Have our stores really become more heathen?

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

I've been hearing a lot about stores' official policies on Christmas and how we should boycott just about every store under the sun. Well, I decided to go shop at the gay-loving French-owned Super Target just a few miles from my domicile this evening. I was expecting to see the word 'Holiday' strewn about the store and nary a mention of Christmas. I was surprised to see what I saw - that nothing really has changed, at least over the past several years. Holiday and Christmas were side by side.

First off, I wasn't greeted by someone saying 'seasons greetings' or 'happy holidays.' I wasn't greeted at all! Not that this really affects me. I'm there to do shopping, not socialize. So I make it past the first pagan barrier in this guantlet of secularism.

One of the first things we noticed was the cards section. We didn't discover the 'mass mailing' type of Christmas cards until later, but there was a good mention of Christmas in this section. Hannukah and a tiny bit of Kwanza too. There were 'Holidays' cards too, but hey, I don't care. First off, I'm not offended by having Christmas called a holiday. It is indeed a holy day. Also, there is more than one holiday during this season (January 1st, aka New Years Day and the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary). For most people these two holidays kinda run along side each other. Many adults take vacation time from work between the two in order to extend their, shall I say, holidays. I want them all to be happy, not just the 25th (I know there are 12 days of Christmas). A reference to holiday is just refering to Christmas as a type of day it is, a holiday. It's kinda like someone saying to me 'I heard your team won last week' vs. 'I heard Mississippi State beat Ole Miss last week' (which by the way happened. We smacked them around!). I don't get offended by either statement.

Well, we found a card while browsing, but we went back to get wrapping paper and stuff. There we ran into the tree display. No there was no mention of Christmas Trees, but neither was there a mention of Holiday Trees. There was no title for the display, just tags on each trea. Each one had a sort of neutral title. "10' fir tree" or "9' pine tree." Pretty standard display, and kinda sterile. No need to use extra printer ink at these cost cutting super stores. It's pretty obvious they're Christmas Trees, but if a Jew or anyone else wants to buy them, sure, let them. A lot of merchanidise at the store I can understand being labeled as 'Holiday,' as it can go from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years Day. No need to pigeonhole a product, right? I mean, if I found a neat wreath at the store and it say 'Thanksgiving Wreath' on it, my oh so logical mind would tell me to move on and find another. Granted I wouldn't put up my 'holiday wreath' on, say, the fourth of July or the Feast of the Assumption, but I know that holiday in this context means 'Holiday Season,' our one and a half month span of turkey, honey baked hams, and, my favorite, pumpkin pie. Needless to say, there were plenty of items in the decorations section that had Jesus, Mary, and the word Christmas on them. Not everything was Frosty and Santa.

The most ridiculous, or perhaps amusing is a better word for it, section, however, was the Christmas cards section. I can understand the generalized Holiday cards, as people send out their cards at various times, and it is quite handy if you're a procastinator like me. "No, I wasn't referring to Christmas in that card, it was New Years." However, my wife and I were looking for Christmas cards. It was an odd bag. There were cards that had non-religious fronts that mentioned Christmas in them, yet I found a card with a picture of St. Peter's Square and one with a Madonna and Child and both said 'Holiday' in them. We finally found a good card that mentioned Christmas. Perhaps the card writers were being anti-Catholic with the Vatican card saying that we place more importance on the Marian feast in our supposedly evil worshipping Mary as we worship God ways. I think that's it.

We finally got what we went there for, our present for the parish giving tree. At the register, I was suprised when instead of being asked to donate to GLAAD we were asked to donate to Toys for Tots. Just a dollar, the cashier asked. No salvation army kettles, but they have yet to come up with some other fundraising method at Target stores. Once we made it out of the store alive, we were sad to leave, as it was much warmer inside, with their heating and Christmas music that even mentioned Christmas and Jesus.

Granted, I do live in Alabama, one of the last places to catch onto politically correct concepts. It may be different where you live, but I imagine that the stores aren't going out of their ways to offend Christians. They have a lot of merchandise that they want to sell to whomever will buy it. However, if I asked someone where the Christmas Trees would point me towards them and skip the lecture about how they are holiday trees. It's not so much that the stores have changed, rather it is the advertisers who have reduced the mentioning of Christmas. Or perhaps it is that we're taking notice when the word 'Christmas' isn't next to tree in a few instances. Anyways, I'll keep shopping at stores and get over things. If someone comes up to me and wishes me 'seasons greetings,' I'll just say 'I hope you have a blessed advent season too.'

