips are marinaded with it, which is why they taste so different
Corporations are not people. Corporations are ideas that represent decisions made by groups of people. It is fair to criticize decisions made by groups of people, and even individuals, in a de-humanized way.
I'm queer, I live in Kansas, and there is no shortage of Chick-fil-A in my market. I think it's fair to say that I am in no way an "outsider" to this discussion. It's nice to know how well Chick-fil-A locations are run, and I'm happy to hear that they largely treat their employees well. But that doesn't change that they are a corporation that spent millions of dollars over many, many years actively trying to restrict my rights. I take their actions and decisions personally, because I was, in a sense, personally targeted by them. That also doesn't change that they are a corporation that is still owned by and run by a family who believes that my fundamental nature is somehow unnatural. I appreciate that they have ceased giving money to groups that hate me, but I have not (and likely will not) forgiven them for doing so in the first place.
All that being said, I don't judge anyone who decided to resume their patronage of Chick-fil-A after these donations stopped, but I, personally, will not be.
Adam, I always appreciate how candid you are about sensitive topics like this, and I find that I generally agree with your opinions for the most part. I disagreed with certain things you said in this podcast just enough to write this comment.
@Benjamin Earl Music They _aren't_ a corporation. If they were they wouldn't donate to organizations that would potentially target hate at their own shareholders.
What? They're literally incorporated.
Well said. Queer guy here as well and I agree with everything you said. I don''t care what other people do but I cannot support them. This episode kind of annoyed me because it seemed to be an overly long and unnecessary attempt by Adam to justify patronizing Chick-fil-A that I found insulting in spots.
amazing comment. Adam is off base here.
As an LGBT person: I'm not going to yell at you, or shun you, or call you a homophobe if you walk in with a CFA bag. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's a little red flag with an acquaintance. It will make me more hesitant to tell you about my girlfriend; I'll be more careful about floating a test balloon to see if you're going to be a jerk about trans people; you're going to be the one whose face I glance at to check for a flash of discomfort when gay characters kiss in a TV show we're watching.
As you say, there are other corporations that do worse, but come on, let's be honest; we live in a society, and eating there has become a political statement regardless of whether or not it should be.
I also see your point about wanting to reward people (or corporations) for change! I'm all for that! I would be more convinced by this argument if CFA had shown any willingness to apologize for their past views, donate to LGBTQ+ causes, or remove the virulent homophobes from their board of directors.
well said! exactly my thoughts as well
You said this really well. I'm also queer and that's about how I feel.
It also puts me in a weird spot whenever I'm "expected" to join a social gathering at Chic-Fil-A. I'm not comfortable at all spending my money there (and I live in an area with plenty), but it's pretty normal for people to invite me to lunch or something at a chick-fil-a and I always have a hard time navigating those situations, cuz it signals to me that the person never even considered that I (openly and visibly queer) might have a problem with it.
I was on board with the "Reward corporations for change" when it was first leaked that they'd stopped donating to causes back in 2018. However, as I understand they still give to *some* hate groups, including the one that funded the Ugandan murder law (I don't have a source on-hand for this though, so don't take my word), so I can't say that I want to give my dollars to that.
100% this. Adam can talk as much as he wants about people not being effected by this because they don't go there anyways, but at the end of the day this is the reality of our experiences as gender and sexual minorities. And it's really annoying to be talked down to about not being effected by this by a straight, cis man.
very that
@@Sinlinara I do think Adam could've done a much better job directly recognizing the folks in his audience who *are* lgbt in this video.
"Reconstituted ground chicken parts" is a funny way to say "chicken meatloaf".
sure, if you call mechanically separated muscle "meat". It's definitely meat-adjacent, don't get me wrong, but it's no breast or thigh.
I don't really understand why anybody would scoff at MSC (mechnically seperated chicken) I mean nuggets are just the hotdog of a chicken. they are a good cheap food. and plus it's probably better to use all the edible meat on a chicken, then to waste it because it's not good enough? it obviously is good enough for plenty of people. it's just feels like a scare tactic to make people fight over nothing. of course you have much better chicken as breast / tenders or thighs, but you'll still have MSC to use for something else.
@@BloodSprite-tan The hotdog of chicken is a great way to put it. I feel the same, sure it might not be the desirable parts of the animal but it still contains nutrition and it's tasty.
@@DaddyGandhi that's the other thing. they are functionally different parts of the chicken so you enjoy breat and thighs doesn't really affect nuggets at all. except just makes it possible? because unless you're buying breast with ribs attached and whole thighs, there will always be meat left over. you can have nuggets thighs and breast together with the same bird.
@@busimagen that's not what mechanically separated muscle is. If you ever disassembled a boiled chicken after making stock, you know there's lots of tiny weak fibers that cling to bones and between bones; they're hard to separate from gristle and generally don't have that great of a texture. That's what chicken meatballs and nuggets are usually made from, not actual large muscles. I usually feed them to my cats.
Re: the MSG component, there is another fast food non-Asian application of MSG that, in my estimation, is at least as prominent as in Asian food: Many Americanized taco chains (and convenience stores) put a whole lot of MSG in their nacho cheese sauce.
Take a look at the ingredients on savory junk foods sometime. Doritos, Cheetos, etc. Most of them contain MSG too.
@@MikeU128 Yes, I'm very aware. :-)
I thought msg was bad for the health, like carcinogen or something
@@comlitbeta7532 nope, that's a myth spawned from a letter from a scientist writing a health journal back in the (I believe) 1950s. Said letter wasn't peer-reviewed research and might have just been an inside joke with other scientists. He described "Chinese restaurant syndrome" and how he felt bad after eating food with a lot of MSG, and the myth spiraled from there.
If you eat most popular snack foods or fast food, you've eaten a lot of MSG. It's a flavoring that's about as harmful as something like salt or paprika, unless you're one of the very rare few people with a genetic intolerance for it.
@@comlitbeta7532 maybe if you ate like 3 pounds of it everyday for 30 years. But MSG is used in such tiny quantities that it's harmless on its own.
The panic was invented to vilify Chinese takeout restaurants.
Depending on who you talk to, I live in the south. Not the deep south mind you, but Richmond was the capital of the confederacy. I've had the food, and I do like it, but I can't eat there anymore. I have so many friends who are gay or non binary, and some have been through conversation therapy. As good as it used to taste, the bad taste it leaves in my mouth knowing that on a corporate level, they don't view my friends as people. I won't attack you for eating there, but in America, more often than not, you vote with your dollar, and those votes do add up. Luckily though, we have many restaurants here in the city that are open on Sundays and have fun riffs on the sandwich like the vegan "chick fil-aint" and a local restaurant called Cobra Cabana that puts out a "Gay fil-a" that donates proceeds on Sundays to local shelters and LGBT groups.
Sorry your mentally ill friends went through "conversation therapy" can they have a rational conversation now?
Yeah, there are so many good alternatives that it's easy to avoid spending money there. And I agree, their un-american views on some of our population should be shunned
They don't view your friends as people? That's just you projecting your opinion onto them. I've seen no real facts about Chick-fil-A... just ridiculous hyperbole about how they want to put your friends in camps and eliminate them.
i live only blocks away from cobra cabana, they’re awesome
I find it kinda funny how Adam talks about Chick Fil A as it were some kind forbidden fruit, some irresisitible glorious temptation only resisted by those who don't have access to it
yeah there's plenty of them in my area. I will never eat there because I have a little something called morals and values that don't bend for fried fucking chicken.
Missing the point
@@dyldylwin I didn't, I don't even necessarily disagree with anything Adam said (outside one or two minor points). I just genuinely found that aspect funny. I'm not from the US, I've never had chick fil a, but after this video I really wanna try it. Even started looking up copycat recipes lol.
@@rodrigodemiguellamminen5244
I had it. It was a perfectly fine chicken sandwich. Us northerners just don't care about fried chicken like the south does.
But yeah the 1st one we got was literally so packed that they HAD to open a second one nearby, just to try and relieve the stress on the first one. It basically took up half a homedepot parking lot just for the line of cars. The funniest part was that homedepot probably thought it was a great idea to bring in customers, but it actually drove wawy customers as their parking lot was destroyed.
It’s because giving up something you love is difficult enough if you know it’s run by horrible people. I myself tend to have the same issue. I’m bisexual and I still eat cfa because it’s delicious. The fact that they were able to make a sandwich so delicious that even someone who’s bisexual and knows about the donations still eats there is scary and incredible at the same time.
I'm a queer Tennessean who, basically has been boycotting Chick-fil-A for many years. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard that they had moved away from their anti-lgbtq views and donations, but that's great to hear, and I'll probably stop boycotting them as actively.
But I am confused about your stance that it is "difficult" to boycott Chick-fil-A in the south. Due to my boycott, I have missed like, 2 meals across almost 10 years, when I was unable to convince a social group to not go to Chick-fil-A.
It's not like Chick-fil-A is the only option anywhere, it would be difficult to boycott places like Walmart or Dollar General if you live in a small town, but I just don't think it's difficult to boycott Chick-fil-A, even in the south.
It likely depends on your particular social circles. Age bracket, income level, general "location", family-status, and what your interests are. It'd be helpful to know a little more about the people who Adam was thinking of, but he's travelled enough to - i think - get a good grasp of the "average" person. But like a bunch of other comments pointed out, it's probably more that CFA is the "we bring our kids to mcdonalds when they get good grades or we otherwise don't have time to cook" of the lower-middle to upper-middle income family-focused portion of the south that Adam has interacted with due to his kids being in school.
I'm someone who prefers doing things that appear to be more-correct and consistent, and the initial lossses of social capital from nonconformity that often creates isn't a problem for me. But there are a LOT of people who are more about harmony than anything, to keep their support network up. And a chunk of those people get distrustful of those who break from the standard too much. This isn't limited to just the southerners of the topic, just to be clear.
Adam, isn't your stance here incongruous with what you said about buying Hogwarts: Legacy? I feel that the arguments you make in defense of yourself with respect to patronizing at Chick-fil-A/Publix could also apply to buying that game.
I don't think it's very incongruous. He argues in this video that we've seemingly won the battle with CFA, and they're no longer aggressively pushing anti-lgbt talking points/donating to blatant hate groups. Because of that, he's fine spending his money there. Personally I doubt the minds of the Cathy family have been changed on any issue, and I'm pretty sure Adam feels similarly, but at least outwardly the company has demonstrably changed its tune and its financial support. And that's about all you can realistically hope to accomplish with the boycott of a massive corporation like CFA.
