Sunday, November 12, 2006
Fun with Bill O'Reilly
The conservative pundit has made it on national news yet again. But not of his own merit, or action. No, but like most of the time, hinged on someone else's action that he just comments so inanely on.
So Wal-Mart has decided to take away the generic "Happy Holidays" in favor of Christmas. Their "Holiday Shop" is now a "Christmas Shop." How does this make one of the nation's largest retailers' patrons feel?
According to the new here in New York, most people don't mind, but then again, when have you ever gotten a lot of input into a 20 second slot? Especially when Mr. O'Reilly hogs it all up.
His quote (paraphrased because I can't find it anywhere) - Over 80 percent of the American population identifies themselves as Christians and over 90 percent celebrate Christmas. So really, not that many people don't celebrate Christmas.
Um...ok. As ridiculous as it first sounds, his statements are supported by data (see Pew Research Council's data here from 2002). Other data on the same website shows self-identified Christians making up between 76 and 86 percent of the American population. True, many Americans, regardless of religion, have adopted the commercial version of Christmas.
Wal-Mart has, however, not instructed their employees to greet every patron with "Merry Christmas." Instead, it says that each employee can greet the customer with whatever greeting they deem appropriate based on the customer. OUCH. That goes into very scary territory. It now puts the judgement of whether to say "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hannukah" or "Happy Kwanzaa" (and any other December holiday greetings) on the shoulders of the greeters themselves. How will they decide? What if they get it wrong?
Chances are, most will stick to a generic "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." Yes, a few words are harmless enough if you understand that the person greeting you has greeted hundreds of other customers that day.
Welcome back, Christmas.
So Wal-Mart has decided to take away the generic "Happy Holidays" in favor of Christmas. Their "Holiday Shop" is now a "Christmas Shop." How does this make one of the nation's largest retailers' patrons feel?
According to the new here in New York, most people don't mind, but then again, when have you ever gotten a lot of input into a 20 second slot? Especially when Mr. O'Reilly hogs it all up.
His quote (paraphrased because I can't find it anywhere) - Over 80 percent of the American population identifies themselves as Christians and over 90 percent celebrate Christmas. So really, not that many people don't celebrate Christmas.
Um...ok. As ridiculous as it first sounds, his statements are supported by data (see Pew Research Council's data here from 2002). Other data on the same website shows self-identified Christians making up between 76 and 86 percent of the American population. True, many Americans, regardless of religion, have adopted the commercial version of Christmas.
Wal-Mart has, however, not instructed their employees to greet every patron with "Merry Christmas." Instead, it says that each employee can greet the customer with whatever greeting they deem appropriate based on the customer. OUCH. That goes into very scary territory. It now puts the judgement of whether to say "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hannukah" or "Happy Kwanzaa" (and any other December holiday greetings) on the shoulders of the greeters themselves. How will they decide? What if they get it wrong?
Chances are, most will stick to a generic "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." Yes, a few words are harmless enough if you understand that the person greeting you has greeted hundreds of other customers that day.
Welcome back, Christmas.
# posted by ange : 10:31 AM
Comments:
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but how does this 90% 'celebrate'? i do holiday shopping and give gifts, but i don't consider myself to be celebrating christmas.
the bit on wal-mart's customer tailored greetings is hilarious. we should go and 'dress up'. as ourselves (asian), wearing a burka, a yarmaluke (altho i think only men wear those...), and as an amish person, etc, and see wat responses we get.
the bit on wal-mart's customer tailored greetings is hilarious. we should go and 'dress up'. as ourselves (asian), wearing a burka, a yarmaluke (altho i think only men wear those...), and as an amish person, etc, and see wat responses we get.
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