Christmas Off Target?

When discussing Christmas shopping with my mother over the Thanksgiving holiday, a little spat ensued when I learned that she is boycotting Target because of an e-mail she received. Countless people get these forwarded messages, many of which are bogus. Snopes does a good job demystifying these things, as they did for this issue.

It seems Target has ceased to use the word "Christmas" in their promotional materials in favor of recognizing the "holiday." Last time I checked, everyone was bemoaning the overly commercial nature of the Christmas holiday. Now that Target isn't playing the word "Christmas," people are angry about that. If they just totally ignored the holiday season entirely, would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

I find it frightening that the religious crowd never circulates an e-mail of outrage over the gross injustices in the world but calls for a boycott over what a store decides to put in their sales circular.

Target's line? It makes sense. They don't want to alienate. They want to allow everyone to celebrate in their own way. Kwanza, Hanukkah, Solstice? Come on in! It is a pretty weak Christian that thinks that Target has any impact on how they enjoy the holiday, or that the presence of the word "Christmas" is somehow going to change the minds of the general public.

Target also faced some heat for not compromising their solicitation policy to allow Salvation Army bell ringers outside their doors. What many fail to realize is that allowing Salvation Army to place solicitors outside of the store makes the company's stance against this type of behavior essentially meaningless. What kind of heat will the company face when another charity wants to do the same thing?

Good for Target, I say. God bless them.