With hogwarts legacy, JKR is extraordinarily vocal about her ongoing support of TERF groups and is also directly benefitting from the game's sales. She's straight upsaid that she views the game's success as a metric for how much people agree with her. There's no way you can argue that any boycotts of the game have changed her stance, inwardly or outwardly. So, Adam recommended not buying the game to that one viewer who asked his opinion.
Part of the profits will go to people who will privately support anti lgbt efforts. I think its pretty similar. Though there really is no ethical consumption under capitalism blahblahblah.
@@adamlandy1322 yeah, and part of the profits from Chick-fil-A go towards massive animal abuse in cruel factory farming operations, and as of 2017 they were still funding the Salvation Army, an anti LGBT group. As he said in the video, Publix heiress Julie Jenkins Fancelli is an Alt-right nutjob who helped fund the stop the steal insurrection. Both of those are arguably worse than what Joling Koling Rowling is doing, but he's got no problem with that because, again quoting from the video, any sufficiently large organization will have some horrible people on board.
@@DiabetoDan Yeah, but the Cathy family hasn't recanted, and CFA has only been quiet on the issue. The money is probably still flowing, but it is flowing from the Cathy family (in private) rather than public transactions from non-profits.
Unlike "some founder's asshole children", every dollar you spend at CFA probably does contribute some % to fighting against rights for LGBTQ. The fact that they "wised up" and do it behind closed doors is a victory, but a pretty minor one IMO. =(
That's been a consistent problem with Adam's neoliberal politics. He'll gesture vaguely to "safe" progressive stances, but he can only seemingly conceive of it in market terminology. The only engagement that's valid with CFA is boycotting or not boycotting, and therefore, seemingly in Adam's eyes, if you cannot boycott effectively then you have little place to talk about CFA.
This, of course, conveniently makes it so the people who "get a say" in this matter is the same culture that demanded and favored the anti-queer stances of CFA's founders, despite their impact on queer rights reaching *far* beyond the suburban south. This centering of people like himself extends to his views about the taboo about CFA being about boycotting - they've "been punished" and changed their business, and so Adam views ongoing hostility as bullying them while they're down, the "them" being an extremely well off corporation that aims to become multinational.
He doesn't seem to quite see the value that the people actually impacted by CFA's queerphobia get from the shared taboo of CFA - it's not *just* about the boycott, because boycotts are often ineffective in isolation anyways, but that the signalling he derided so much is important for safety. Knowing who values you more than a chicken sandwich is knowing who will meaningfully help you as conditions continue to deteriorate and lynchings become a more present threat. And a willingness to ignore that marker for a chicken sandwich chain, whose response was to avoid being "political" rather than avoid being queerphobic, makes someone seem a lot less safe to trust. And CFA is often seen and held up as a cultural signifier by the right. But to Adam, the people who raise a stink are just mistaken or obnoxious or looking down on him because he can't connect it directly to a dollar amount donated to a specific known bad organization. People are being mean to a brand he identifies with, which is _totally_ different from when people were playing the TERF game about putting down a revolt of goblins who were tricked by outside agitators to fight for their freedom.
This happens in a lot of his videos touching on politics, his financial success seems to have indoctrinated him pretty heavily into this whole "markets will do what's right" mentality without really thinking about those that perspective is required to ignore. Capitalism has made the world the most prosperous it's ever been, so long you're not the majority of people who have to live where capitalism extracts all its resources and labor in order ro provide luxuries to people like Adam. He is a very bog standard rich white liberal, he's not going to object to the very idea of regulation like a libertarian and he's generally not going to identify as a bigot, but he's the kind of person MLK would complain about as an obstacle to civil rights, the man pleading for civility and thinking it's about changing hateful hearts as though liberation struggles are for the spiritual growth of those in positions of power.
he makes good pan pizza though so i guess i'm stuck hearing this shit between food history facts.
Adam, I'm curious: I live in the suburbs of PNW (greater Seattle area) and if I were to go to google maps and draw a 3 mile radius around my house, I have 2 McDonalds, 2 Taco Bell, 2 Jack in the Box, 1 Burger King, 1 Chipotle and 1 Chic-fil-a. It is no more inconvenient for me to visit chick-fil-a than any other fast food establishment. In your estimation is my choice not to patronize them impactful? I think, with only limited anecdotal evidence, that you're under estimating the extent they've penetrated the national market in terms of accessibility (if I extend that radius to 10 miles there are 5 chick-fil-a). If you were referring to market share of total fast food $$ by region, you'd likely have a point but in terms of accessibility I bet most people, living near a metropolitan area have reasonable access to a Chick-fil-a at this point and their choice to patronize that establishment or not is a meaningful choice.
I was thinking the same thing. We got plenty of them up here in Ohio. I'm sure they are less prevalent in rural northern states, but there isn't a lot of other fast food restaurants in those areas either.
I think this really depends on your area. Up until fairly recently I lived in the suburbs of a midsize city the northeast and the closest Chick-fil-A that wasn't in the secure part of an airport terminal was a 2 hour drive away. There's been talk of one opening up closer by for ages with the comments sections of articles always devolving into exactly what Adam describes in the video. I've since moved to a southern state and within a 10 mile radius of me there are literally 18 Chick-fil-A locations. At least in my experience on the east coast, the prevalence of the chain (and relative ease of avoiding locations) isn't really comparable.
It's poppycock.
The point is that Southerners don't like it when Northerners boycott "their" place.
So Adam is annoyed that Northerners are boycotting.
Period.
🙄
I am also a Seattlite.
I was planning on doing a web show with my trans son and so we wore dark glasses and walked into Chick-fil-A to see what we would be missing for the REST OF OUR LIVES.
We decided that we were missing nothing. The chicken was extremely mediocre and if it tasted anything like that heavenly chicken Adam has described, maybe I would regret not eating it.
Instead I use the Chick-fil-Gay recipe that I got from the Internet. And I make it at home. Some of the best damn chicken I have ever made in my life and I'm a professional cook. Marinated in pickle juice. You can either roast it or bread/fry it. It tastes great either way.
And it tastes way better made at my house.* It tastes extremely extremely extremely mediocre at the Tacoma, WA Chick-fil-A.
-------
*Food made at home, imho, always taste better since you can tailor it to your own personal tastes. For instance, I always: 1) soak at least 24 hours + 2) use sweet, instead of dill pickle brine.
@@Gwenavere Thats totally fair. I guess maybe it just in the process of moving north and Ohio was just early on the list I guess.
@@nicolechafetz3904 Thats really cool what you are doing with your son. As a trans person myself, I am still going to avoid Chick-fil-a. I might have to try that chick-fil-gay recipe.
The drive thru model Adam describes is also used by Portillos in the Chicagoland area, and they do it despite our frigid our winters. The employees either wait inside or sit in a tent with a space heater, or at least that’s how they do it at the one near my apartment
portillos has a spot in brandon, fl. they only do that 50% of the time cause the lines don't warant for it. I do love me a chicago style dog though!
At chick-fil-a they don’t use a tent, but they have these radiant heaters installed above in that little roof thing even here in Texas:
@@muhilan8540 A bit more sheltered here outside DC, but yes, a warmed space.
Also IN and Out and they have the same smiley friendly theme like Chick Fila y
I don’t live in Chicago, but I’ve been to like 3 or so Portillos locations in the chicagoland area and never seen that so it doesn’t seem to be a universal practice.
I was probably a part of them putting doors in the drive through. In 2017, I received a severe concussion from giving a customer their bag of food in the drive thru and of course, chick fil a paid for everything…hospital bills and rehabilitation and all. I couldn’t work for a month. They were very kind. But they lost a lot of money, drive thrus aren’t safe
It's weird that I have researched the exact same information about Chick-fil-A, I have read similar articles and hold a very similar value/moral structure to Adam (hence why I've watched almost all of his content and listen to the podcast). After all that, I come to a much different conclusion and that's not spend a dime at that store.
This is where we differ, corporations aren't people, and should not be treated as such. And no, not all consumption within capitalism is evil. There are absolutely businesses that operate with a higher moral standard than just profit and haven't historically or actively invested in evil, conservative special interests.
Chick-fil-A might be full of hospitable and polite people, but as a corporation, they sure as fuck aren't allies to achieving basic human rights of the LGBTQ community.
Chik-fil-A has helped more LGBT people than any other fast food chain by giving them decent wages, and good working conditions.
@@rangergxi
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What basic human rights are being denied? You sound really worked up about it, so it must be serious.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894
And you and Adam sound not worked up at all so hey...at least you chose a side.
🤷🏾♀️
@@nicolechafetz3904 Gay people are people. They appreciate money more than a thumbs up from their corporate executive.
I'm not convinced you actually read any of these, but here it goes anyway.
1. Asking who is doing the criticizing is valid, but for all of us queer southerners, it's a moot point. We do live here, it is an active choice, and we still hate that they have never made right with a huge swath of people who just want to be left alone. Withdrawing the most obvious of their financial ties is not some grand show of support, it's the bare minimum trying to mop up an ink stain they were proud to paint on their own faces at the time. That pride doesn't disappear just because they suddenly decided it was more profitable to be mum. It also speaks not at all to the personal donations that members of the CFA dynasty are very likely still making, and which are not a matter of public record. Back to the Harry Potter idea, it's JKR's personal stake and actions that matter, not the corporate entity of Harry Potter. This is no different. Money talks and they're spewing hate, still.
2. I don't know if you know this or not, but when I was in middle and high school, you could get Chick-fil-A IN YOUR SCHOOL CAFETERIA. I believe this has since been stopped for a variety of reasons, but their cultural pervasiveness isn't limited to purchases made by and for adults. They were allowed to spread their ideals into schools (the irony of a conservative bastion pushing ideals onto school children is not lost on me) through piled high mounds of sandwiches you could purchase in the cafeteria line. I had kids tell me, to my face, that they'd burn a gay person on a fire if it meant they could still have CFA sandwiches at lunch. Why? Because that cultural pervasiveness you explained as some kind of defense works just as well in reverse.
