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The Year of McDonald's

thefp.com

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Re: The Year of McDonald's

#71

Post by aidenn0 »

thefaux wrote: post #63
TheGRS wrote: post #62

This is an interesting read, I kind of feel like the author is capturing something interesting about what Mickey D's has become in the last decade or two, but also laying it on a little too thick with the "what does it all mean for America". They're a franchise and huge corporation that keeps a lot of storefronts clean and open, employs a lot of people in thankless low-paying jobs, and puts out pretty middling food t…

Yeah, it isn't elitism that makes my stomach feel horrible when I eat fast food.

Are you sure? The brain plays a huge part in nausea.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#72

Post by aidenn0 »

bhouston wrote: post #16

McDonald’s has also seen a major boycott because of its Israeli branch’s support for the Israeli actions in Gaza: https://fortune.com/2024/07/30/mcdonalds-gaza-boycott-israel... Apparently it was so bad that global McDonalds bought back all the Israeli franchises.

I don't think that is the connection here, but being pro-Israel is a good way to get featured in TFP; the editor is an avowed Zionist.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#73

Post by rdtsc »

rconti wrote: post #66
rdtsc wrote: post #10

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees Didn't Kamala Har…

It felt really odd that the author neglected to mention the reason the stunt should have fallen flat was that he was using it to mock Harris for actually having worked at McDonalds, not cosplaying at it.

That's the part that seemed odd for an article trying to put McD in the spotlight of the recent events. It just read as completely random "look, how crazy he is, he decided out of the blue to stage a McD cosplay foto session".

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#74

Post by elzbardico »

rdtsc wrote: post #10

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees Didn't Kamala Har…

I frankly consider far more likely that Harris have never worked in a McDonalds. All her campaing was full of dumb astro-turfing, this would just fit the general bs theme.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#75

Post by wvenable »

erulabs wrote: post #47

> These communities are the flowers growing between the cracks of the cement parking lot: a reminder that life survives, and often thrives, in the harshest environments, such as the modern world Lovely writing here. I am fascinated by the idea that the porousness of any system is its lifeline or even possibly its great enabler. There's a legend that during the Chinese revolution, extremely rural and difficult to trav…

I believe we live in hyper-optimized times. We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society.

Even McDonald's is affected. It seemed a lot more joyful when I was younger and it was certainly more staffed. People are managing to create community out of a spaces that are getting more and more sterile, transactional, and minimalist.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#76

Post by ifyoubuildit »

gowld wrote: post #29
anonu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump was an actual campaign stop photo op... Harris didn't do a McD photo op. So not clear on your point. Also Trump rode in a garbage truck around the same time. Was he one upping Harris? Or just trying to appeal to the working class? Probably the latter...

The garbage-truck photo op was Trump's a followup to his campaign calling Puerto Rico "garbage", and in particular to Biden calling that behavior "garbage".

This comment illustrates pretty well how much of a game of telephone american political culture is.

The person whispering in my ear said that a roast comedian at a trump rally told a joke where Puerto Rico was called an island of garbage. I wonder how many levels it had to go to become "[trumps] campaign calling Puerto Rico "garbage"".

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#77

Post by techfeathers »

rdtsc wrote: post #10

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees Didn't Kamala Har…

I always wondered about why the truth that Kamala Harris worked at McDonald’s seemed almost less authentic than the sort of cosplay of Trump working there.

And it makes me wonder. I myself worked a blue collar job for a few years, I was in catering, and I worked - never in fast food but at a few chains.

But it was never something I had to do or something I was looking down the long barrel of. It certainly I think taught me something about what that life was like. But I can see why some people may interpret that as actually worse.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#78

Post by rdtsc »

elzbardico wrote: post #74
rdtsc wrote: post #10

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees Didn't Kamala Har…

I frankly consider far more likely that Harris have never worked in a McDonalds. All her campaing was full of dumb astro-turfing, this would just fit the general bs theme.

> I frankly consider far more likely that Harris have never worked in a McDonalds.

In retrospect, sadly, I think you're right. Snopes has it as "unproven" [1]. But it would explain the reason for a cosplay with that theme. That would be an interesting angle to discuss. Someone even bothered to photoshop Harris' face on an unrelated McDonald's employee picture from back in the day. But it was a fake! Was it one of her supporters, or a Trump supporter doing it. It ended up hurting her more than helping, in the end it seems.

> “So what are MAGA die-hards and faux-centrist Trump apologists talking about when they praise his drive-through stint as ‘amazing and hilarious’?”

The article seems to deliberately miss the whole parody part. That would make a juicy piece of cultural commentary, yet that part is missing. Sometimes, what is not talked about is a lot more interesting than what is talked about.

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harris-mcdonalds-college/

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#79

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

shreddit wrote: post #6

I once worked for two hours out of a mc donalds, even had a 30 minute teams meeting (it was completely empty at 10 in the morning) and the wifi was quite fast

Wherever my internet at home goes out, the McD down the way is my "office." Hasn't happened in 5 years or so, but I've had to do it 4-5 times over the years. Take customer calls, write code, have team meetings. Works fine, and the $1 coffee ain't bad.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#80

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

rconti wrote: post #66
rdtsc wrote: post #10

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees Didn't Kamala Har…

It felt really odd that the author neglected to mention the reason the stunt should have fallen flat was that he was using it to mock Harris for actually having worked at McDonalds, not cosplaying at it.

The stunt worked because there's some controversy over the ability to verify Harris worked at a McDonald's as she stated. Trump very publicly worked there for a day to sort of rub it in. He was trolling her, and it appears to have worked.
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