It is only early November but already there is a different feel to this Christmas season. Instead of localized battles over Christmas we are seeing for the first time widespread discontent and outrage over the common battles of Christmas and political correctness now especially associated with it.
We reported on the flap over Starbuck’s 2015 Christmas cups the other day. That report centered on a conservative news site claiming the cup was a statement of political correctness and a slap against Christmas. We disagreed in giving Starbucks the benefit of the doubt and, like us, most gave Starbucks a pass.
Then Starbucks stepped in it. In a published statement an official said “Starbucks has become a place of sanctuary during the holidays. We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it. It’s [a] more open way to usher in the holiday.”
And then the Internet erupted and well it should have. Starbucks a sanctuary? Wow, is that self important. They are a coffee bar. That is all. But even worse is the sentiment that their cups are somehow making the world more inclusive. Starbucks is promoting a political agenda, just as the original news story reported. There’s no other way to say it.
The outrage has been unprecedented in the annals of the war on Christmas.
But for as widespread as that was a whole new bizarre situation erupted when a mall in North Carolina erected a new home for their Santa Claus absent of any sign of Christmas. Calling it “the Santa glacier experience” the new set had Santa sitting inside of what one television reporter called “that spaceship looking thing”. Shoppers remembered all to well the same spot in the mall where last year a towering Christmas tree dominated the mall space — and they were outraged. One even took the complaint with his kids to Youtube and song:
The situation worsened when another mall in New York featured the same set. The outcry there was enough to get the attention of local media and that story lit the fuse on Twitter and Facebook. Both malls played defense by claiming the display was not yet complete — and they quickly erected a couple of small pre-lit trees in a weekend attempt to quell the backlash.
Most responding to the bizarre Santa set up that the malls are pushing as “fresh and exciting” have not learned that really the display is a backdrop for a new revenue source. In these malls one needs an appointment to see Santa and in many places a pre-purchased photo package costing upwards of $75 is required for “the experience”. One shopper in Chicago took her outrage about it to the media.
Are people waking up to the fact that the war on Christmas is really a war on their way of life? It would appear so.