3. Just because they chose greed over their own moral grandstanding doesn't mean that we all just forgot about the moral grandstanding. I was a queer teenager trying to run a high school GSA and an active participant in state level pro-LGBT organizing during the "anti-boycott" era of CFA, and there is no single event that I can think of that drove home the message to me that the people around me cared more about tasty chicken in their day to day lives than about my rights as a human being and the life and well being of all the other queer youth around me. Some of which literally cried on my shoulder over the ordeal. Some of their families went and spend hundred of dollars at CFA during that period and would put it in front of their queer kids and tell them to eat or go hungry. It is about the money, but it's also about the message. "See? People care more about us than about you." And that's one that will never fade for me, even if it's not truly about CFA.
4. "Slavery was bad but- [Something that is not in any way equally as bad as the institution of slavery]." I get the point you're trying to make here but it just isn't a good one. At all. That's a false equivalence if I've ever heard one, and that's not even touching on the fact that the topic of the Civil War, individual reasons for waging said war, and the attitude of North vs South that persists is barely topically related. Starbucks was founded in the liberal epicenter of Seattle and I boycott them for their abysmal practices as well- it's not about hating on southerners (I am from Texas, so IMO I count as southern despite all the hemming and hawing that we're actually western) it's about standing up against the blatant and proud disposition of hatred and conservative idealism from some specific companies. They want the conservative cookies for being the way they are and are hoping moderate liberal folks just like you will rationalize away their prior actions. They get to have both, and stand for neither.
5. I don't believe for even one moment that CFA and those who are similar are actually "in our tent" now. They have done only the amount necessary to placate moderates and legal rules about non discrimination and to make sure they aren't the prime targets in any future culture war about the topic. They haven't magically changed their minds about gay people, they haven't suddenly come around on trans inclusion, they aren't giving mass amounts of money to causes that I personally deem to be in opposition of their prior views. They don't deserve my business, which is the sole reason that I don't give it to them. That is true of A LOT of companies and I try my very best to abide by that ideal, of speaking with my wallet because it's the only thing corporations are actually capable of hearing. Because they aren't people, not really. People can have empathy. People can be reasoned with. People are individuals with flaws yes, but also with positive traits. Corporations are machines to profit and the irony is that they are more than happy to steal from, oppress, downplay, ruin, and otherwise harm the people who are actually responsible for the success you attribute to them. The person who came up with the idea for the "masterful" service at CFA probably didn't get a lot out of that idea- it was taken and used so that a small percentage of people at the top, the already successful and wealthy, could become even more so. If that person got so much as a 2% bonus I would be incredibly shocked.
6. In short... not good enough, not for good enough reasons, and not informed enough. Ultimately I am not going to call someone a bigot themselves for their choice to eat at Chick-fil-A. I've been served CFA in settings where it would go very badly for me if I were to refuse and I stayed quiet because speaking out would come at too high a personal cost. This isn't about lambasting people who make different choices than the ones I make. However given all that, I DO think that we can make better- if not perfect- choices with how we spend our money and that as you just said, we should not allow perfect to be the enemy of better. There are more morally positive choices to make than CFA if you need to grab a 9 AM breakfast sandwich, and nothing you've said in this hour and twenty minutes has convinced me otherwise. Do I think you're suddenly anti LGBTQ for choosing CFA? No, no I don't. Do I think your idea of ethical consumption should be a little more focused on other people and a little less focused on yourself? Yeah, yeah I do.
Its really fun to go through the comments and see that the people agreeing with him are like a step away from just saying slurs at people like yourself.
Well put. I hope he does read this, it's a very concise, and thorough list of the problems I had with his explanation.
I also had a problem with him saying that non-southern liberal states don't have room to talk because CFA isn't anywhere near them. California is lousy with them. 4th most locations in the country.
You're right that it's a far easier decision to make when you're not likely to eat their food regardless. I can't eat there (due to dietary restrictions) but I also avoid fast food in general, whether or not the chain in question has "cultural significance" here in the North--it was a big deal when (amidst all that controversy) they opened one in NYC and I think we now have a few of them. I don't guilt anyone for eating fast food, it just doesn't make sense for my lifestyle and thankfully I'm able to enjoy plenty of food I prefer.
Still, I find it odd that, when options for fast food are plentiful, people will go to a place that has a history of supporting hateful organizations and other groups in support of their religious view of the world. Stopping payments to particular hateful orgs is great and probably a reason to lighten up a bit but it doesn't change the views and support of the people who own the company. It's great that their company is no longer directly funding a group that supports conversation therapy. But knowing that they *used to do that* (up until relatively recently) still colors my view of the company.
Of course there's plenty of companies doing/supporting vile things that I may not know about and I don't take a particular stance on all (or most) of them. But I don't think it's hypocritical to take stances on the ones I *do* know about. And I don't think it's hypocritical to do so just because I'm not going to eat there regardless (whether due to region or diet)--even if that makes it easier.
Is very strange you fully concede but you are making empty platitudes and/or virtual signalling. But you decide to double down and in an effort to explain away the hypocrisy you claim it is okay because you are ignorant and actively choose to be so.
Someone who also doesn't eat at Chick-fil-A you sound even worse than the people you claim to be protesting.
As you see it, that is fine. What you have no right to do is block locations with mobs so those who DO want to go there cannot. As you stated, you are not their customer so your voice means nothing to them in the context of what you view as hateful organizations. They are doing just fine, expanding even in Blue states. And yes, gay conversion 'therapy' is akin to human to fish 'conversion therapy'. One who objects to gays ought to have an imaginary conversation with their imaginary guy in the sky as to why gays are born to normal god fearing hetrosexuals.
Chick-fil-a is a central player in several formative memories of mine. We ate there all the time when I was growing up. The most formative memory was at some indeterminate point when I was in high school, there was a single day boycott organized nationally to protest chick-fil-a’s homophobia. My dad, being a homophobe, made a point for us to eat Chick-fil-A that night. I remember that I’d never seen the place so packed.
I’m queer. I’ll never eat there again for as long as I live.
It’s whatever if you want to eat their chicken, but making an hour and a half long podcast to try to justify that choice hits as kinda weird. And framing it as a Northerner vs Southerner thing is a pretty shallow take. Plenty of us are from the rural south and still boycott the homophobic chicken
This reminds me of when I was a teen coming out, and certain people were making a big show of buying orange juice from Florida, apparently to prove their homophobe bona fides or something. Same thing with Coors beer later. What's up with people trying to send social signals via food consumption?
This- the number of people who literally stand on ceremony about never eating fast food who came out of the woodwork to throw money at them was so gross. It wasn't the people quietly boycotting who made them a political lynchpin, it was all the people who then decided that eating a Chick-fil-A meant they were "real Christians" or true conservatives or whatever. It's ironic that he accused those of us who abstain from this one specific chicken place as "virtue signaling" when that's what all those people were doing explicitly for a couple weeks following the ordeal. They wanted everyone to know how much they hated us and wanted us gone and they got to eat a bunch of fast food chicken out of the deal.
The Chik-Fil-A in an American football stadium story makes for an interesting headline, but when you think about it, it's not exactly a stupid business decision. With 17 games per team per year, and only 8 or 9 of those at the home stadium, there's far more opportunity to sell chicken sammiches at the myriad of non-NFL events the stadium sees throughout the year.
Sure, but it just goes to show how committed they are to being closed on Sundays even when there's a huge opportunity to make a profit
Beyond that football stadiums aren’t completely empty when there isn’t an event. I can’t speak to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but Ford Field in Detroit has office space for the team’s management, and also has office suites that it leases to local businesses.
Yeah, the city has an MLS team that also plays in the stadium throughout the week.
@@frankmu1034 Chick fil A is probably making literal dozens of dollars selling to all the MLS fans in Georgia.
@@rhodie9338 Not at all. MLS (Atlanta United) is HUGE in Atlanta. They sell out about every game, in good years at least.
1:13:23 I’ll give Adam the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s not equating slavery with pretentiousness.
“Slavery bad but elitist attitude bad also, so draw?”
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying but it was careless phrasing.
It’s interesting how Adam said he probably wouldn’t buy Harry Potter products because it supports jk Rowling who is actively supporting anti lgbt organizations. Yet he gives Chick-fil-A a pass because… they said they regret speaking out? Odd. Is that a win? I wonder if those affected by Chick-fil-A’s donations would consider it a win.
Adam says that he found reports of Chick-fil-A still donating to questionable organizations. Is it fine if they support these organizations quietly, unlike rowing?
Adam also gets up tight about people who claim they wouldn’t buy Chick-fil-A even though they live in an area without Chick-fil-A. As if that’s some kind of “gotcha”. Excuse me but I don’t need to live where an injustice is active to condemn it. It’s pretty simple to eat somewhere or something else, right?
Adam also gushes about Chick-fil-A’s apparent efficiencies by repeatedly referring to them as “good”. Odd phrasing when you’re trying to have a nuanced discussion. It’s almost like Adam is trying to oppose the “bad” things they’ve done and do with these “good” things.
Adam also says that he supports whatever boycott but you have to be consistent (or something to that effect). But I find the consistency lacking here.
It’s not hard to avoid Harry Potter products. It’s not hard to avoid Chick-fil-A.
If there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, why have the discussion at all? I don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water but why Chick-fil-A but not Harry Potter?
This comment probably sounds more harsh than intended
Others have said most of what I want to say about CFA, but I want to add something. Please do not undermine people for proudly boycotting hate groups. As a queer person who grew up in one of those tiny Badist rural southern towns, it is comforting to hear someone speak out against hateful movements. That mayor who would refuse a CFA that didn't plan to set up shop anyway is sending a strong message to LGBT people. The coworker who loudly denounces CFA when someone suggests it for a group order is telling every LGBT person in the room "I'm politically motivated to protect you."
And don't frame the 2010 gay marriage controversy as a political phase. Attacks on transgender people are on-going, they are a major current issue. That battle is not won, CFA is not in "our camp", they have only lowered their flags while staying on the opposing side.
I would change ‘politically motivated’ to ‘morally motivated’. In all other respects, I agree.
hello, a european here. a fast food chain serving chicken with a religious plan to exterminate all non hetero people, while having an advanced system for feeding people in their cars is the most american thing I've ever heard of.
How come people with chickfilla in their area have to 'sacrifice' something by not eating fried chicken half-breast? are there not enough other options?
Speaking of food industry businesses with moral problems: waiting for a podcast about bonappetit :)
Yes, they all wear little armbands and salute the chicken with one arm. You'll notice that NOT ONE FACT has been posted about how this company is actually evil.
