You're a Mean One, Grinch Alert

[paft.livejournal.com]

Robert Jeffress:

Well, you know every year people bemoan the War on Christmas and I thought, “Let’s do something positive about it,” so we created this website, Grinchalert.com, it allows people to go on our website and, uh, if they’ve encountered a business that shuns Christmas they can talk about it and put that business on the naughty list but if they find a business that celebrates Christmas, they can put that business on the nice list. It’s just a fun way to say to businesses and organizations, “You don’t have to bow to political correctness. It’s okay to say, “Merry Christmas…”

John Roberts: What if businesses who are on the naughty list lose customers?... Would it be a good idea to affect people’s business at this season, which can be make or break for some people, and in this economic climate?

Jeffress: John, let me make it clear, we have never even hinted at a boycott…

"Never even hinted at a boycott?" Really? Here’s what Jeffress said on Fox:

Jeffress: One great example in the Dallas area, there was a bank that took down a Christmas tree because they said it would offend customers. Well, there was another bank that got put on our nice list, the Providence Bank, because they put up a nativity scene. The CEO told me yesterday that there were customers changing from the bank that removed the Christmas tree, and they’re flocking to his bank.

Gretchen Carlson: You are not calling for a boycott of any of these businesses….

Jeffress: Oh, not at all, not in any way! You know, there’s a Mexican restaurant you mentioned that was saying Happy Holidays, but our family still goes there every week…

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

So it’s all about reassuring businesses. Honest! It’s all about making them feel nice and safe. He’s not advocating a boycott.

But he’s delighted to share as an example that little story of a bank losing customers because they took down a Christmas tree.

See, here's what mystifies me about this... Jeffress likes the idea of forcing other people and businesses to utter "Merry Christmas" and post signs saying "Merry Christmas" who are uncomfortable doing it. Do the people at "Grinch Alert" really imagine that businesses and retailers intimidated into towing Grinch Alert's line are acting in the spirit of the season?

And here's one more video, especially for the Reverend Mr. Jeffress:

Thanx to Juliebogen

Crossposted at Thoughtcrimes

Comments

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Personally? Not yet. But last week, my mother and I saw someone yell at a Salvation Army bell ringer outside WalMart for saying 'Merry Christmas'.

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

Maybe this will sound like moving the goalposts, but how could we factor in the random nut to the equation of whether or not there is a significant outcry of people trying to stop other people from personally choosing to say Merry Christmas?

Since this whole thing started, it's been my perspective that there are more people getting pissed about "Happy Holiday" than there are "Merry Christmas." So I'm really skeptical of the contrary.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

I don't know, how about the fact that people lose their jobs over saying 'Merry Christmas' to someone? In the Philippines right now, the phrase is completely banned. If people didn't get bent out of shape about it, businesses would never have had to change their policies.

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

Did private businesses have to change their policies, though? Who made them?

What are the cases where people lost their jobs for saying "Merry Christmas"?

Banned in the Phillipines? Are you referring to this (http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2010/12/philippines-merry-christmas-airports/133898/1)? Because, if the article tells true, it's not really a support of your case; it's something else.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

I personally remember several years ago that it was no problem to say 'Merry Christmas'. For the past 10 years or so, that's changed.

You want me to name specific cases? Try using Google. I know of one specifically last year at either CVS or Rite-Aid. Other than that, I can't name specific cases.

Yes, that's the one I'm referring to and it's STILL ridiculous. How hard is it for someone to say 'No tip'?

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

In what way has it changed, though? is my point. There's a lot of statements claiming that it's a problem - and not just in a handful of isolated cases, because come on, you're always going to have people being jerks over one thing or another - but I'm questioning that.

It's on you to support your point, though. If you're not aware of actual cases or at least have an idea of the frequency with which these squabbles occur, how do you know it's actually a problem?

I'd imagine it's enough of a problem in the Phillipines that it's disrupting their business if they felt it necessary to make that policy. Correct me if I misinterpret, but it seems like you're trying to claim that that restriction has to do with an attempt at "political correctness," and, as the article says, it has absolutely nothing to do with that.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

I'm not aware of every single case, but I've heard of cases being reported since 2007. The media doesn't report every single one, and the pharmacy one I told you about was local to NY state.

The issue in the Philippines technically is a political correctness issue and apparently, people can't tell the difference between a child saying the phrase and an adult. And before you say anything, yes, I read the part about bribes. Again, it's not that hard for someone to say they can't accept tips.

[new-wave-witch.livejournal.com]

Oh no I understand that. What I meant to say was, I've heard of a few cases but it's nothing that says to me that it's a large, far-stretching problem, that people are demanding Christmas be stricken from the December line-up far and wide; from my perspective, it's more like a handful of jerks being jerks and those few instances are propped up as glaring examples of a greater problem. Like I remember hearing about a school whose pageant included every December holiday except Christmas. That's shitty, but that isolated incident doesn't make it an example of a problem the magnitude of which a lot of people think it is.

How does that make it a political correctness issue? Maybe it's a problem you or I can't make that judgement on, assuming you've also never been in a Phillipines airport. Honestly, knowing how passionate a lot of sects of Filipino Christians and how much it relates to their whole culture, I find that take on the policy to be pretty far-fetched.