This is a blog post I should not be writing, but my brain needs to take a break.
I have really had less than no patience with this whole War On Christmas business for the last couple of years. Over on Facebook I have gotten a slap dozen requests asking me to join this or that Keep Christ In Christmas group. Like a Facebook group can dictate the comings and goings of Christ.
The whole thing has seemed to me to be yet another pool table situation where some folks are manufacturing outrage to sell books.
But then tonight I sat down to watch a movie on OnDemand with my fellows. While we were flipping through the offerings in search of something watchable (seriously, Cable, can’t you do better with the selection?) the nattering heads in the upper right hand corner were going on about the Holiday Movies on offer. And it suddenly struck me.
It would be nice to hear someone say “Christmas” once in awhile. Of course the movies themselves had “Christmas” in the title in many cases. But the wrap-around patter was all about Holidays. I know the writers are really just trying to be all-inclusive, and I do like the notion of this time of year being so festive that we acknowledge there are several holidays going on. I just wouldn’t mind if I could see signs in stores that actually said what the Holidays were. You know–“Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Good Kwanza”, that kind of thing.
And then there’s that GAP commercial, which is another story altogether. I didn’t realise until just now when I searched for a link that other people were ticked off about it, too. That’s what I get for having TiVo and not actually seeing the commercial until today.
It’s just rude. Downright smack-an-old-lady-in-the-face, kick-your-son-in-the-junk RUDE.
As a libertarian I actually get behind the basic message behind it, which is that everyone keeps the holidays in his own way, whether you’re Ebenezer, Fred or observing another holiday altogether.
But to many people–granted not all, but many–those holidays are sacred times. Regardless of its origins as a pagan festival, Christmas has become one of the most precious times in the life cycle of a Christian. It is when we acknowledge the awesome light and humbling humility of God’s sacrifice in the attempt to reclaim the soul of man.
The Gap Ad seemed to shout at me from the TV “Get out of here with your Christmas. It isn’t special. It isn’t anything. We don’t care about it any more than we care about plastic trees.”
The writers may not have meant that, but it’s hard to not have a visceral reaction when a bunch of people in clashy clothes are yelling “Go, Christmas” at you. They can claim it’s a version of “yay, Christmas” but to me it sounds an awful lot like “Christmas, Begone.”
Especially since the rest of the commercial talks about 86ing the rules and doing what you feel. Now don’t get me wrong. If you don’t want to be a Christian, then don’t. It’s your business. But Christianity is not about “doing what feels right” and “86ing the rules.” It’s really a slap in the face to talk about celebrating the birth of the man who said “turn the other cheek” by downtalking the essence of that message.
It’s kind of like bringing a ham to Hannukah or celebrating Kwanza with a mock slave auction.
And I’ve now written 577 words of this, which really should have been in my novel. I have 24 hours left. Why am I wasting it on Gap commercials?
UPDATE: We were talking about it in the comments. So I figured I’d put it here. I still think it’s a joke. It has to be. They can’t be serious. Can they?
Just Another Pretty Farce 
I don’t think I’ve seen the Gap ad. But last night I was privy to the ad encouraging men to schedule their sweetie a pap smear for Hannukah. I almost dropped my cocktail.
Was that one for real, Beth? My husband saw it and told me but I didn’t believe it.
Yeah, I saw the pap “schmear” ad. I wondered if I was the only one who thought it was tacky.
Haven’t seen the Gap ad and don’t plan to go searching for it.
Isn’t it just a sign of the times that there’s a major commercial airing repeatedly that many of us haven’t seen? Paradigms are definitely shifting.
I hadn’t even heard of the pap smear one.
It sounds like an SNL joke, really.
I don’t like that Gap commercial, not because its message but because it’s incredibly annoying.
What I don’t appreciate though is the implication (not from you necessarily) that to acknowledge that there are other holidays celebrated at this time of year means that you’re somehow anti-Christmas or anti-Christianity. I walked into a store in St. Louis a few weeks ago to see a large display of Hanukkah decorations amid the aisles of Christmas decorations, something you DEFINITELY wouldn’t see in Nashville, and I really appreciated it.
that to acknowledge that there are other holidays celebrated at this time of year means that you’re somehow anti-Christmas or anti-Christianity.
Oh, I don’t think that AT ALL.
I know that some do, but I like holidays. I’m a big fan of The Holiday in general, even if it’s one I don’t celebrate. I’m not sure why. I think I just like being reminded of times when people set the ordinary aside to join in something special.
I think that may also be another reason I hate that Gap ad. It makes ALL the holidays seem very bland and unspecial by turning them into yet another “Do what you feel like doing today” thing.
It refuses to honour the specialness.
I’d frankly rather they had done a Hannukah ad or a Kwanza ad or an ad that purely recognised ONE of the holidays as special. That’d be better than just dumping them all in a plaid bin and shouting about how they’re just…meh.
Agree with Goldni that the commercial’s main offense is being annoying. Damned High School Musical – die already!