Thank you, brother! Sometimes (despite what Adam says), ONLY an "outsider" can say how crazy something is.
I will refrain from asking you how crazy it sounds that an American can wear a side arm into the Chick-fil-A.
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Adam preaching corporations are people too while also ignoring the abuses brought on because of that.
Listening to a straight, cis man talk about how people who aren't affected by things shouldn't make a big deal out of boycotting shit - while implying the way that he is effected by the boycott is that he actually likes the thing and thus would suffer from the boycott - then going on to recommend going to the thing anyways because he personally thinks they have changed their ways is maybe one of the most annoying things I've ever had to listen to. Even if Adam is right that they have changed, which I'm going to be honest I doubt is the case considering the change was a business decision trying to placate both sides for money, it's not his place to talk.
The cup thing in particular is really revealing to me. He's not getting rid of the cups because he wants to make gender and sexual minorities feel safer or more comfortable. He's doing it because he just doesn't want to have to deal with them commenting about it. The comparisons of this to slavery are also at least a little tone-deaf, if not outright offensive. I'm sorry we bother you so much, Adam but maybe reconsider this one.
Adam, that sounded like making excuses, not an argument, especially towards the end. That said kudos for Your courage. It's not really that hard to not to dine out. Really.
I think even though the institution CFA may have changed their values, institutions, as you said, are made out of people and the people who approved those past values still are there in positions of power, in fact they have the biggest power inside the company being the owner, so even though the massaging may have changed in reality your money still is going to be used to support this types of homophobic institutions, although now in a slightly more indirect maner
And you can't just blame capitalism on this one, the "no etical consumption under capitalism" thing is basically saying that you'd have to destroy the entire system to solve things like child labor, but since the motivation is religious and not profits, the destruction of capitalism would have zero impact on the amount of support they give to homophobic institutions, so it's not structural problem of society, but something specific to this institution, which you can take active action against
Also, Chick-fil-A will only open a franchise location that are a certain number of miles away from another location, so there can only be one in a "region." They do exhaustive research to figure out if a location is good for a Chick-fil-A to open and will operate food trucks at various locations as research. I live in a rural area, right on the edge of an urban area. The nearest Chick-fil-A is about 25 minutes away and they have been coming by with their food trucks across the highway from me the last few months.
On top of that, franchise applicants that currently work at a Chick-fil-A are heavily favored over outside applicants and they have extensive training courses you can take, as an employee, geared towards franchise ownership.
I listened to his entire argument and I just have to hard disagree to the notion that halting donations to a handlful of more openly anti lgbtq groups when controversy breaks out suddenly makes them an ally or that they should be rewarded. Especially when they as of 2022 are still making political donations to parties that advocate the removal of lgbtq people's rights. I am a queer person in the south. I have witnessed my rights and the rights of my loved ones come under attack and be revoked by people who this company has continued to donate money to so that can push their bigoted agenda and I strongly encourage anyone who has a Chick-fil-A near them to look into their recent donations and educate yourself before considering giving them your business.
I’m a queer Texan who lives in the largest city in the south. We have 58 CFA locations in Houston compared to Atlantas’s 42. It’s definitely a cultural phenomenon here, and I admittedly kept eating there from 2012-2019 after they claimed to halt anti-LGBT donations. I stopped eating there after their supposed support of a Ugandan LGBT+ death penalty bill in 2019. While CFA ended up only being connected to such a bill in a very roundabout way, I still haven’t gone back to eating there in the following years, especially since anti-LGBT sentiment in the US is seemingly on a very strong rise in the post-Trump whirlwind of political bullshit we’ve been dealing with for the last 3 years. I can’t say it doesn’t leave a really bad taste in my mouth when I see people eating there now, as hypocritical as it may be coming from me.
I also live in the land of Whataburger, so it’s hard for me to justify going to CFA when I’m literally never more than 10 minutes away from a whataburger. I’d be lying if I said 45+ minute lines after 10 pm didn’t really make me miss the efficiency of CFA, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Those long nighttime lines have gotten so much worse since they're the only thing OPEN after a particular hour anymore!!! I get that people are having staffing issues but if you work night shift like I do, sometimes you just want food you didn't have to make yourself even if it's late at night. QQ
Now I've got to try chic fil a
Go back to Cali dude
Adam, this attitude of “it doesn’t affect you, so you shouldn’t have an opinion, and if you do, keep it too yourself” is a very brave stance from someone who literally runs a podcast voicing their opinions about things that minimally affect their life.
A more cynical person would say that you’re just being defensive because a lot of people, many of whom you greatly respect don’t like a thing you like and a lot of people, many of whom you have little to no respect for, really like that thing that you like. That more cynical person would point out that when you back a child’s argument into a corner with no mistake, they will resort to “Shut up” as their next argument. A cynical person would point out that by utilising the “shut up” argument, you feel that you have been backed into a corner and have no logical answer to your imagined critics and their imagined arguments, that you no doubt imagine to yourself as you’re hiding red and white cups. Arguments your own brain is confronting you with. Perhaps a cynical person would suggest that when you say that Northerners should stop voicing their opinions on chick-fil-a where you can hear it, what you are really doing is blaming someone else for the fact that to an external observer, your brain is pretty convinced that your money is being used to hurt people that you care about and all you need to do to stop hurting people you care about is to stop eating a salty chicken sandwich regularly. A cynical person would acknowledge that your brain is flawed in this thinking, but not so flawed as to undo its entire argument that you have no answer too. Addiction exists, for example.
But I’m not a cynical person. I know that your stance isn’t hypocritical. I can’t be bothered to go back and check - mostly because your life and decisions doesn’t concern me, a random internet stranger, and so why would I waste my time. You do you. But I do look forward to the future of your podcast only reflecting things that directly concern you, I look forward to hearing only about political issues that maximally affect your life, surely the very foundation of a strong podcast is milquetoast issues presented without too much thought, at least not thought that strays too far from the core issue that directly impacts you.
One question, should I watch the episodes in which you talk about things that don’t affect me? You are a good speaker and one with a talent for causing people to think about the subjects on which you are speaking. I’m worried that if I hear you speak about, I don’t know, for example the beef industry in the US, I might think about the beef industry in the us. If I think about the beef industry in the us, I might form opinions on the beef industry in the us, and worse, express those opinions _when they only minimally affect my life_ oh no!! That would be … er … bad?
♥️✊🏾✊🏾♥️
You said it all there !
Adam isn't gay but he clearly has opinions on the lasting affects of CFA's anti-gay donations.
Still watching through at the moment, but I'm really hoping the point is made about, despite the corporation stopping donations towards reactionary goals, does not mean the corporate culture has changed, nor that the family behind the company has stopped personal donations
I was looking for this type of comment.
First of all I am really happy that this episode wasn't all like "Yea, the owning family may be violently homophobic and religious nutheads, but at least the chicken is good". Adam raised some good points about about privilege of one's knowlegdable and progressive childhood environment. I was this lucky person too.
I know how difficult these topics are, however to my taste, too little of entire 1h 20min was dedicated to how harmful and tbh disgusting these "traditional family whatever funds" are. I expected a little more, especially after how damn good the pod about trans folks and Rowling was.
Also a really good point of "no ethical consumption under capitalism" was raised, and about that every son of a b. CEO and/or company have some sins (pun intended) to their name. But it's kinda different here. It's not evil because you're money-driven million-/billionaire with no respect towards poorer societies, nations or enviroment. It was purely ideological. Question is which is "worse" or more dangerous. My gut feelings says the latter, but maybe because I'm so used to seeing the first one? Or because it's harder to get rid of / mitigate effects through proper legislation? You cannot make religious devotion disappear by changing the law. I dunno.
I also don't expect Adam to do whole-ass investigation, but speaking as a European, who is hearing about this case for the first time, what would be really nice to have is just some info about existence of any investigations aimed to finding out if money still isn't channelled through other routes to these antihuman fundations and organisations. The visible company policy may have changed, as you said, because of political/sociological/financial pressure (and it's really great that it happened) but I sincerely doubt "little" son has changed his way of thinking. Rich people tend to find their ways behind the scenes. I hope it's not the case.
What a long one, jeez.
@@Libcio97 Agree. Adam seems to have just read some corporate propaganda that said "we don't do that anymore", and decided his work is done. The fact that they never publicly stated that they don't fund these hate groups anymore is already raising alarm bells that their minds have not changed and that they will continue to secretly fund these causes. Chic-Fil-A has not "joined the team" as Adam wants to make us think. They're just hiding in the back of the other team. Give them a hug and they'll stab you in the back.
@@Libcio97
I think the working assumption is that the Cathy's have NOT changed their views. I expected Adam to say that the son went all anti-evangelical to try and turn away from his parent's craziness, thus everything is fine -- instead he says the son has doubled down on the craziness, but that it's still fine because the company doesn't explicitly say they do it any more. It's shaky logic, to me. Especially considering the recent Hogwarts Legacy episode that was basically exactly this.
The term dwarf came well before it was assigned to a specific medical condition. The mythological dwarves are not just short humans, they are their own species.
The Dwarf house was started well after the lord of the rings had already popularized the term
After washing dishes by hand in the back of a restaurant, I know that the sinks are notoriously low... if a tall person stands there for an hour, they will go home with a back ache, and joke about how the restaurant owner should hire midgets to wash the dishes. Or dwarves. Whatever you want to call them, THEY should be washing the dishes in a sink that's 3 feet off the ground.
You would think Adam would have realized this considering how the restaurant is medieval themed.
It's also hilarious that well Adam is complaining about how somebody from the 1960s wasn't politically correct for today he seems to not realize that many people today consider it to be politically incorrect to refer to small people as dwarfs.
I think it's really cool that Adam acknowledges that people with his belief system can be obnoxious and pompous, but then he proceeded to make observations like this during a scripted podcast.
Hobbit: 1937
Dwarf House: 1946
Lord of the Rings Series: 1954
Yeah, I essentially held one continuous cringe for the entire segment. I would have won a game of Statues.
@@woodchuck003 "Dwarfism" is the modern politcially correct term. You guys are a never-ending saga of petty outrage.
