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eli_sennesh comments on Open thread, Nov. 09 - Nov. 15, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: MrMind 09 November 2015 08:07AM

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Comment author: Daniel_Burfoot 10 November 2015 05:49:08PM *  0 points [-]

As a test of your understanding of modern American socio-political dynamics, answer this question before Googling: Are people upset because:

A) Starbucks increased their usage of Christmas-themed imagery on their coffee cups, thereby appropriating Christian cultural material for crass commercial purposes.
B) Starbucks decreased their usage of Christmas-themed imagery on their coffee cups, thereby reducing the influence and prestige of Christian culture in the US.

NB - this is a calibration exercise about an empirical fact, I am not trying to start a debate about this issue.

Submitting...

Comment author: [deleted] 13 November 2015 03:36:12AM 0 points [-]

Neither answer is correct. Snowmen and such are not properly Christmas-themed. American Protestants just lack all knowledge of winter festivals other than the exact combination of Northern-European-pagan and Christian that they celebrate.