Today the Family Kitchen, 1617 N. Wheeling Ave., will unveil its new name: the Stars and Stripes diner.
The "Bitchen Kitchen" has been a Muncie and Ball State landmark for several years. Open 24 hours and fairly close to campus, it has become a favorite among Ball State's late-night revelers. Far from fine dining, one could simply get good atmosphere inexpensively. In Muncie, that's hard to come by -- especially in the middle of the night. But now, its new ownership has decided to put aside tradition and join in the faddish practice of market patriotism.
No more than a day after the World Trade Center towers came down, the exploitation of the greatest tragedy in American history began in our nation's marketplace. NYPD and FDNY paraphernalia appeared everywhere. A Hoosier could find NYPD and FDNY items at Wal-Mart.
All of a sudden it was cool to care -- and what is cool is profitable. Flags that should be free in the Land of the Free are not free. Artists raised money for the cause at the time, but now artists such as Alan Jackson are writing hit singles because of it. Supporting your country must be done with money -- buying into resolve?
In the middle of all of this patriotic fervor and pulling of heart-strings, the fact remains that this "patriotism" does not honor our fallen, it merely exploits their deaths. It's the perfect marketing push, if you care about our country and what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, pay up. What greater disrespect can we show our so-called heroes than to profit from their passing?
The Family Kitchen should not be renamed as part of a patriotism fad. If not for the sake of tradition, then for dignity of nearly 3,000 Americans that died on Sept. 11.
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