As a gay man who has lived most of his life in the south, I do boycott chik fil a. I cannot, in good conscience, give my money to a corporation that seems to get caught every other year “accidentally” still donating to people that hate my very existence. I’ve lived in NC, SC, AR, GA, and VA, and even now that I’m not in “the south” there are chik fil a’s in driving distance to me, I see at 2 locations during my commute every day. “It tastes good” isn’t a good enough excuse for me, personally, to spend my money there
Yes, this exactly. Why is it so hard to understand that valuing a chicken sandwich (even a tasty one) over the civil liberties of other people makes you the bad guy??? It was never solely about the finances, it's about the fact that they built the entire company from the ground up with bricks and mortar of conservative fundamentalist values. That didn't change just because they pulled a couple names from their funding list.
One of the things that makes any country great is religious freedom. One thing that make a country bad is LGBTQSKLDJFKLJSDKFJ propaganda.
Okay, the better question is where do you eat?
@@MCXL1140 at home, generally. But if I go out, I try to frequent local places more than chains.
@@swiftythegathering And neither of those is very comparable to what we're talking about. Sometimes you just need to get some fast food for whatever reason. I don't really agree with a lot of Adam's points in this video but I do think that pretending it's not normal to eat something on the go in the USA is a bit silly.
Adam, with dwarves you got it wrong way. It was the opposite- dwarfs/ dwarves ("dwarves" is preferable in mythology thanks to Tolkien) are mythological beings, that are similar to what you can see in Tolkien books and movies. And was used exclusively for mythology*, nor for people, for centuries, if not millenia. Only later, because of freak shows it become commonly applied to actual people. And sadly, probably because dwarfism was a thing in biology (dwarf pony, island dwarfism for example) it was applied in medicine. Because it was used in freak shows, I doubt there are many people fighting for this name. And from what I read, most people diagnosed with any of the disorders that lead to very small height prefer other names (like person of short statute), and would probably not be identified by their disorder at all.
*Although you can argue with whether or not that mythology was inspired by real people in some way. But right now it lives on its own. And if it was, it probably was inspired not by single individuals that had disorders, but by tribes that genetically drifted to be smaller, or were malnourished for generations, or for any other reason were shorter. Or maybe even by Denisovans but that's hard to believe since they lived so long ago.
As an Atlanta resident, I avoid it because we have better food everywhere, but also because Dan Cathy is still Dan Cathy. He has continued to give money to orgs including National Christian Charitable Foundation, which spend their money to attempt to stop Equality legislation and push for anti-choice legislation.
I'm from the south, but not Georgia, I genuinely have no clue what he's on about CFA being southern culture. Is that more a thing in Georgia?
@@illboi42069 My guess is that the "average adam viewer" isn't in the demographic he speaks about (and he KNOWS what demos he reaches because of the analytics - he's mentioend it before!), but he meets them at PTA meetings and whatever sporting or school events he goes to for his kids.
@@Aubreykun I know conservatives, evangelicals, liberals, socialists I cannot think of a person in any of those demographic groups that wouldn't laugh in your face if you described CFA as a cultural touchstone for the South.
@@illboi42069 Lower-middle to upper-middle class "normies." Not the highly politically-engaged ones. And if you described it that way to them they'd probably laugh at you, and then proceed to go to CFA as their first choice for anything fast food.
I admit that Whataburger is a stronger "cultural touchstone" for Texas than CFA likely is for the south, but Texas as a very strong regional/state identity that the chain ties to while CFA is one of those things that's so ingrained it's only noticeable to people from outside. Like how someone from outside the US might say that McDonalds is a "cultural touchstone for america", or how Coca-cola is a "cultural touchstone" for mexico.
Despite living within 20 minutes of FOUR Chi-fil-A (I live in South East Texas), I haven't had this resturant in 7+ years because every other year there's unearthing of more money to these groups. I'm not saying that to brag or anything remotely similar, but just to say while I think your comments on the Northern attitude towards Southern states is pretty on par, not everyone in the South is satisfied with the companies changes to the extent that they'll continue to dine there. There's just enough people that 1) don' care, 2) think the winds have shifted enough, or 3) actively love the companies stance. For example there's leglisatuion that's been crafted to keep the business in airports of metro areas of TX pushed by our current governer (Abbott.)
Aside from the direct politician donations, it's usually not as direct because they have a less overtly hateful middle group. The last time I looked deeply was 2021 because I really missed/miss it. Unless the recipe has changed, they had the best and most consistent sweet tea of all fast food restaurants. I am one of THOSE people about sweet tea where I like it cold, sweet, and can drink it by the pitcher if I'm not paying attention. The food is good, but it's the drinks I miss the most. Anyways, I was reminded of my commitment to not lend my dollar as the Uganda passed it's most harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bills. A handful of the groups that help lobby against queer people in the country are funded by orgs the company donates too. That's what I mean by separation. Also, I've found that journalist are less likely to dig into the global aspects of this stuff because people just don't care. It doesn't drive clicks, legislation, or anything. The more outside US terrority you get, the less halfway decent any company gets supply chain wise. This company just dives into the less savory in the charity elements too.
edit- I liked the episode though. Great per usual even though I'd def upvote/like a comment I saw pointing out a cup in frame.
RIGHT?!
I actually resent Adam lying to his audience like this. Every time they say they're not giving money it's been found that they've given more money! It's happened at least two times. So how can we trust them? They obviously hate the gays !
When I was working at a Starbucks up in "The North", we went outside with a tablet in the summer, copying Chick-Fil-A's model. I generally think Starbucks handles the drive-thru speaker pretty well-no automated answering, friendly conversation expected, most locations show you what you're ordering on a screen as you order it-but one further big benefit of going outside with the tablet is being able to build up a "car stack". See, at a competitive location, fast food places start making your food the moment the words come out of your mouth. They have to, if they're going to keep the line moving at the breakneck pace that it does. However, this often leads to waste, as changes and clarifying information are often added late into the order- e.g. "... oh, and could I get that made with oatmilk?" as the lid is being put on the drink. Being able to take orders very far back down the queue allows ample time for the order to be locked-in and finalized before it starts being made, and it also allows workers to prioritize better, regarding what's going to need a little extra time and thus needs to get started sooner rather than later.
8:36 dwarf is from Old English, from Anglo Saxon, from Proto Germanic _*dweraz_ while dwarfISH is only from the 1560s and dwarfISM is much younger. In postwar America, "midget" was the most common term for little people.
You might want to take a mulligan on this podcast.
From a medical perspective, a dwarf and a midget are two wholly different conditions. While both are under a specific height, I believe the cutoff is right around 4 feet tall, a dwarf has truncated limbs while a midget has typically proportioned limbs.
Who GAS? Mulligan? Please.
@@Craxin01 Citation for your multiple claims "from a medical perspective?"
I'm not lying, chicken fil a sandwiches are not good. They come in foil bag which makes then damp and soggy.
Woof, Adam, normally I expect a smidge more nuance. There is a lot of "you're attacking my culture" when "outsiders" criticize Chick-fil-A. As someone who has boycotted on a long road trip (and thus didn't eat for many many hours) despite not interacting with CFA very often, just because I don't drive by one every day doesn't mean that I am completely insulated from them. Outsider criticism is necessary - - it forces the in-group to reassess their actions and positions and make sure they are not holding or taking them just for traditions sake.
I admire CFAs operational efficiency as well, that I can appreciate. Corporations are made of people. But much of this rant veered into dumping emotions onto a strawman 'outsider' that only served to weaken your core message.
I think the problem that is being skipped over here is that while the company may have shown themselves in a public manner to appear fine they are still using their profits to fund hateful and horrendous groups they still take those funds and donate to people that are actively attacking the LGBTQ+ community. Early on you had talked about corporations being people too in the concept of that if they do good we should reward them. In this instance the corporation is very much virtue signaling by simply hiding their donations instead of doing so as a blatant matter of public record. The people who own it are still the same and did not stop their campaign against LGBTQ people they just said why don't we make nice so we can use their money against them. I am a like you northerner and in this instance this very much didn't directly affect me for a long long time. Now they are building one in my town and far too many people look at it and say well they are not hurting me directly so why should I care. They were allowed in by a local republican led government that ignored the concerns of the locals that spoke out about it and allowed them to choose a part of town to place their establishment that is already plagued by traffic issues. I listened to this whole podcast and respect your opinions on things but for the first time ever I have to solidly disagree with you on this one thing. Chik fil-a no matter how nice the individuals working there may be the company itself is using the profits for bad things and until the owners stop that campaign of hate towards people that have never done a thing to them except exist I can not and will not be a patron of theirs. I will say that I entirely see the reasons to praise them for the way they do business itself and respect the way you talk about the local ownership and employees because it is very important to note that those people are not the problem the person who owns their business however that is a very different story. It was very brave of you to talk about this though and I look forward to your next video as always, I do however hope that its on something to contrast this.
Anyone who doesn't know that is being intentionally ignorant.
The company funded heinous lies and then the sun says he stands by those heinous lies. Then he said just kidding. So now we're supposed to make sure his family remains as wealthy as possible so that the money that is not spent through the company can be given to these heinous organizations through their private accounts. Adam's fine with that.
'Hateful', 'horrendous', 'actively attacking'? Just provide some facts. Like an example of an attack.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Yea, I agree. Can you post some links to recent events in which Chick Fil A has been caught indirectly donating to hate groups? Or was that all just feelings?
can you stop accepting financial advertisements, especially from masterworks since it is well known that they have seriously scummy advertising practices
Are you going to pay him a few grand for every few videos? If you don’t like the ad then don’t click it.
@@alexismaldonado9707 Given Adam Ragusea’s channel size it’s reasonable to expect that he has options for the sponsorships he can take. It is irresponsable for creators to take sponsorships without critically analyzing their business model and products and how they may impact their viewers. If masterworks wasn’t making money from Adam Ragusea’s viewers, they wouldn’t be sponsoring him (and are making more money than they are paying him). They can track that and I’m certain they do. If Masterworks is engaged in shady business practices, it should be Adam Ragusea’s responsibility to prevent his viewers from potentially getting “scammed,” essentially. It’s well within reason for random viewers to inform creators if their sponsors may be engaging in irresponsible behavior so they can decide if they want to continue working with them.
He gets paid too much by the ponzi scheme to read your comment
@@Im_Ryan so if he said to jump off a bridge would you? Are you incapable of thinking for yourself?
