Annoyances

[Tommy]

Right, but the point is that those campaigns do absolutely nothing to impact anyone's celebration of Christmas.  I freaking love Christmas, but not getting a coffee cup that says Christmas doesn't impact that.  Having a cashier say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas does nothing to stop that.  They still sell Christmas stuff everywhere (and earlier and earlier every year).  They play Christmas music everywhere.  The world revolves around Christmas for almost 2 months, but these people are so pissed off and hateful because it's not stated explicitly any more.  The more legitimate complaint is that you have segments of the population who are completely excluded from massive cultural touchstones for a solid 6 weeks.  It honestly does suck for Jewish kids etc.  Personally, I don't think that's a good reason to take away the emphasis on Christmas, but that's not actually happening anyway.

Maybe that's the problem. Some groups look at Christmas as some Christian-only cultural tradition, where it has become a very American tradition in its own right. The Christmas tree, presents, all the decorations, etc. Everything except for the overtly religious songs. Hell, it's become one of our biggest cultural imports. Christmas has become a popular thing in Asia, as I mentioned before, where they imported exactly zero of the religious parts of. You're allowed to enjoy Christmas without the religious undertones. No one who is an American should feel excluded because it's absolutely more of an American tradition than simply a Christian one.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

Maybe that's the problem. Some groups look at Christmas as some Christian-only cultural tradition, where it has become a very American tradition in its own right. The Christmas tree, presents, all the decorations, etc. Everything except for the overtly religious songs. Hell, it's become one of our biggest cultural imports. Christmas has become a popular thing in Asia, as I mentioned before, where they imported exactly zero of the religious parts of. You're allowed to enjoy Christmas without the religious undertones. No one who is an American should feel excluded because it's absolutely more of an American tradition than simply a Christian one.

I think you mean it's more secular than simply Christian.  I can't imagine that you actually think Christmas is an American thing.  It's universal, and most of the countries that celebrate it without sizable Christian populations do so because of prior European colonialism, not because they want to be American.  They also generally don't have other winter holidays that conflict with it.  You're asking people like the Jews to just forget the origins of Christmas and get on board when they already have Hanukkah. 

BTW, the tree is pagan in origin.  Not American.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

Here's the latest volley in Starbucks' assault on Christmas:



Those bastards are trying to get rid of the holiday!

[Badger]

Let's not pretend we don't live in a time in this country where it makes more sense to pee off the Christian Right rather than face the wrath of the vocal minority.

But they weren't facing any wrath from anyone. It's not like the cups were emblazoned with Washington Redskins logos.

[Badger]

I had a Korean friend in elementary school who said he didn't celebrate Halloween because his family wasn't Christian. Even 9 year old me thought that was a load of bullshit. I think his mom just didn't want him to have candy.

[Badger]

[Ignatius J Reilly]

I had a Korean friend in elementary school who said he didn't celebrate Halloween because his family wasn't Christian. Even 9 year old me thought that was a load of bullshit. I think his mom just didn't want him to have candy.

I knew an Indian kid who didn't celebrate Christmas because he was Jehovah's Witness.  He was the only Jehovah's Witness I knew for years, so I grew up thinking it was some Indian religion.

[AlioTheFool]

It came from Kos (which I had never actually visited until yesterday) but someone linked it on Twitter so I looked. It appears that the person who started the entire "Red cup assault on Christmas" thing is actually a con man drumming up publicity and false ire.

It makes sense. Any Christian I know thought the entire thing was stupid. No one I've spoken identified with the supposedly "outraged." It's just a small group of idiots who latched onto an poopchute.

On Halloween, my mother-in-law's neighbor put a sign on the door that said "Do not knock. We do not celebrate Halloween. We are Christians." We were tempted to leave a flaming bag of excrement on the doorstep and ring-and-run.

[SixFeetDeep]

(Source) The frenzy over Starbucks use of generic red cups for the holiday season without a direct ode to Christmas began with a video rant from a self-described “disciple of Jesus” and now the latest hero of the anti-political correctness crowd. But Josh Feuerstein has been at this for years, posting hundreds of videos of himself screaming mini-sermons into his Iphone camera. While he has almost 2 million followers on Facebook, (it’s not clear how many of those became fans after the Starbucks takedown went viral) most people had no idea who Feuerstein was before this week. It’s also unclear whether any notable Christian groups have joined his boycott, and some are vocally opposing it.

Feuerstein has long been on the radar of liberal groups, as the left-leaning Web site Daily Kos, detailed in an article Tuesday. They  first learned of him when he recorded himself calling a Florida bakery to order a cake with the message: “We Do Not Support Gay Marriage.” When the bakery refused to fill the order, he and his followers cried discrimination and harassed the small business until it was forced to temporarily close.

Feuerstein told The Washington Post in an e-mail that he’s preparing a libel suit against the Daily Kos. He was unavailable to comment further at publication time. Feuerstein’s often incendiary views are part of his whole public persona. Appearing on CNN Monday, he says America is a Christian nation because why else would “Obama have to pretend to be one to get elected?” The other guest on the segment, Pete Dominick, a talk radio host, attacked Feuerstein as a “entrepreneurial bigot.”

[Miamipuck]

So a Jew, albeit a converted one, is causing an Xmas shitstorm. I never would have guessed that.

[bojanglesman]

People that end every sentence they type with multiple exclamation points.  Most of what you say isn't important, so there's no need to end every sentence as if someone has a bomb.  Tends to crop up on facebook most of the time.  Not quite as annoying as people that type in all caps, but it's getting there.

[AlioTheFool]

People that end every sentence they type with multiple exclamation points.  Most of what you say isn't important, so there's no need to end every sentence as if someone has a bomb.  Tends to crop up on facebook most of the time.  Not quite as annoying as people that type in all caps, but it's getting there.

I KNOW RIGHT!?!?!!!!!!!!

[Fenwyr]

I KNOW RIGHT!?!?!!!!!!!!

BEAT ME TO IT!!!!!

[guinness77]

This is what we've come to, huh?

Sign on the NJ Transit level at Penn Station. The green people (the ones who are looking around and being attentive) are supposed to look out for the red person (clearly giving no fucks where they're heading) who's face in their stupid phone.

That's the way this goes now, huh? Unfuckingbelievable.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

Lol woooooow