practicing compassion
Lino Saputo, the CEO of the parent company of Saputo Dairy Australia, recently announced that Coon cheese, a familiar brand in Australian dairy aisles since at least 1959, would be renamed Cheer cheese. While I cringe at calling any mass-market product ‘Cheer,’ let alone a nondescript variety of cheddar cheese, I wholeheartedly applaud the name change. The word ‘coon’, short for raccoon, has been a derogatory slur against people of colour since at least the 1800s---and not just in America, as has been argued by ardent Australian cheese name defenders. According to the previous brand owners Dairy Farmers, Coon cheese was named after Edward Coon, the American man who invented the maturation process used in making the cheese. Subsequent research has shown, however, that the modern variety of Coon cheese does not in fact employ the ‘Coon’ maturation method.
The rebrand has not been met with joy from all quarters. At the far end are the people who say they will never buy the brand again, decrying political correctness gone mad. There are also those who argue that a name is a name and nothing more, ‘it’s been Coon forever!’ If a name’s just a name, then why does it matter if the name is changed? Why are so many people bent out of shape about rebranding a cheese? Saputo is not changing the recipe. They are not pulling the product. They are drawing a long, undoubtedly cheesy bow by claiming that
‘ CHEER Cheese enriches everyday moments, with our signature taste that brightens your morning, noon or night. CHEER Cheese fits into every part of your day and brings that extra little bit of happiness.’
It’s just cheese. That particular name choice likely has much more to do with not-so-subtle marketing--maintaining brand familiarity by substituting one short word starting with ‘c’ for another--than any cheese-induced cheer. Or maybe I am not a true connoisseur.
But if you’re upset or even just mildly annoyed about cheese being rebranded so it doesn’t share a name with a prominent racial slur, you need to look inward. What’s really going on underneath? Those who lament political correctness as an irritation, annoyance or overreaction, are perhaps not seeing the bigger picture. Political correctness isn’t so much about politics at all. It’s about inclusion. It’s about making spaces, language and practices welcoming and safe for all people, not just those who fit the majority narrative.
Think of it this way---what if instead of calling it ‘political correctness’, we called it ‘practicing compassion’? Instead of viewing political correctness as some sort of government/media plot to liberalise and brainwash the populace, why not see it as a positive thing? We are adjusting language and practices to be better aligned with the lived experience of others. We aren’t losing anything by practicing compassion. Every time we step outside of our own understanding, we are broadening our interpretation of the world. Even those perspectives that differ from our own (at the moment the most vivid example that comes to my mind is a Trump supporter) give us reason to pause and consider our own viewpoint and place in the world. That in itself is a valuable gift. This is what we need to be teaching our children.
Our experience of the world is unique to us alone; there is no one person who is exactly like us. We do not, however, live on a solitary island. We are part of a larger society, made up of people from myriad backgrounds and beliefs. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean that is the best way to do it. I told Annabelle about the name change because I was curious to hear her perspective. She agreed that Cheer was not the best name. Her proposal? ‘It should be Edward. Edward cheese. That’s still the guy’s name.’ She intuitively grasped that there was no value in holding on to a name that could be considered hurtful. ‘It’s just cheese’, she said. Indeed.
Unsplash image by Katrin Leinfellner
The Takeaway:
Practice compassion, especially when it feels difficult.
Want to know MOre?
I love this short video about how to cultivate compassion. It’s not difficult. It’s simply paying closer attention to those around us, being mindful in our interactions. In this way, other people become real beings, with feelings and desires, not just fixtures of our environment. It’s a perspective I had never considered before.