I work at a cfa in Tennessee. We recently received a new piece of equipment called a filet roller, it is two plastic rollers on a metal frame with a crank and we filet all of our chicken for the day at the beginning of our shift. Much better than doing by hand, breaks no tendons so the meat holds together better while eating on a sandwich and saves our breaders time while it's busy, takes a step out of the process.
As an ex dishwasher and filleir I hated it, took just as long to clean the thing as it did to do it by hand and when filling I would occasionally roll my finger into it.
@Drew Powell sorry to hear you didn't like it! Maybe it's because I'm in a low volume store but it makes our day a lot easier. I will agree it is a bear to clean though and I have also pinched a finger in it, not fun.
During the peak of COVID when no one was allowed inside restaurants, the local Chick-fil-a did a better job of managing the traffic than any other drive through in town. I remember driving by a McD's and seeing people lined up literally around the block, totally screwing up traffic. Meanwhile at CFA, they had 2 lines, 5+ people taking orders and 4+ people running orders to cars. Even when the line was backed up outside the parking lot, the line moved at good pace.
And to their credit, all of CFA's employees are always happy and friendly. I was waiting around for a while picking up a carting order and got to watch the staff interactions. The floor manager genuinely seemed to care about her employees. At one point she was helping one person find a shift that would work with their schedule. A few minutes later, she was checking up on employees who were taking orders outside, making sure they were warm enough (it was the dead of winter).
I’m from the south. I thought their food was pretty tasty last I had them, but I don’t give them my business.
The company’s donations habits and the foundation’s donation habits are just not something I can support. They have donated to organizations that would hurt me multiple times and lack the transparency for me to verify that they have stopped. I fully expect them to slip bigotry back in wherever they can. They keep screwing up.
I have definitely run into the “southern way of life” issues with them. People are *incredibly* defensive of the company and view that it can’t do any evil or that is needs support as “God’s Chicken”.
It’s fucking chicken whats bigoted about chicken, JENN?
Yeah I see online that they haven’t halted donations, I’m kinda frustrated that Adam hasn’t seen that as well?
They haven’t halted donations you are correct about that unfortunately
@@athenapantazes I’m confused why he was making it seem like it was old old news and they’ve stopped
@@coldhands4799 not sure maybe just lack of research
“Slavery was bad” - Adam
Thanks for another great episode 😂
"This and other hot takes at 11, thank you for tuning in."
"Slavery was bad.... but"
Me, sweating, panicked
i don't think he's equivocating slavery to having a moral superiority complex... but it sure sounds like he's equivocating slavery to having a moral superiority complex! :P
slaverys bad m’kay
@@clixx13 Citation please.
This really feels like Adam is trying to justify his identity as a "Southerner" (Adam was born in Pennsylvania) by trying to find cultural reasons to defend this company.
I'd rather if he just said he likes eating at Chick-Fil-A cause he likes the food than spending 80 minutes trying to say it's holy.
1:53 Hey, Adam, I've lived in the Deep South of the USA for my entire life, and I disagree with this. I thought you weren't the type to make these over-prescriptive statements (I like flaky salt, and SO DO YOU). I've had their chicken throughout my childhood, and when comparing it to other chicken places, Zaxby's and Foosackly's comes to mind, Chick-fil-A is just... fine I guess. If you put the chicken in the restaurant's special sauce, I literally can't tell the difference. If you compare Chick-fil-A chicken to the Popeye's chicken sandwich, in my opinion, Popeye's blows it out of the water.
I think that Chick-fil-A is probably the most overhyped, over-discussed, and overly cared about fast food chain in the world. I don't eat there, and it's no struggle to me, even living in the deep south, because I don't really care about Chick-fil-A. If I want good chicken, I'll go to Popeyes, and if I'm looking for a lot of cheap food, I'll go to some other fast food. Because Capitalism, every fast food place is within a stone's throw of another fast food place, anyway. A slight push away for me is of course Chick-fil-A's religiosity and homophobia, but I probably would never eat there anyway without that. Their chicken is so undifferentiated from other similar places to me that it's not even worth doing the research to really make sure that my patronage would support homophobic causes. I won't eat there because I don't care.
All of this, Miguel--and I'll raise you a Bojangles.
Adam, this is pretty bad. The suburban, affluent South isn't "the South," and Chick-Fil-A is the chicken of THAT South--and of the people who think of boneless, white-meat chicken as "fried chicken."
Most underrated comment here.
As a queer person, I've faced this same argument style from people who support Chick Fil A, and those types of people rarely stay friends with me for long. There's no quicker way to show me that you're not actually an ally than to virtue signal about LGBTQ support in between bites of your Chick Fil A. It'd be one thing if they actually made a unique product, but everything they do can be had better at other places now. To deny that is exposing your biases IMO. I think Adam lost quite a few supporters today and I'm not even halfway through the episode yet.
@@davidwilliard1724 I cannot think of a more correct statement on the matter.
Alright, here's the thing. As a queer person, do I care if you eat a Chick-fil-A sandwich? No, not really. But in a world where bigots so seldomly come right out and broadcast their hatred, because of social repercussions, Chick-fil-A is one of those things that I notice. I don't judge if you're safe or unsafe because you bought a sandwich from Chick-fil-A, but I notice.
Because in a world full of homophobic/transphobic people, queer folks have to ask that question of every stranger they meet: Are you safe? Can I be alone in a room with you? How much can I trust you with knowledge of my life? These are questions everyone should ask of the folks in our social groups, whether you're queer or not, but when you're queer, the stakes are a little higher. You know there's a target on your back. You know there are people--total strangers--who want you dead, and you know they could be anyone.
Do I think you're unsafe if you buy Chick-fil-A? Do I think you hate queer people? No, but I notice that purchase. And I'll be watching you a little more closely than I would have otherwise, because maybe one day, you'll say or do something that really is a dog whistle. You'll say something that really does tell me you're dangerous, and that I shouldn't spend my time around you. And when that day comes, I'll just politely and unobtrusively dip out of your social circles--because believe me, people who don't want queer people in their spaces are the last people queer folks want to hang around.
Or maybe that won't happen. Maybe I get to know you better and learn that you respect queer people, and I can trust you the way I ought to be able to trust my neighbors. And your Chick-fil-A order was exactly that--nothing but a tasty chicken sandwich and some piping hot waffle fries.
It's not always a matter of moral high ground. It's not always a matter of political correctness. But, for queer folks, it's always a matter of staying safe. And when we have to deal with not only individual acts of homophobia/transphobia but also organized efforts to push homophobic/transphobic policies through legislation, we are on alert. Sometimes that alertness develops into a kind of evolutionary shorthand--the same way hunters and gatherers might have seen a long, coiled shape out of the corner of their eye and jumped because, for that split second, they thought a harmless vine was a snake. It's natural human behavior, and it's behavior that develops from deep-seated memories of past dangers.
So no, my Chick-fil-A-loving neighbors, I don't think you hate queers or support nasty legislation because you buy from Chick-Fil-A. But now I can't let myself relax, until I know you better. I have to pay attention. And sometimes that gets heavy.
TL;DR: This is America. You have the right to buy whatever chicken sandwich you like. But please don't get mad if it makes your queer neighbors feel a little on edge. You may be a harmless vine, but to a stranger, in a strange place, you might look just enough like a snake to startle someone.
This is the best and most nuanced take I’ve seen in these comments.
@@seanmerritt2905 Thank you, I spent half an hour trying to decide whether or not this post was worth being vulnerable on the dangerous interwebs 😂
@@leahheim1923 - Makes perfect sense to me.
Thank you for taking the time to write this. It was genuinely illuminating and something I will take into consideration going forward.
If your bar for bigotry is just that someone practices one of the many religions that don't condone homosexuality then your bar is absurdly low. And this is coming from an atheist. You're basically saying you can't be in the same room as most of the planet.
TL;DR - Calm down.
Besides, statistically, the list of people who actually want to kill you is most likely limited to people you know well anyway. Not religious bogeymen selling fried chicken.
I’m inclined to agree with your conclusion about CFA. I used to be really adamant about avoiding it and encouraging people to avoid it, but this is mainly due to my extremely negative experience working at CFA. I won’t get into the details, but I dealt with blatant racism and a gay friend of mine had to deal with aggressive homophobia. I’m willing to label this as an individual experience, but the company culture definitely influenced the behavior of my store. It’s definitely cultish tho and there’s really no other way to say it. We literally have to watch multiple documentaries about Truett Cathy’s family. We were harshly reprimanded if our behavior didn’t meet CFA’s standards. It’s a well run business, but like all fast food places, even places that Pay better than most, you usually have to work extreme hours to make a living wage. I remember working 6 days a week from 5am-3pm in the kitchen. The food is fine (I’m a vegetarian now but it’s fine) but overall, I wish worker experience was more of a reason for boycotts these days. The lines move fast, the food is good, but the employees are worked like dogs, and that’s not worth $12 an hour.
Also, I’m from a place where CFA’s zoning guidelines are blatantly ignored. If you’ve heard of the two CFA restaurants literally across the street from each other, I worked at CFA when those were being built. Also, operators are almost NEVER present in stores. My store had an operator who had operated 2 locations, and he always appeared, though he was always at the Christmas party!
Sounds like CFA needs a union. I can already imagine how low corporate would go to try and squash that down in a heartbeat.
I started working for CFA in the early 2000s when they swapped from pickle juice to prebrined from Purdue
@@enokii I have made the copycat recipe with the pickle brine. It tastes exactly like CFA.
The fried chicken breasts weren’t brined in the store - not when I worked there in 89-94. The chargrill was though. I do know the switch you mean, and I don’t think it was a good change wrt flavor.
Which flavor of pickle juice? Sweet or Dill... in a proper egg/potato/macaroni salad I prefer sweet over dill when I make it...
@@lethaleefox6017 - Dill pickle juice.
@@lethaleefox6017 - Also, I agree with sweet pickle relish in egg/potato/macaroni salad.
31:00 Yeah, my Chik Fil A has 2 lanes and it helps a lot. There is literally nonstop traffic from 7AM to close. Here in Ohio, they have heater and an large awning for inclement weather.
Yeah, I guess corporations are “technically” people. Rich, powerful, and largely out of touch people. But that’s just me being pedantic, I guess? I sincerely wish anyone attempting to appeal to a corporation’s sense of humanity the best of luck.
You’re a good person, Adam. It feels weird hearing you tell your audience to be grateful for a “win” and to butt out if we’re “not from here”. Who exactly switched to our side in all this? And isn’t Southern culture still American culture? It might be a good idea to stretch a little before attempting such complex mental gymnastics.
