Virginia couple fight companies using politically correct term 'holiday'
Posted: December 11, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Ron Strom
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A new website has been launched to combat what the creators see as a growing intolerance for the term "Christmas" in American culture.
"Christmas is an endangered holiday in public spaces," said GrinchList.com co-founder Kirk McElwain. "The site lists companies and organizations that engage in egregious revisionism and promotes awareness of this growing phenomenon known as Christmas intolerance."
GrinchList.com's mission statement says it hopes to "expose [offending organizations] to the millions of consumers whose heritage is being expunged from the public cultural arena."
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The site, created by McElwain and his wife, Amy, who hail from Virginia, encourages pro-Christmas Americans to contact listed organizations to voice their concern using e-mail, snail mail, in-store complaints, telephone calls and their wallets. Included on the site is contact information for many of the companies listed.
Made live on the Net Tuesday, GrinchList.com also cites those companies it feels deserve credit for upholding Christmas.
McElwain told WorldNetDaily he and his wife got the idea for the site last year while Christmas shopping. After first questioning sales clerks about why the word "holiday" had replaced "Christmas" in displays and products, they began contacting corporate offices.
"The response I received back became a push toward doing something this year," McElwain said, noting the companies generally told him the goal was not to offend those who do not celebrate Christmas.
"You load up on holiday ornaments, holiday bows, holiday lighting, holiday wreaths, holiday Santas and even holiday trees! And then it occurs to you, which holiday do they mean?!" states one page on the site.
"Surely, no one would think of renaming the [Jewish] menorah the 'holiday candelabra,' nor should they. People of the other religions and cultures would never tolerate such revisionism, yet why do we? Perhaps, more importantly, why do they think they can get away with it?"
The site's list of companies shunning the term "Christmas" includes a commentary about each firm's behavior or policy. The Discovery Store listing says:
"The Discovery Store carries 'holiday ornaments.' They indicated that they did not want to offend those who don't celebrate Christmas under their limited corporate mantra of diversity and multiculturalism. What's more, they indicated that calling a holiday ornament a Christmas ornament might create an unwelcoming environment for those who don't celebrate Christmas. Huh?!"
Under the KB Toys listing, McElwain notes, "The only thing turned out if you search its website using the word 'Christmas' is Dr. Seuss' 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' How ironic!"
GrinchList.com saves some of its outrage for public entities, taking to task the architect of the U.S. Capitol for calling the evergreen tree on the building's grounds the "2003 Capitol Holiday Tree."
Among the companies the site commends for not "censoring" Christmas were the Disney Store, JC Penney, Rite Aid, Sears, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart.
The site asks why so many companies are avoiding the mention of Christmas when the vast majority of Americans celebrate the holiday. Indeed, a recent poll by Opinion Dynamics finds a whopping 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, while 5 percent say they celebrate Hanukkah and 2 percent the December holiday of Kwanzaa.
The survey also found 87 percent of Americans say nativity scenes should be allowed on public property, while just 9 percent disagree.
McElwain says he'll likely update the site next fall and promote it again during the 2004 shopping season.