As far as the whole “happy holidays” shopping debate (I had no idea it was such an issue, but apparently the creepy “American Family Association” is freaking out over it) goes, I like what the editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has to say–MERRY, MERRY … WHATEVER:
Perhaps the oddest thing about this cultural imbroglio is the insistence by some Christian purists that stores — palaces of consumerism — should observe the season with declarations of “Merry Christmas!” The weeks-long orgy of buying that begins around Thanksgiving and ends, mercifully, with the new year celebrates consumption, selfishness and excess — a time when Christians turn the other check. This is probably not what Jesus would do.
There is nothing in the Gospels about battling other parents for the last Xbox 360 or knocking down other shoppers to get to discounted personal computers. There are no Christmas sales in the New Testament, nor is there instruction on returning the items you didn’t like. There are no guidelines on the dubious practice of “re-gifting.” (If you look closely, however, you can probably find admonitions against cursing out the motorist who got to that one empty parking space before you.)
The AFA’s boycott on Target makes me want to shop there exclusively (oh, wait. I already do!). As for their boycott on Wal-Mart–I already do boycott Wal-Mart but it is for sins I find truly egregious (like treating their employees like crap and refusing to sell certain forms of birth control to women).
What is wrong with a country (where the right to free speech is a cornerstone) that people would boycott businesses over what they say as opposed to what they do? I’m baffled.
myfanwy collins 