For John, BLUF: Political Correctness ruined a popular cooking show from Bon Appetit Who benefitted? Not the many people who viewed the show and learned about cooking while being entertained. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Here is the sub-headline:
The Bon Appetit saga proved you can politicize everything, as the mob demands, or you can create a vibrant, innovative culture — but you can't have both.
From The Federalist, by Sommelier Ellie Bufkin, 10 December 2020.
Here is the lede plus five:
During the lockdown regime of the past year, millions of Americans turned to their televisions, computers, and phone screens to escape despair. Because we are creatures of innovation and curiosity, however, many people taught themselves to make sourdough bread starters from the internet and something new the next day.
The bread-baking game got so out of hand at one point this summer that yeast vanished from grocery store shelves. The appetite for hobbies, knowledge, and bread was ferocious.
Suddenly barred from dining out, the gastronomically inclined turned to their own kitchens, ordered new tools from the internet, and taught themselves culinary tricks. Social media overflowed with images of the burgeoning class of new home chefs, spurned from their favorite table at Le Diplomate but finally finding joy in sipping Gamay at home while searing their first-ever magret de canard.
It takes a nearly perfect combination of skill, approachability, and charisma to hook an audience the way Julia Child did, but one cooking channel stood above the rest, garnering millions of loyal followers even before the pandemic. Bon Appetit’s “Test Kitchen” series on YouTube seemed to truly understand people’s modern need for a combination of real instruction with a willingness to fail.
Even in the vast sea of online cooking shows, this one stood out. Imagine the natural give and take of NBC’s enormously popular sitcom “Friends” in a cooking show. That was the vibe from the bright and engaging stars of the “Test Kitchen.”
Even with all its charisma and promise, however, Bon Appetit couldn’t stave off the death grip of leftist ideology. It became one more source of entertainment and inspiration relegated to the burning cultural heap just when Americans most needed a pandemic and political escape.
Many of us learn from our mistakes. That is not good enough for our woke masters. For them it is one strike and you are out. There is no redemption. It is an attitude that reminds me more of the Chinese Communist Party than of America. Freedom means the right to be wrong. It is not a license to do wrong, but it is the space to grow and correct one's mistakes.
Bad behavior is not to be encouraged. Rather, it is to be discouraged. Having an alternative view is one thing, and being a bore, or being insulting to other people is another. There may be a fine line in some cases. We must leave space for alternative views, although not necessarily in our own parlor or our local drinking establishment. Alternative views help us advance. Much of what we knew to be true 121 years ago has now been proven false. And it is a better world for it.
Hat tip to the InstaPundit.
Regards — Cliff
