Three years ago, electronics retail giant Best Buy was in the middle of the "War on Christmas" controversy.
A company spokeswoman - Dawn Bryant - announced they would not use the word "Christmas" in their advertising: "We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them."
Hmm... so mentioning "Christmas" in its advertising is somehow disrespectful of other holidays? They have since started using the word Christmas in some ads - but it's very limited. The American Family Association lists Best Buy as a company that "marginalizes Christmas" .
But this weekend, we learned a bit more about Best Buy's bizarre corporate logic toward Christmas and other holidays. Here is the advertising circular that was in Sunday newspapers all across the nation - including the Seattle Times.
Best Buy - the company that will not allow the words "Merry Christmas" in its advertising - has no problem wishing people a "Happy Eid al-Adha" - an important Muslim holiday.
No "Happy Thanksgiving" - although there is a directive to shop online on Thanksgiving Day. Merry Christmas is not allowed in their ads. But Eid al-Adha? Let's all celebrate with a plasma TV!
Listener Neal brought this ad to my attention. He wrote: "This makes my blood boil that they will go out of their way to have a Muslim festival recognized that has nothing to do with their sale and then they won't even acknowledge or give a Thanksgiving Day well wishing."
Let me be clear: I think the whole "War on Christmas" controversy is overblown. But I cannot wrap my brain around a company that shuns Christmas while embracing Eid al-Adha.
Political correctness sure does inspire inconsistent, hypocritical lunacy.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Best Buy Has No Problem Wishing Muslims "Happy Eid al-Adha", But For God's Sake, There Will Be No Christmas
From My Northwest:
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14 comments:
I think the "Happy Eid al Adha" greeting is great. I certainly don't think "Happy Eid al Adha" is mutually exclusive to "Merry Christmas."
Felize Navidad!
Junaid M. Afeef
www.americanmuslimjournal.typepad.com
Of course you don't, because you are doing Dawa.
Truth is, you think Yeshua was not the Christ, that He was not the Son of God, and that He did not die for your sins. You say He was a "prophet", but He did not, for you, measure up to your Prophet, the one who told you to kill the unbelievers.
Your opinion is next to useless in any discussion of Yeshua the Christ, the JEWISH MESSIAH.
Who died on the cross, Mr. American Muslim?
Your answer?
If you're like other Muslims, your answer is JUDAS DIED ON THE CROSS.
That idea is next to blasphemy in the Christian religion.
But, you "dominant" Muslims can not tolerate the idea of a God who sacrifices Himself for mankind. It's all about dominance to you. That's why you say, "Allahu Akbar", because to you Allah can only be Greater.
But, the question you must answer if
GREATER THAN WHAT?
Who is it Allah is competing with?
My answer?
Yeshua and His Father and the Holy Spirit?
Oops, your Dawa did not work.
Now, be gone with you.
If to teach pure Jesus, Yeshua...yes, I am a follower and believer in He who knows my heart...
a puritan? NO, legalist? NO. Evangelical? No, I walk the road Creator has set before me.
I have grown irritated with those who come to this land with intent to kill, steal, distort, pervert, twist, hide and run from truth! They come to assert more power and control...
Freedom is power, Truth is Freedom
I am Lakota descended from and part of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate,
if this makes me an infidel....I wear it proudly!
My family of ancestors fought terrorists in the past, they are fighting terrorists today, and they will fight terrorists tomorrow...they are true warriors willing to give up their life blood for protection of freedom! To keep innocent people from those who mistreat women, wrongly call 'allah' a God...he is only a jealous mockery of twisted truth! The Qur'an is NOT a book of peace and I will never submit.
The time for action is now, defend our freedom before it is lost.
Offended? Sue me...I will fight any enemy, foreign and domestic....
My kids deserve life, and freedom...otherwise Christ would not have died for them either!
To make this CHRISTMAS season one of 'reason'-
I must say --I know where
I will NOT be shopping this December 2009!
C-CS
I am personally saddened by this news. I didn't know that using the word Merry Christmas was banned for political correctness while when it comes to Islamic greetings, there was no restrictions.
This is outright "bullshit" (sorry for my word) that should be addressed in public forums... Can I repost this article to my blog?
So, let's examine 'eid al-Adha' . . .