That last sentence was a bit mean-spirited. Apologies for the snarkiness.
The idea that CFA is southern culture is such absolute horse shit too. The kind of idea only some northerner could get by not actually engaging with our culture. Its really annoying having a northerner but into the conversation about a southern company doing bad things, talk them up and act like they should be critiqued because they're a part of our culture?
Its a fast food place, its no more a cultural icon than Dr Pepper is.
@@illboi42069 - You mean ‘Coke’.
@@klubberzvonhatzenbuhl563 no I picked DP because it's a southern thing. It isn't really sold outside of the south it fits more closely with Adams dumb idea that CFA operates almost exclusively in the South
@@illboi42069 - Dr. Pepper is literally everywhere I’ve been. I’m also from Tejas and have been to the original bottling plant. As for my ‘Coke’ comment…it’s related to the fact that lots of people in the south will call EVERY carbonated beverage a ‘Coke’. 😉
Also, I’m now in San Jose, CA. We have a Chik-Fil-A 2 miles away. Ain’t never been there, though…
I live in the South and see no reason to spend my money at a CfL. They're doing just fine without me.
I'm from Utah, and when I was like 14 I worked at Chick-fil-A for the minimum wage at the time $7.25
we got one free meal a shift and free drinks anytime. we had to say "my pleasure" it was required, we also had to say "beverage" instead of "drink" Our chicken breader went crazy on those mf chickens. he was slamming that flour into them like his life depended on it. one time for our Christmas party the owners of that specific restaurant made everyone join them in their mormon/LDS prayer. hilarious.
Breaders are no joke. My buddy throws on some black metal, cranks out a $5k hour and sits on his break eating a soup and blueberries while hes absolutely drenched in flour. Absolute menace.
@@brendanfarrow ITS THE EATING WHILE COVERED IN FLOWER FOR ME 🤣🤣
"one time for our Christmas party the owners of that specific restaurant made everyone join them in their mormon/LDS prayer. hilarious."
No way i'd ever do that shit even if my life depended on it, yuck.
Almost every single positive thing you mentioned about how Chick Fil-A is run you can say the same about In n Out Burger. From them taking orders in-person outside to creepy level niceness.
and without all the bigotry and hate
Also a Christian, family-owned restaurant
That’s your take of creepy level niceness? That’s quite literally the default of the south.
@@robster7787 I feel like many people who weren't raised in the south don't understand that. They aren't used to people being friendly like they've always known you even though you have never met before in your life. Manners are drilled into us and so are the Christian values of "Love your neighbor" so when we are being nice and friendly it isn't to trick someone its just how we are lol. If I interacted with people the way I see some people out west or up north interact with strangers I would get my ass beat by my grandma lol
@@douglassmalls6934
I mean doesnt that by definition make it "creepy level of niceness" if you have never seen someone be so overtly "nice"?
people have different ideas of what "polite" means based on the culture and area they have grown up in, just like how northeners would be seen as rude in south the southern politeness would be seen as faked in north I bet.
infact that is reason why many USA brands that try to just copy their USA stores 1 to 1fail to find success largely across the globe, because many places do not have the same culture of hospitality as USA does to put it diplomatically.
The FRC also had a huge impact, due to missionary work and lobbying, in Uganda's recent decision to kill people for being gay. This was known at the time of CFA's vocal support of them.
The salvation army's "regressive policies" involve, among other things, letting starve or abusing poor LGBT people (often children. Homeless children are disproportionately LGBT. Guess why.) they've spent a lot of words and very little effort towards fixing this.
Dan Cathy's own response to all of this controversy was to say he should be quieter about this stuff in public. No statements about, say, thinking it's wrong to kill gay people for being gay, something the FRC would disagree with.
So while CFA's official business may have divested from those orgs, I see no reason to think that the Cathy family isn't still a massive contributor.
BINGO.
I didn't hear about any of this? is it true? I have been boycotting CFA since they gave money to the SPLC. Maybe we can learn something from Uganda.
@@MichaelMantion - Nice try at trollin.
As a gay man in the south who enjoys chick fil a, perhaps a straight person who was never harmed by the ideas pushed by the founders should not imply that those who are/were offended should get over it because they’ve come to our side. Someone who’s not a part of the oppressed group should never tell members of the oppressed group to get over something in my opinion (no matter how small/large the oppression is, let’s not compare oppressions of different minorities). Although I do agree that it is morally okay to eat chick fil a, when you implied that people only bash on chick fil a to feel morally superior, that was not right. It is not possible to measure the continued effect of cfa’s funding of the hate group or the influence of their founder’s statements. I am still harmed by extreme homophobia in my own family and if I think about it too much I hate supporting a company that has financially supported that world view so recently. People are wrong to bash you for eating it, I agree, but I think you are wrong in that your statements seemed to imply there is no legitimate reason to still be against the company with regards to their homophobia (I am unsure if you meant to imply that, I think all you meant is that people should not shame you for eating it, which again I agree with).
To clarify, I don’t think you meant this, but what you said towards the end of your video could be taken as “a minority individual should cease being angry at a supporter of their oppressor (or at the oppressor themselves) as soon as the oppressor-supporter/oppressor stops supporting the oppressor/oppressing them”.
You call out northerners for being outside the situation where cfa isn’t really a thing, in other words they’re detached from your perspective , but you forget that you’re outside the situation too as far as the pain/shame/trauma felt by oppressed LGBT members.
@@ac30428 How did they oppress you? Did they spit in your food or kick you out?
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 I never said they oppressed me, I was speaking for people who were harmed by the hate group they funded. And I’m saying the fact that they so recently funded a group with that world view hurts. But I also recognize it’s not realistic/I don’t care enough to boycott cfa and I love their food
In the same way that I use an iPhone even though I’m against the negative conditions of workers in foreign factories
Adam quoting Mitt Romney and also saying that "Corporations are people too" makes me want to vomit. Corporations are not people, their only need to appease their shareholders not their customers. Sometimes that may overlap, but its purely coincidental.
Their "polynesian" sauce is literally nothing more than Marzetti's Honey French dressing. There are a good number of clones of their stuff and most of them I've found to be much better than the original. I know mine are because I started making mine closer to karaage.
Oooh, that reminds me of 'Polynesian meatballs', which used to be very popular, and tasty... but sadly I've not seen them for 20 years.
Someone told me your chicken kind of sucks tbh.
@@Whodaleewho I’m hearing this in
My circles as well
omg you have improved my life. I don't eat at CfA but do miss the polynesian sauce.
And the CFA sauce is literally honey bbq.
Seriously, ask for the packet of honey bbq from the CFA counter, they literally taste the same.
Don't worry Adam. I boycott Chick-fil-A as a southerner. Nothing is tasty enough to fund their point of view.
High end Art as an investment has a notorious history as vehicle for wealthy individuals to hide income/dodge taxes. To what degree if at all does Masterworks investments address this issue? I am curious if the increased small investor demand helps to obscure/provide cover for high end tax avoidance or does it help reduce it? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic since you are advocating their services!
Thanks!
Agreed
Plus one, masterworks also has some questionable business practices
It’s a scam, Adam is either greedy or stupid for promoting it… or both. Look up Scott Schafer he did a video about it.
address it? I think their objective is to harness it for their own profit and, at least nominally, their customers' profit too
"High end Art as an investment has a notorious history as vehicle for wealthy individuals to hide income/dodge taxes"
Ok?!?!? Same can be said for cash / gold / bitcoin and things of that nature. As for Adams thoughts on the matter? I do not think Adam has the expertise to even delve into that question. I think Adam has said he tries to check out his sponsors to the best of his ability and if he finds something bad he would pull ever working with them again.
If you have direct information into maleficence; I am sure Adam would love to hear about it. Just saying, I hear a Sponsor is bad, does nothing - when all he has seen in his vetting of a sponsor is that it checks out.
If corporations are people too, then corporate tax rates should be the same as personal income tax rates.
Also, any time an organization has "Family" in its title, you can probably substitute the word "Fascist" with no alteration of intent.
Also also, I have refused, since the 1990s, to patronize any company that won't allow its employees to unionize. And I've been living in cities with no shortage of McDonald's, Starbuck's, and Walmart.
His statement of "corporations are people" is more about corporations only existing as a group of people. Kind of a collectivist take to me but I see where he was coming from with it.
I am poor enough that I'll buy certain food items from walmart, but not most anything else. There's a point where it's saving 10$ for the same thing off another store's sale price, which is a huge amount of my grocery budget, or the quality of the produce being legitimately better. But my problem is more to do with them pressuring manufacturers to lower their quality and being generally anticompetitive.
Same with made-in-china stuff - if I really cannot find something in an affordable non-china form or at least open-box/used (so the money I spend isn't going to the CCP, at least not directly), then I have to weigh my options of having it vs going without. And if I later find a version that isn't china-made I definitely go for it. This has only happened a handful of times twice in the past 8ish years though.
your point about rewarding people that come over to your side would make sense if there was any reason to think that these still weren't Christian extremists-hateful people that would prefer it if gay people didn't have civil rights.
I think you (Adam) missed the point here, it's not about CFA the organisation stopping donating to hate groups - it's about whether you genuinely believe that some of the money you're spending isn't still being donated to those same groups but ptivately through the Cathy family themselves; after all, not nearly all of the money that is made at CFA is paid to the workers.
This is wholly analagous to JKR and Harry Potter and your decision is different, I suspect because you like CFA more than you wanted the new HP game, and so it was easy for you not to buy the game, but it's harder for you to not buy CFA; it seems like you're falling foul of the same thing you accuse "northerners" of - a kind of virtue signalling when it doesn't directly impact you and ignoring it when it does.
Yup
First thought about "southern baptist agenda": cringe.
They may be "people" but they're not your friend. Doesn't mean you have to be mean just that the most important part of you to them is your money.
I'm sorry Adam, and I don't want to be that kind of person, but I don't think you have the credentials to talk about this.
CFA is openly hostile to queer people like me both in the USA and abroad. In 2021, the new CEO of CFA lobbied to oppose the Equality Act which would expand civil protections to queer people, including employment rights. They've also recently donated to the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage foundation, both of which have made efforts to ban trans youth from participating in sports. They did a good job marketing that they don't donate to anti-queer operations anymore, but they do.
