I will admit to not fully understanding the controversy regarding the Starbucks holiday cups, which were more or less plain red. And it feels a little bit funny for me now to defend a big corporation like Starbucks (although once or twice a year, I will go there and get a Chai latte - a guilty pleasure).
Those people who believed this to be yet another extension of the supposed war on Christianity, and who now are droning about "Keeping Christ in Christmas" seem to be looking under every pebble for something that might seem, to them, the least bit disrespectful of their desire to celebrate Christmas as they see fit.
Instead of focusing on trying to help the poor or shelter the homeless or feed the hungry, they get all worked up over the design of a coffee cup as evidence of the war on Christmas, which they seem to be provoking on their own.
There have been calls to boycott Starbucks, and many posts on Facebook can be seen basically reinforcing the outrage over the cups.
Starbucks, to their credit, responded by announcing that they will “now extend a 100% tuition-free four-year college benefit to the spouse or child of every U.S. veteran or active military reservist employed 20 or more hours a week.”
That is a tremendously generous program that should help many people, and a fitting response to quell the ridiculous criticism of the company.
Brouhaha over Starbucks red cups more of a joke than a controversy by Lauren O'Neil, CBC News , Nov 10, 2015:
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