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crazypipe

Lifer
Sep 23, 2012
3,484
0
Some say Jesus Christ healed the sick and died to redeem humankind. Little is said about his views on the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Quotes in the article

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Still, secular coffee maker Starbucks has come under fire from some Christians who say the company isn’t repping hard enough for Jesus on its recent understated holiday cups. The problem? Political correctness, according to one evangelical.
“I think in the age of political correctness we become so open-minded our brains have literally fallen out of our head,” Joshua Feuerstein said in a widely viewed anti-Starbucks rant on Facebook titled “Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus.” “Do you realize that Starbucks wanted to take Christ and Christmas off of their brand new cups? That’s why they’re just plain red.”
Feuerstein, an Arizona-based evangelist and “social media personality,” according to his Web site, had a plan. He didn’t want a boycott. He wanted a movement.
“I went in,” he said in the video. “I asked for my coffee. They asked for my name. And I told them my name is ‘Merry Christmas.'”
The result?
“Guess what, Starbucks?” Feuerstein said. “I tricked you into putting ‘Merry Christmas’ on your cup.” Moreover, he challenged “great Americans and Christians” to do the same by making “coffee selfies” with Christmas messages on Starbucks cups.
Feuerstein’s message was quickly embraced by many. Posted on Thursday, Nov. 5, his video had been viewed more than 11 million times by early Monday.
“It’s not just about a cup,” he explained in an e-mail to The Washington Post. “The cup is symbolic of a larger war against Christianity in this country. The policemen of political correctness have demanded that the silent majority bend its knee to a vocal minority.” He added: “Starbucks and others know that Americans are drawing a line in the sand and refusing to remain silent any longer.”
In the video, Feuerstein added that he wore a Jesus Christ T-shirt into the store “just to offend” — and also brought his gun with him, since Starbucks “hates” the Second Amendment. (Starbucks has expressed disapproval of guns in its locations in the past, but not banned them. Arizona, meanwhile, is an open-carry state.)
“Choose to not be political correct,’ just correct,” Feuerstein said.
Some supported the message.
“Love it Joshua,” one commenter wrote. “AMEN AMEN. I will ALWAYS KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS.”
However, some commenters — a few claiming to be current or former Starbucks employees — said that the company has never endorsed explicitly Christian messages. And wouldn’t sending more business to a company to make a point just result in higher profits for the allegedly offending company?
“I normally like your post but not this one,” one commenter wrote. “Starbucks is trying to remain neutral and be culturally sensitive to everyone by leaving them blank. You are offended that they don’t say Merry Christmas, but Jewish people would be offended if it only said that, not Happy Hanukkah. So they are leaving them blank so they can’t offend anyone.”
“If you need a coffee chain to be your ambassador of Christ you need to re-examine your relationship w/God,” one Twitter critic wrote.
Starbucks certainly didn’t seem to anticipate this furor when it released its holiday-themed cups last week — cups that, as the company made clear in a press release, are not really Christmas cups. No crosses. No Mary and Joseph. And definitely no Jesus. In many ways, the cups seemed designed to be unremarkable — unlike, say, the “Race Together” cups the company tried to push in the wake of unrest in Ferguson, Mo., earlier this year.
“Creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity is one of the core values of Starbucks, and each year during the holidays the company aims to bring customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season,” the company wrote in a press release. “Starbucks will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world.”
Indeed, save for the shade, the cups looked pretty much like regular Starbucks cups. Well, if you got technical, as the company did, the cups were “a bright poppy color on top that shades into a darker cranberry below.”
Starbucks holiday cups.© Courtesy Starbucks Starbucks holiday cups.

“We have anchored the design with the classic Starbucks holiday red that is bright and exciting,” Jeffrey Fields, Starbucks vice president of design and content, said in a statement. “The ombré creates a distinctive dimension, fluidity and weightedness.” (For those in need of a definition of “ombré”: “colors or tones that shade into each other — used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark,” according to Merriam-Webster.)
Holiday cups have been a tradition at Starbucks since 1997. The design “has told a story of the holidays by featuring symbols of the season from vintage ornaments and hand-drawn reindeer to modern vector-illustrated characters,” according to the company.
Except this year, the story is, in a way, not a story.
“This year’s design is another way Starbucks is inviting customers to create their own stories with a red cup that mimics a blank canvas,” the company said. Fields added: “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”
Or maybe the story is sort of a silent story. Kind of like “Silent Night.” But definitely, definitely not “Silent Night.”
“We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it,” Fields said. “It’s more open way to usher in the holiday.”
Breitbart wasn’t buying it.
“You can see what’s going on here,” Raheem Kassam wrote, offering a detailed rundown of the history of Starbucks Christmas cups. “More open? You mean, you’re trying not to ‘offend’ anyone. Frankly, the only thing that can redeem them from this whitewashing of Christmas is to print Bible verses on their cups next year.”

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May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
Leave it to that nut job Josh Feuerstein to claim that someone not siding with one religion in particular at the holiday season is an attack on Christianity. That guy sensationalizes ridiculous things merely to get hits on his YouTube channel because he's too lazy to get a real job.

 

nutcracker

Might Stick Around
Oct 28, 2015
84
0
Is he the one who yells at his phone while driving down the road?
Keep SATURN in SATURNALIA!!!

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
I think the point was that in previous years the cup was a Christmas cup.
I don't think any of the critics understand pluralism, nor do the critics of the critics.
Welcome to people acting for their own interests.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
14
Moody, AL
They can't win on this issue. Equal number bitch either way. It's what comes from such a heavily divided society.

 
May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
[/quote]I think the point was that in previous years the cup was a Christmas cup.
From what I've read it's always been a secular design. It's not like they used to put baby Jesus in the manger on the cup and now all of a sudden they refuse to.
 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
That has got to be one of the largest clusters of drama queens I've ever heard about (referring to everyone mentioned in the article).

 

conlejm

Lifer
Mar 22, 2014
1,433
8
Much ado about nothing. Would it have been any better if Starbucks had put Santa, Frosty and Rudolph on the cup?

 

skraps

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2015
790
5
This again? Right wing whacko taking advantage of the interwebs to make a scene about nothing.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Past cups had Christmas-y themes:
http://time.com/4105283/starbucks-holiday-cups-evolution/

 

tarak

Lifer
Jun 23, 2013
1,528
15
South Dakota
I'd say they had holiday themes, not Christian themes. I'm a right wing Christian, and I think the uproar on the cups is crazy.

 

anarchisthermit

Might Stick Around
Aug 31, 2015
91
1
None of the previous cups had anything to do with the real meaning of Christmas. Maybe I need to start a business that searches for things for people to be offended by.

 

cobguy

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
3,742
15
I was really hoping for the collectible Krampus Cups this year ... oh well! :)

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
This is really a non story and not really worth the time to "pass it on". I expect Starbucks to be open on Christmas day, while I'm driving to grandma's house. Hopefully Starbucks will be inclusive and allow all of the Atheist, Muslims, and Jews have a work day on December 25 and allow the Christians to have the day off. Of course if Muslims and Jews have a special holiday around this time or On December 25 they surely will get thise days off. Which leaves the Atheist, find a holiday for your religion Of Atheisim and Im sure Starbucks will give a day off. Oh and since Islam and Christianity are cults that shot off from Judiaism, the Jews get first dibbs. Hope I've pissed off the whole apple cart, get a sense of humor and move on.

 
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