Two weeks ago, an adhesive-backed piece of card stock bearing words of endorsement, or “sticker” in Marketing, was affixed to the window of Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage across from Harvard Yard as part of Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage’s “Burger Awareness Week.” No doubt, the week’s events have broadened some horizons, and exposed some in our community to facets of a type of food with which they were not previously familiar. This is certainly a good thing. However, it should be asked if other, more important concerns have been overlooked. We feel compelled to write this editorial to initiate a discussion on the intersection of pluralism and burgers, and the content of the sticker itself, which translated into English reads:
Boston Magazine
is pleased to present
Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage
Best Burgers
in recognition of quality burgers
Best of Boston 2007
It is wonderful that we embrace the free practice of many burgers at Harvard. We are thankful that most members of the Harvard community understand the importance of respecting people’s rights to have their own favorite burgers. We are deeply committed to respecting and protecting the rights of others to eat at [sic] they choose, and we believe that one of the first principles of respectful conduct and burger-eating is to avoid unnecessarily criticizing or confronting others’ personal burger preferences. We cherish the fact that it is possible to discuss our differences with our classmates and neighbors without that discussion erupting into conflict and sowing the seeds of division and disrespect.
We believe that the sticker, issued publicly in a pluralistic setting, does indeed sow those seeds of division and disrespect. It does so by declaring that Mr. Bartley’s burgers are the “Best of Boston,” and are the “Best Burgers.” To the extent that this statement is a profession of faith, it is benign; however, by virtue of its content, it is also a declaration of burger superiority and a declaration against all food-beliefs that conflict with those two statements. This puts the sticker in a different class of burger-related expression than, say, the public preparation and consumption of burgers or the practice of periodically remarking, “You know what would really hit the spot right now? A burger,” because it publicly advances a burger-normative position. By doing so, it comes precariously close to crossing the line between the legitimate creation of burger awareness and proselytization. Imagine, if you would, a manufacturer of Ho-Hos standing atop the steps of Widener Library, exhorting passersby to eat Ho-Hos, denying the validity to other possibly more delicious foods, and declaring the superiority in terms of deliciousness of Hostess products in general. Would such an activity be congruent with Harvard’s tradition of liberalism and tolerance?
Burger.
We do not believe so. Indeed, other makers of burgers make truth claims similar to those contained in the sticker, but those claims, as a matter of practice at Harvard, are voiced privately or not at all. The sticker, it seems, is the exception to Harvard’s unspoken rule of burger respect and tolerance.
The authors of this piece do not believe that Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage is the Best of Boston. Nor do we believe that they have the Best Burgers. In fact, we do not believe that Mr. Bartley’s burgers are all that delicious. We expect that our statements might be offensive to some, and for that reason, we believe that it wouldn’t be appropriate, in the name of spreading awareness about our beliefs, use a public address system to declare to everyone in Harvard Yard that Mr. Bartley has not changed his “quirky” (ANNOYING) burger names in like a decade, that the brusque service at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage is in fact not endearing, or that after we eat at the Cottage we generally have stabbing pains in the stomach. Similarly, it is best that those who hold similar beliefs about Ho-Hos or pizza or any other fattening comestible to avoid loudly declaring the non-deliciousness of other foods.
The Harvard community should be very aware of burgers, as they are one of the world’s most influential foods. We believe that Burger Awareness Week ought to continue, but in a way that does not foist burgerist doctrines upon everyone. We believe that students who resent the forceful infusion of burger-normativity with their Harvard experience should be spared the indignity, and we believe strongly that our community should not grant license to any burger-promoting group, minority or otherwise, to use a loudspeaker to declare false the profoundly important and personal food-beliefs of others.
Burger burger burger.
The authors are graduate students at the Center for Delicious, Delicious Studies.
Tags:
religion,
islam,
burgers,
editorial,
the intersection of pluralism and burgers,
harvard
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