From JihadWatch.org:
These four days [eid al-Adha] are a time for Muslims to honour Abraham's obedience by celebrating with family and friends and showing gratitude for the many blessings bestowed by God."
"Honor Abraham's obedience."
What is said is not always heard the way it is meant.
In speaking of Abraham, even when doing so in the context of Eid al-Adha,. . .[one] thinks of Genesis 22:15-18, in which Abraham is rewarded for his faith and told he will become a blessing to the nations:
And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."
But when . . .[unsuspecting westerners] congratulate Muslims on Eid al-Adha and exhort them to honor Abraham, what does his audience hear?
1. Most Muslims don't read Genesis.
2. When they think of Abraham, they think of Qur'an passages such as 60:4:
There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: "We are clear of you and of whatever ye worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone." But not when Abraham said to his father: "I will pray for forgiveness for thee, though I have no power (to get) aught on thy behalf from Allah." (They prayed): "Our Lord! in Thee do we trust, and to Thee do we turn in repentance: to Thee is (our) Final Goal.
Did you catch that? This verse is saying that Abraham is an "excellent example" (uswa hasana, أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ, a term applied also to Muhammad in 33:21).
Abraham is an excellent example to follow when he says to the polytheists that there is "enmity and hatred forever" between him and them, unless they "believe in Allah and Him alone." However, the Qur'an also tells us that he is not an excellent example to follow when he says to his pagan father, "I will pray for forgiveness for thee." Hatred is held up as exemplary; forgiveness is explicitly ruled out.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
I haven't invested in the local paper since the 'why do they hate us, we must have done something to deserve 9/11" tac was taken, and would have missed this ad, were it not for this blog post. Though a regular shopper at Best Buy most of this year - I will do ALL my Christmas shopping for electronics elsewhere because of such PC ignorance.
This post is going viral. Enough of this lunatic political correctness.
Oh, yest, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I'm glad to see other people are as offended by this as I am.
BEST BUY IS A GONER. I WILL NO LONGER BUY FROM THEM.
Anonymous, thanks for the additional information from Jihad Watch.
Conservative Unclogged Blog,
Thanks for your comment. I checked out your blog. You have a very interesting perspective. I'll keep checking it out.
:)
@pastorius,
thank you for that compliment! I am honored to be allowed to voice my view. A view which seems to place me at odds with many, including my own family members, who are now wondering why I am so suddenly radical.
It is not that I am suddenly radical, my views have been this way for many years, but I am NOT silent about them. Why let the evil overwhelm and control the information?
I follow Jesus, yet I am not religious..unless that religion is to help the widows and orphans in their distress and to keep myself un-spotted from the world.
I am from a line of people who experienced the atrocity of overgrown government. I remember the stories, I have seen their triumph, their honor, and their love. I will not join suit of those who wish to cast stones at the America I know and Love. The founding principle is still here....but the government has forgotten, the people have forgotten, they have grown lazy and apathetic. I confess, I was mislead and misguided by liberal rhetoric in my youth.
To speak out now, I have made myself a target. All the reasons of others seeking to quell the voice, which speaks openly on the ugliness of fence walking political correctness, stem from fear and misunderstanding. As well as their lack of critical thinking and honest examination of the premise they base their view.
Apparently I have struck a chord when breaking my silence.
Glad to hear you have stuck a chord. Your perspective is very unique and yet true.
I recently read Black Elk Speaks. I was very moved by the first chapter. Tremendous humility.
By the way, if you are not already a fan, you really should read BabbaZee's blog (The Outraged Spleen of Zion).
http://babbazeesbrain.blogspot.com/
Babba is also way behind the Lakota movement, having been partially-raised by Lakota people. You'd have to ask her the story. I don't remember the specifics.
Black Elk Speaks is an AMAZING book. You might like Rolling Thunder as well, Pasto.
Eventually.
Right now I'm reading Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Next I'm going to read this book called "American Gods" that I just picked up over the weekend.
I'm also reading Bruce Bawer's While Europe Slept, and Robert Fisk's The War For Civilization.
Like you, I read too many books at one time.
:)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman? Awesome book! I read it when it first came out a few years ago.
Oh, so I picked a good one, huh?
I'm glad to hear that.
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