Mall of Shame

Posted by Larry Miller on December 10, 2009 under How, Why | Be the First to Comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are well aware that we are full swing into the Christmas shopping season. This is the season that puts dollars in the pockets of online as well as brick and mortar stores. This is the season that determines the success or failure of most retail establishments. This is the time of year when many people find seasonal employment to help themselves and their families through the expensive holiday season. Yet… many of these who not only benefit, but survive based on the results of their efforts this time of year make a concerted effort to disregard the real reason we celebrate this time of year.

Schools have long since fallen into the politically corrupt mindset of calling the Christmas Holiday the Winter Break. They are so afraid of offending a few Christ deniers that they disregard the majority who actually understand why we celebrate the Christmas holiday.

In a recent non-scientific study by John Stossel, recently of the state run media, currently with FoxNews found that some stores are more Christmas friendly than others. In some ways their approach to the holiday season reflected their perceived or desired market… something we may want to consider when passing out our gift-giving dollars.

Stores like Bass Pro Shops and Cabella’s that serve outdoorsmen and their families along with other family oriented retailers like Sears, K-mart and Lands End showed the greatest “Christmas spirit”. While others, endeavoring to be cool or hip shied away from recognizing the reason people were flocking through their doors to pick up holiday loot. Among the worst of these were Old Navy, Gap, American Eagle, Best Buy and Banana Republic. They are choosing who they wish to deal with… and it isn’t most of us!

This is nothing new, and traditional Americans and Christians have been whining about this for years. Because nobody likes whiners, perhaps we need to take another approach this time around. The tea parties have shown us that louder, more aggressive approaches are achieving more than patient, respectful dissent, which is ridiculed, and worse yet, ignored. For many of us, this is not part of our makeup… it’s not the way we operate. We would never pick up a whip, over turn tables and physically throw money changers from the temple… something the man whose birth we are celebrating felt compelled to do when he saw the holiness of His father’s house being disrespected.

I’m not advocating tearing up stores and schools. However, the businesses and schools turning their back on the real reason we celebrate Christmas need to understand that showing this disrespect for the birth of Jesus is unacceptable to a significant segment of the US population.

Obviously we need to watch where we spend our money. Making sure to wish each happy holiday wishing clerk a hearty “Merry Christmas”… then tracking down the manager and letting him know about your disappointment. They may not care, but they will never know how you and others around you feel about their clerk’s greeting.

Then again, you could have some fun with PC retailers. Check out the Certificate of Shame, available at http://bizy.be/yYuJf, that we’ve put together for you to carry when you brave the crowds at the mall, or strip shopping centers, or wherever you happen to be spending your hard earned money. Store managers love to receive this recognition. You may even want to take some tape and put one outside the shop if they give you the “Happy Holidays” greeting as a matter of company policy. Corporate headquarters also enjoy receiving them.

While we are on the topic of tweaking the Christmas deniers, the ACLU enjoys receiving cards from those of us who enjoy and celebrate the season. Their address is 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004.

We just need to keep it light and happy… like the season. We are not looking to make enemies, just a point. The point is that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. It’s purpose is not to enrich retailers, travel agents, or purveyors of fine food. These things are nice, but not the central point. We can’t forget that… and we are doing no one a service by letting them forget it.

Quietly accepting this sanitized expression is going along with the push by our “betters” to squeeze religion in general and Christianity in particular from the public forum. It’s our tendency to see everything as a series of isolated incidents that often keeps us seeing patterns and the big picture. So, every time we stand up for what is right we push back the darkness a little further, or at least hinder its forward motion.