Kathleen Morris
Staff Writer
Social media has been a relatively useful thing. It’s a great way to stay in touch with friends and get caught up on what’s happening around us. It’s also a revolutionary way to bring about change, to expose injustices and to demand action.
Injustices aren’t very hard to define. Yet, a quick scroll down your Twitter timeline or Facebook news feed will show that some people’s view of what’s truly unjust has gotten a bit skewed.
What is it that suddenly has people up in arms? Starbuck’s new special edition holiday cups.
If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a minimalist design. The cup has a red ombré effect (so the red fades from a darker to lighter shade) with the recognizable logo in green. It’s actually quite unassuming. Yet people are taking to social media to voice their anger with the coffee corporation.
One Twitter user wrote, “Since you’re running away from Christianity, I’m running from you! Just exercising my financial choice.” Another tweeted: “My Christmas mentality: If a store won’t promote Christmas re Starbucks, I’m not spending my hard earned money there.”
Both tweets included a link to news article that had this very inflated title: “Starbucks Cups Are Emblematic Of The Christian Culture Cleansing of The West.”
Yes, by opting to not to go the route of not featuring overtly Christian designs, Starbucks has sparked the anger of many. It is worth noting that previous designs usually had a winter theme, sporting things such a snowflakes and snowmen.
It’s more than worrisome to see what some people put as a priority.
Do the people who take offense to a plain red cup get as heated when they see actual injustices?
The ones where people are taken advantage of and actually do suffer harm, be it physically, mentally, or emotionally. Seeing people get so bent out of shape over a cup makes it easy to wonder whether those same people will be as quick to rally behind real issues and real causes.