As for the message, it doesn’t bother me. A couple of years ago, I made peace with the idea that, along with the other holidays you mentioned, there are actually two December 25th holidays: Christmas, the Christian religious holiday, and Consumer Day, the secular celebration of the American economy.
The Gap ad is in perfect harmony with Consumer Day.
Goldni – were you aware that the Bellevue Kroger has prominently featured Hanukkah and Passover displays in their respective seasons at the store entrance for the last few years?
Slarti, while I agree with you in the main…and I myself enjoy many aspects of Consumer Day…there is still no need for Consumer Day to act like it’s better than all the other holidays.
Slarti, what I’m aware of is a few years ago when the Bellevue Publix put up a big matzoh display on Rosh Hashanah and then explained to my mother, after she quietly pointed out the mistake, that there might be other kinds of Jews who eat matzoh on other holidays besides Passover.
the pap “schmear” ad
What!!!!!?! They said “schmear” for “smear”? I … I think I don’t ever want to eat again. Anything. Ever. Barry did not tell me that, probably to save me from this fate.
I haven’t seen the Gap ad, don’t want to, probably will eventually. But … I have to say that Nashville is the only place I’ve ever lived where people got mad at me when I said (only in response to a question) that I don’t put up a Christmas tree, or don’t celebrate the holiday, or whatever. I’ve even been told that I ought to put up and decorate a tree even if I’m not Christian, because it isn’t just for Christians to do; it’s for everyone. Needless to say, Nashville is the first place I’ve lived where I’ve started getting silently mad at people for wishing me a Merry Christmas. Context is everything.
I’ve even been told that I ought to put up and decorate a tree even if I’m not Christian, because it isn’t just for Christians to do; it’s for everyone.
Really?
Did I say that?? It sounds like the exact kind of foolish thing I would say when I’m really beyond tired. Like right now.
I can’t believe some people…including the tired version of myself.
You? No. If it had been you, I would have said, “Kat, WTF?” and we would have discussed it and doubtless have resolved the matter. No, this was someone else altogether, not a close enough friend to have hoped that WFT would lead to clarification. Just someone who thought that what I did was her business and that my reasons for doing it were properly subordinate to her dislike of noticing that some people were different from her.
Just someone who thought that what I did was her business and that my reasons for doing it were properly subordinate to her dislike of noticing that some people were different from her.
That seems to be a rather common affliction in Nashville.
FWIW…things I’ve gotten crap for since moving here:
1. Never cutting my hair (it was a religious thing)
2. Never wearing makeup
3. Not drinking alcohol.
4. Not going to a Church of Christ church
5. Not listening to Country music.
6. Not eating catfish.
None of those is as glaring as yours, but I still think there must be a large segment of the population who finds differences in others highly discomfiting.
It prolly happens everywhere and I’m just blaming N’ville because this is where I’ve lived for the last 19 years.
If it had been you, I would have said, “Kat, WTF?”
Yeah, because it really probably isn’t something I truly would say. But if I ever do say something like that you have my permission to deck me.
::I am so freaking tired. Why am I not asleep?? I blame the momentum.::
You’re not asleep because … are you finished finished with the novel, or just finished with the word count? I bet you’re not asleep because your mind is still busy finishing things off. Congratulations, BTW. When do we see it?
And in my experience Nashville is worse than St. Louis or the NYC area in this one question of stamping out difference; other places have their own areas of conformity.
Oh, and I’ll give you crap for not listening to country music any time you like. Just ask. I’m an expert, having had 20 years of catching crap for listening to it in and around NYC. It’s, um, one of the areas of conformity there.
Oh, I’m only finished with the word count. I’m a bit mad because the words I wrote from Saturday on will probably all be pulled and filed as “backstory”. But I keep telling myself the goal was to write them…they didn’t have to be good.
You’re right in that my brain is still processing the actual story. I’ve given myself another three months to finish it and turn it into a real novel worthy of readership.
Oh, and I’ll give you crap for not listening to country music any time you like.
I probably deserve it. I still feel like an idiot for not knowing there was more than one Jimmie Rodgers. (which I have probably just misspelled.)
Every time I try to get involved with country music I feel like I’m crashing someone else’s family reunion. It seems too late in my life to wrap my mind around all the tangled relationships. I just stick to Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash with a little Dolly Parton thrown in.
Annnnnd….I just watched the pap schmeer commercial.
As odd as their choice of message is in many ways, I’m still dumbfounded that CBS thinks women can’t schedule their own damned doctors’ appointments.
Hehe, Kat. There’s only one Country Jimmie Rodgers – the Father of Country Music from Meridian 🙂
The other’s just some no-name pop singer. 😆
Definitely puts one off bagels for a good long time. *blech*
When one considers that Jewish women have an unusually low rate of incidence of cervical cancer, one wonders about that spot all the more.
in the pap smear commercial, I read the “CBS Cares” url (cbscares.tv) as “CBS Scares” at first. And in this instance, I think it’d be more appropriate.
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