🌪️ Manufactured Outrage: From M&Ms to Cracker Barrel, the Tornado Keeps Spinning
From red cups to rocking chairs, the outrage machine never rests. The tornado isn’t organic — it’s engineered.
Last week, Cracker Barrel found itself in the eye of the latest “woke war” storm. The company changed its logo. That’s it.
But in today’s culture war economy, even a small design tweak spirals into a tornado of outrage, amplified by the same cast of characters who never miss a chance to declare civilisation itself under attack.
🚨 The Twitter Ground Floor
Take this exchange, pulled from the thick of it:
“> @patriot1600 (Aug 26): “I don’t care about them really we have small business restaurants that are better than CB but we must have moral courage! Nobody complains when going to a Mexican restaurant that it looks like Mexico inside and outside!”
@MattPPea (Aug 26): “they just changed a logo.”
@patriot1600 (Aug 26): “More than that the entire menu, store and dining area is being changed and white washed!”
@MattPPea (Aug 26): “and?”
@CPalmerEldritch (Aug 26): “I’m not opposed to rebrands, or courting new demographics. It’s the way it’s done that’s offensive. These are woke elites shoving their shitty MBA sensibilities on their customers; pissing on them and telling them it’s raining.”
@patriot1600 (Aug 26): “Never show tolerance!!”
Here’s the essence: a minor brand refresh quickly mutates into existential panic about “moral courage,” “whitewashing,” and “never showing tolerance.” Another commenter spelled it out:
“These are woke elites shoving their MBA sensibilities on customers; pissing on them and telling them it’s raining.” – @CPalmerEldritch
It’s the script. Every time.
🎭 The Tornado Script
The tornado metaphor helps explain how these “scandals” build power:
The Spark (a brand tweak):
Starbucks “red cups” (2015)
M&M’s shoe swap (2022)
Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney can (2023)
Target Pride merch (2023)
Cracker Barrel logo (2025)
The Amplifiers:
Tucker Carlson: “M&M’s won’t be satisfied until every cartoon character is deeply unappealing.”
Charlie Kirk: “Budweiser is an awful product owned by globalists.”
Matt Schlapp: Target merch is “demonic paraphernalia.”
Donald Trump Jr.: “WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??!”
Byron Donalds: “Make Cracker Barrel Great Again.”
The Escalation:
Local culture war Twitter → CPAC stages → Fox clips → Truth Social → EU far-right (Orbán, AfD, Vox) → Kremlin TV.
The outrage grows with each loop until it’s no longer about a logo or a cup — it’s about the collapse of the West.
🌍 Why This Matters
The tornado isn’t about coffee cups, candy mascots, or rocking chairs. It’s about training an audience to see every corporate decision as proof of betrayal.
And crucially: it’s not just domestic. At CPAC Hungary, Viktor Orbán uses these same “woke West” controversies to argue that Europe must resist liberalism. Russian state TV rebroadcasts Tucker Carlson and Trump Jr., presenting them as evidence that even Americans believe the West is collapsing.
Minor sparks → outrage entrepreneurs → political capital → transatlantic propaganda.
🧭 The Pattern Is the Point
Every time you hear someone shout about “woke” M&M’s or a “demonic” Target t-shirt, remember:
The outrage is recycled.
The speakers are the same.
The pattern is engineered.
This isn’t a series of isolated events — it’s a storm system. A tornado.