I was about to write a blog entry about how completely RIDICULOUS Bill O'Reilly/Sean Hannity and the American Family Association have been with this call on Americans to boycott The GAP family of companies because of the completely made up "War on Christmas." But, when I looked around on the internet to fill myself in on all the facts, I realized my blog entry had already been written by the LA. Times.
CLICK HERE TO READ.
The article makes excellent points. Like:
- You can't ask for a boycott of The GAP for not using the word "Christmas" in its holiday advertising, mostly because it DOES use the word Christmas in its holiday advertising--and it sells Christmas-specific merchandise.
- Even if The GAP didn't use the word Christmas, they would be doing so out of a desire to be inclusive and respectful of ALL the December holidays (including, but not limited to Christmas). Don't ask for respect for your own religion when you have no respect for others.
- The AFA called for this boycott BEFORE The GAP released its holiday ads. So . . . it really wasn't about The GAP at all. It was about getting your fake agenda some publicity.
I understand that, among Christian faiths, proselytizing is an important aspect of their faith. But so is respect. Why does that, so often, get lost?
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7 Robot Reactions:
I love it when I can get other people to do my research for me. Next time I get one of those annoying emails about how people don't say Merry Christmas anymore, and all that other crap, I'll just send them here.
Interesting Post Sparklebot. I was genuinely shocked to learn people are hot and bothered about this ad. I think its catchy and designed to advertise clothes. Which is exactly what Gap sells. It never occurred to me that people can find this offensive. Then again, I am a pagan :)
Ultimately, we still should boycott The Gap.
1) their clothes suck
2) they are trying to make everyone the same along with all the other globalization goodness that I'm working to accomplish via advertising/marketing. Soon we will be the same religion. Our sacrament/passover/etc will be Big Macs, our sermons will be podcasts via iPhone and our religious clothing will be the same jeans and striped shirts Gap has been selling since I was 14. Other religions would be lucky if Gap stuck to Christianity only...spare the rest of the religious world.
Okay, what I wrote is stupid...but I thought about eating Big Mac's on Sundays in church and it was a fun fantasy.
I think the holiday season would be much happier without bitter old men trying to make us feel guilty for being tolerant of other religions. I mean....what would Jesus, Horus, Krishna, Baal, Thor, Wayne Rooney (you get the idea) do??
My favorite line in the article is the well-placed fruitcake reference. But I also love when the AFA contact notes that "Christmas has historically been very good for commerce." Shouldn't the people claiming the rights for Christmas acknowledgment fight for what Christmas should really be about? Or are they really pissed because Christmas is now ONLY about commerce and they don't want to get left out...
And TroubleTron, you forgot to mention my favorite deity - The Flying Spaghetti Monster. So I'm putting a fatwa on this blog for two months.
respect is not as much fun as forced conformity, nor is it as marketable.
I work retail. On my Monday store manager conference call, we actually had to have a 20 minute discussion on whether or not to say, Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays. DUMB
I say let's boycott the boycotters.
also, I don't think any Deity would approve of making people miss their sleep in order to open at 4:00am, or 9:00pm Thanksgiving day.
Did I miss something, or isn't Side of Jeffrey part of the advertising cabal he lampoons? Didn't he dress in a Target bag once and allow the photo to be posted on the Internet? Do his in-laws know about that picture? Should they?
I think the Gap is run by Communists. That's why we should boycott the company. It's the Domino theory; the Communists just stopped taking over countries and turned their attention to companies.
Seriously, right-thinking people need something to focus their aggression on, and with Communism gone (or, in the case of China, working overtime to manufacture our consumer goods), the haters have turned to various forms of godlessness. I welcome their efforts. The crazier they are, the less people care.
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