And that's just local. In 2019, the National Christian Charitable Foundation (which is majorly funded by CFA) lobbied to make homosexuality punishable by death in Uganda. I'm sorry, but if any corporation did that, how could you not think about that any time you walked into their doors? How could you even want to eat there anymore?
And it hurts that none of the straight people I look up to--IRL friends and online people I think make good content--really care. I do live in the American southeast, and you're right, it is super common. But CFA managed to market the idea that they don't fund anti-queer legislation anymore, and people ate it up because they want to eat their stupid sandwiches. Don't get it twisted, CFA does not want people like to me to have the same rights as people like you.
If you don't care, you don't care, that's fine. But I can't stand straight people handwringing about their justifications for eating their mediocre pickle chicken.
Its honestly ridiculous that people act like its a matter of opinions at this point. For someone who is famous for doing a ton of research he really just dove right into this with a bs 'you're either cis and straight of you're political' attitude and its really depressing. He's bent over backwards before to not offend people's family recipes and the like but when it comes to the LGBT for some reason we aren't owed like, ten minutes of research. It almost feels more like willful ignorance at this point.
As a gay man, I totally agree with your comment. He doesn't have a gay friend who committed suicide because of forced conversion therapy.
Yours is the most important comment in this thread, and I damned well hope he reads it.
@@Dracobear13 forcing people into therapy meant to undermine their sexual identity should be illegal
@@mcloughlinguy4127 Who is being forced into therapy? Constantly lying should be illegal.
hearing people talk about Chick-fil-A just answers the question for me: "who cares about me and people like me more than a chicken sandwich"
(also the brand may have stopped donating publicly to hate groups who cause the murders of queer people, but the same people who made the original decisions still profit and can use their profits to donate privately to those groups)
Sorry I thought about it but the spicy chicken sandwich wins out.
Adam, not trying to be accusatory or contrarian with this question, but truly curious about your thoughts: Could your own words "it's easy to walk the moral high ground when you're not even walking the same path as me" not also be said of an LGBTQ+ person in response to this video?
I grew up about 5 minutes from the original Dwarf House in Hapeville. Parents still live there. We almost never ate Chick-fil-A growing up.
I am just wondering who pioneered the efficiency model that you describe because In-N-Out has been using all of the drive thru tactics that you described for at least a decade. In my hometown in California there is a Chick-Fil-A and In-N-Out in the same parking lot and I saw In-N-Out doing it first there. They also have strict franchise guidelines and pay there employees well above minimum wage to be happy and well mannered. Maybe they are not connected stories, but I feel like there might be some corporate idea thievery going on here...I just don't know which corporation took what from who.
It's hard to be level-headed on a topic like this when you grew up gay in the south. Straight people cannot understand why this issue is so painful for us
@@merczr6862 well that just not true.
I said it in another comment, but I'm LGBT in the south. My high school even served Chick-fil-A on Friday during lunch as a special program.
I just fundamentally don't believe they aren't doing other sketchy shit against us.
I grew up in a country where being gay is illegal. Not same sex marriage, homosexuality itself. The owners of Chick fil A are lobbying for even worse laws around the world (including state sanctioned murder of gay people). So it was pretty jarring for me to hear Adam say that because I'm not from the south, my opinion doesn't matter and he doesn't want to hear it.
And it's pretty weak to say "no one could buy anything if they boycotted every company that has jerks on its board of directors". No you actually can avoid companies that literally advocate for state sanctioned murder of innocent people. Not everything is grey.
No, we understand it better than you think. You're terminally online and have whipped yourself into a frenzy over bogeymen that for the most part exist solely in your head.
I’m sorry. You’re wrong. I’m straight as an arrow. This is bullshit. You are being levelheaded. You’re just being gaslit by a celebrity UA-camr.
I overheard a manager at a CFA talking to a customer, and the customer asked when he would become an owner. The mgr said he had a divorce so he was out of the running (because it was seen as indicative of not having strong family values). This was just a few years ago, (2016 maybe) so nothing has changed. If a divorce puts you out of the running I'm sure a same-sex relationship would too.
Also, it is very much buying a job since as an "owner" you don't really own anything. That is simply a mask you wear to back up the protestant work ethic that is part of CFA's brand.
First paragraph is 100% misleading. Come to NC, there is a particular CFA where the operator is openly gay.
The divorce component actually falls in line with the decision process, but being an LGBT member dose not.
@@robster7787 not judging but how frequently are you eating at your local CFA if you know the sexual orientation of the branch's owner
@@doghat1619 I imagine when he says openly gay it is more the kind of thing where you interact with them and immediately know. We all know a gay guy like that, lmao.
20:32 I'm sorry but the chicken "tenderloin" absolutely doesn NOT have the exact same texture as the rest of the breast. Maybe it differs from country to country but where I live (Greece) that part is definitely noticably more tender.
The Cathy family still openly donates to anti-lgbt causes and funded opposition to the equality act. Since the money is derived from the family business its safe to say supporting their enterprise supports anti-lgbt causes. So this video feels dated with its information.
While I agree with the argument of rewarding change in behavior with your business. It’s hard to apply that to chick-fil-a when they haven’t changed their behavior.
Adam is making a lot of bold assumptions about boycotting bigot chicken. I am from thr same part of the us as he is. He vastly overstated the culture around the company. As an lgbtq+ person I am super pissed that he waves away the morality of it under conspicuous consumption. With many items in our economy there isn't much way to avoid the items. A fucking chicfila sandwich is not one of those avoidable things. You can avoid it just fine
Duh. It's not even a difficult calculation. It doesn't even take a PhD, which I have. All you have to think is if you give money to biggest the biggest will spend money on bigotry.
And for some reason Adam will not addressed that question and has not responded to any of this. He's fine with giving bigots money is the point.
As long as there are alternatives who haven't spouted anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric (I mean, shouldn't one of the first rules about being in business be "don't piss off your customers"?) I will get my chicken sandwiches from the local Popeyes
I honestly think teh first step to asking for forgiveness is admitting you are/were wrong. If corps are people too ( and they aren't fuck that noise ) then where is teh "Hey queer folks, we're apologetic for being bigots hate mongers that riled up other bigots into being even more bigoted than they already are. We are also apologetic for supporting orgs that treat queer folks are less than human or mistakes in need of fixing. We will do better and will make up for our donations with some totally transparent corpo pride donations and cups." .... i wont be holding my breath on that. While i'm all for leaving an open chair at teh table for those who have stormed off in fear and ignorance i'm not going to trust that their intentions are real without proof. Respect and Trust ( thats more than general respect and trust for just dealing with people day to day of respecting people and their time and space and trusting they aren't gonna ram their car into you ) are earned not given espicially after they have been proven to not extend teh same.
While there is "no ethical consumption" there is not feeling totally icky when you've bought something. Any bigot ( and that includes myself when i've had less than progressive views) that does apologize, admit they made mistakes ( and we all do), and attempt to do better is welcome, if you don't how in teh everlivingfuck do "we" know that you've changed?
As Reagan said with Russia: ‘Trust; but Verify’
I was born and raised in Iowa, and we have had a chick-fil-a my whole life. it may have started in the south, but it defiantly isn't just there.
I get where Adam is coming from. I’m still not going to spend money on fast food, maybe occasional In N Out. But honestly, fuck fast food in general. In N Out is interesting though.
I use to go to Chick-fil-A with my mom all the time. I read Kathy's biography. They have my favorite fried chicken sandwich, they are polite, they are efficient, and I will never go back there. Just can't do it. Plus, they got rid of their cole slaw and I feel personally slighted by that.
I really don't see why chick fil a is so popular, like they're homophobic and awful and i don't go there bc of that but honestly? Canes is 1000x better flavor wise
You're coming out with this literally just after you told people not to buy Hogwarts: Legacy...
Have some ideological consistency, my guy; the same logic still applies, this is all just excuses. It is *never* hard to boycott a company whose owners still very much contribute to the oppression of marginalized groups. The company going silent and dropping a few organizations that the company donated to means nothing, because the Cathy family is still very much involved in the funding and passage of queerphobic laws at home and abroad. No chicken sandwich is so good that you just can't give it up for the sake of the people who are being killed by the money you spent on it.
I'm a queer southerner myself and I haven't been to CFA in proper years because I don't want my money, directly or indirectly, going to people and organizations that want people like me dead. I've yet to experience social ostracization for not eating at CFA that I wouldn't already have experienced being openly queer. The signalling you so readily deride helps me identify who I can feel safe around, who will value me over a fucking chicken sandwich that, honestly, is kinda trash compared to any other out there.
Both of my daughters are part of the rainbow squad and my money won't go to any business that supports gay conversion "therapy" 🤷♀️ I should say, I won't support those who openly and proudly support such abuse, because I'm sure others do it on the down-low.
@shrimpsauce but you commented 🧐
What's the most abusive thing about this therapy? Or is that just an opinion.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Google gay conversion "therapy" and behold the horrors
@shrimpsauce I am complete 🙄
Clearly he is the defender of southern morality and he does care. Or like you said he could've moved on by. They are greatly illogical. All they know is that they're mad enough to elect the meanest, crassest, stupidest president ever.
And if they can defend that, they can defend anything. There is no point in arguing with them because logic obviously doesn't make sense to cult members.
We have one in Toronto right near the gaybourhood. That feels wrong. I can eat another chicken sandwich. I did find your breakdown of the sandwich interesting.
No, I don't think I will have to wrestle with anything, I simply do not give money to people who want some of my friends, family and other loved ones dead and who fund that project. People do not, in fact, have to hand it to them.
I’m only a min into this, and I guess I’ll edit this as I go, (maybe) but I’ve got to say that Asia probably won’t get a Chic-fil-A because KFC is bigger, and they already offer things that are very Asia-specific. As a Japanese American, and having been to japan many times, I can say that KFC japan is nothing like KFC USA, looking past the obvious similarities considering that they’re the same company.
I have not been to Japan but wen to KFC China. It was certainly much better than KFC US. KFC in the US use to be quality in the 80's but I think starting in the 90's, they felt pressure to compete in pricing and started lowering their quality. Then later some regional chains serving higher quality chicken start dominating the US market. Chick-Fil-A and Raising Canes took a big chunk and then popeye was more of a direct competitor on pricing and served better chicken. Today, nobody talks about KFC in the US.