Christmas in SA still politically correct

Interesting to see that this level of politically correct paranoia has not yet found a home in South Africa where shopping malls continue to belt out commercial versions of good old fashioned Christmas Carols and shops pour out a barrage of advertising featuring big fat Father Christmasses.

Big dilemma

But, if South African shopkeepers started following the example of their American counterparts, it would cause an awful dilemma in this country. Because right now there is quite justifiably one supposes, a growing campaign by Christian groups to "put Christ back into Christmas." What they want to do is rid South Africa of all the commercial hype over Christmas and return it to what it is supposed to be - a religious holiday celebrating the birth of the founder of Christianity.

Cut the hype

But, it is my guess that if retailers had to stop saying "Merry Christmas" and go the "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Festive Season" route out of fear of upsetting non-Christian customers, these very Christian groups wanting to cut down on the hype would probably be as incensed as their American cousins who see this politically correct move as some sort of denial of the existence of Christmas. So, it is tough going on shopkeepers because they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Rational thinking

Recently I heard an excellent rationale from a Christian who was against any reduction of the commercial hype over Christmas. What he said was that Christians the world over should not only be extremely proud of the fact that so many non-Christians "celebrate" this very Christian feast by exchanging gifts, even though for the wrong reasons, but that if one looks at the number of jobs Christmas creates, there can be no doubt that millions of people who would normally be unemployed and starving at this time of the year are now able to put food on the table thanks to the more fortunate billions all splashing out and spending money like there was no tomorrow.

Starving millions

So, it seems there are two sides to the story. On one hand crass commercialisation has turned Christmas into a huge bonanza for the have-nots while on the other hand if Christmas was de-commercialised all that would happen is that millions of people would starve. But, none of this answers the question of whether shopkeepers should stop wishing everyone "Happy Christmas" in their advertising. Hopefully, political correctness will not take over and that shopkeepers will continue to wish their customers "Merry Christmas" on the basis that if anyone objects to it all, they'll be very much in the minority. Because the problem with being politically correct is that it is always pandering to a minority.

Slap chips rule

Ask KFC who went the politically correct route of putting health foods on its menus in the belief that the anti-junk food lobby could cripple their business. Now they're finding out that by far the majority of Americans are telling them quite clearly to get rid of their salads and bring back good old fashioned fried chicken and fatty chips. As a Christian of course I'm biased. But, I have and always will love Christmas not in spite of its crass commercialism but to a large degree because of it... simply because it feeds a heck of a lot of hungry.