Tuesday, November 18, 2008

It's Time for the Pre-Holiday Complaining!

Patti Wigington, About.com

Wednesday November 12, 2008

The folks at the amusingly-named Liberty Council have once again put out their list of who's naughty and nice, and the 2008 list is even bigger and more entertaining than last year's. For those of you unfamiliar with these people, the group has an annual "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign," in which retailers who use the word "Christmas" all over the place are praised as being nice, and those who use the more generic "holiday" are scolded for being just awful companies that good people should never patronize.

Some of the Naughty folks this year? Bloomingdales, Honey-Baked Ham, Dick's Sporting Goods and the CVS Pharmacy chain, all because they don't have stuff in their store or advertising that says "Christmas" -- they just say "holidays." The companies which rate "Nice" include Kohl's department store, Hobby Lobby crafts (which is closed every Sunday anyway) and Cabela's.

Here's the thing. As a non-Christian, I don't give a flying flip about whether some cashier wishes me Merry Christmas when I'm buying my stuff. It's not a big deal to me, and I typically respond with "Thanks! You have a great holiday too." Likewise, I find it odd that people are getting offended when someone *doesn't* say "Merry Christmas." I mean, really... doesn't "Happy Holidays" include Christmas? Of course it does. There's a misconception that people are trying to take Christmas away from those who wish to celebrate it, and nothing could be further from the truth. It's just silly to think that Christmas is the only holiday that takes place in December. Honestly, I wish the Liberty Council would take some of their resources and instead of spending them on whining, use them to do something good in the world, like feed hungry kids or make sure everyone has a warm coat in the middle of winter. That, to me, far more exemplifies the spirit of the holidays than complaining because you didn't get a "Merry Christmas" with your soy latte.

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