[Guest T-Bone]

I'd rather see our Virgin Mother with the word "Holiday" than a scantily clad blond with the word "Christmas"...

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

[quote name='T-Bone' date='Dec 1 2005, 03:22 AM']I'd rather see our Virgin Mother with the word "Holiday" than a scantily clad blond with the word "Christmas"...
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Perhaps you should stop doing your shopping at Spencers.

[Ash Wednesday]

The thing is -- whoever advocates this "politically correct" holiday garbage doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on reality. Most people think the PC "holiday" terminology is generic and stupid. It's all there just to appease a fraction of whiners in the population. Most people respect and acknowledge that as far as the West is concerned, the "big day" is Christmas. (And in some places, Hannukah. But the Jewish population in general don't seem to be throwing much of a stink about Christmas...)

It seems to me, the only time "holidays" was used earlier on was for simple convenience and matter of speaking -- you meant Christmas and the New Year (or Hannakuh, Christmas, and New Year)... it was just a way of saying it without mentioning them all in one breath, but not as a way of being "politically correct" and generically secular.





Honest question: does anybody know, or has anybody met, anyone that actually celebrates Kwanzaa?

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

I think the latest numbers show 2-3 million people in America celebrate Kwanzaa in some form. There are probably very few serious celebrators.

[jezic]

it doesn't bode well if they are starting to officially ignore Christmas

however here they do much the same thing as described in Alabama.

[beatty07]

That's a hilarious post!

I don't get all the freaking out and conspiracy theory about this...I mean they're just trying to figure out how to be hospitable to all their customers. I guess it's human nature to want to be a victim of a conspiracy.

A year ago we would have laughed if the Jewish Anti-Defamation League called for a boycott of every store that doesn't prominently and publicly recognize Hannukah, or Passover, or the Day of Atonement.

[Matty_boy]

Did the numbers about Kawanza come from the NAACP or the Rainbow Push?

Another reason to not shop a Target is someone told me it's a French company. I guess its the only part of the country that hasn't been burned.

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

[quote name='Matty_boy' date='Dec 2 2005, 11:03 AM']Did the numbers about Kawanza come from the NAACP or the Rainbow Push? 

Another reason to not shop a Target is someone told me it's a French company.  I guess its the only part of the country that hasn't been burned.
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I think the numbers come from retailers tracking who buys Kwanzaa stuff.

Target is not a French company. It is an American publicly traded company. Most rumors about the company are false.

[Jaime]

I've mentioned this before but its worth repeating. Target is one of the most philanthropic companies in the US. Its not just with dollars, it is also with time and sweat equity too.

Internally within the corporation, they are encouraged to be very proactive in employee donations as well.

[Sojourner]

Plus Target has cool stuff that won't break the bank.

[Jaime]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Dec 2 2005, 11:23 AM']Plus Target has cool stuff that won't break the bank.
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I don't know about that Abby. I bought a waffle iron there. As I was pulling it out of the box, it slipped and landed on my ceramic cow bank.


It wasn't pretty.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='hot stuff' date='Dec 2 2005, 11:27 AM']I don't know about that Abby.  I bought a waffle iron there.  As I was pulling it out of the box, it slipped and landed on my ceramic cow bank. 
It wasn't pretty.
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Don't put your klutziness off on the innocent Target products!

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

[quote name='hot stuff' date='Dec 2 2005, 11:27 AM']I don't know about that Abby.  I bought a waffle iron there.  As I was pulling it out of the box, it slipped and landed on my ceramic cow bank. 
It wasn't pretty.
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Well, if you had bought the waffle iron at walmart both the waffle iron would have broken as well.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='1337 k4th0l1x0r' date='Dec 2 2005, 01:32 PM']Well, if you had bought the waffle iron at walmart both the waffle iron would have broken as well.
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Good point.

Ironically enough, I just got a forward from a friend of mine about the boycott on Target et. al. for "banning Christmas" from their holiday advertising.

Target's also apparently on the hot seat because of the bell-ringer ban -- no Salvation Army bell ringers allowed. Personally, I applaud that decision. I like not having to feel guilty about not parting with cash every time I go grocery shopping in December.