Tempest in a Coffee Cup
Monday May 14, 2007
A woman in Ohio claims she is offended by a Starbucks cup, and tells the media she won'tr be back after a terrible encounter with an atheist Starbucks cup. (Yes, that is jusat a wee bit of sarcasm.) Even if you don't patronize Starbucks, you're probably familiar with their cups, which feature musing quotes from person alities and Starbucks customers emblazoned on their sides. The cup which caused the offense muses that perhaps god doesn't actually exist, and perhaps people are responsible for their own problems, which apparently is patently offensive to anyone who "loves god," seen or unseen. I get the idea that an atheist complaining about any of the spiritually-positive comments would be portrayed as intolerant and confronational, but out of the dozens of comments in response to the story, a number seem to side with the customer- and some even equate the quote with white supremecy or demand that the person who approved the quote be fired. So it looks like yet another attempt to make the world a little more interesting has fizzled.
Comments
Oh brother….
Idiocy strikes again.
Even before I opened the comment window, I was thinking, “Oh, brother….another wacko.”
Not wanting to steal Scolai’s comment, I now have to think of something else…
:-)
I say we give a big bonus to the person who thought to use that quote. It encourages (most) people to think, and the world could use a lot more thinking and a lot less blindly following these days.
some people just can’t except that regardless if god exists or not, THEY ARE responsible for their own problems and for fixing them.
Buddha said that peace comes from within, do not seek it without.
I question the strength of someone’s faith when a paper cup can so upset their equilibrium…
People often react strongly when their own fears are triggered.
I suspect Ms. Incanno has wondered if God really does exist but also feels overwhelming guilt for questioning her own faith.
Perhaps she should be arrested for her threatening and picketing Starbucks like the Scientology guy.
Starbucks has also used religious quotes on its cups. Obviously, the insecure will always find equal opportunity threatening.
She can always buy the beans at the grocery store and save herself from the torture of drinking in their cups. Maybe she could stop off in the morning elsewhere? Something related happened two years ago with a national trendy book/music retailer. The store advertised that “Bunny Stories” would be read outloud by local people in the store. It was the coming of Spring. My daughter, then 11, has an affinity for rabbits, wanted to go. So off we trek. We find someone reading alligator stories. So I asked the manager what was up and the store did not want to ‘offend those who do not practice Christianity and thw whole Easter Bunny thing’. We left, but it seems anymore that the actual fear of offending someone is greater than the act. I mean, the people shopping COULD have not allowed their children to listen. Almost something like I would be offended if my child saw a crime taking place. Perhaps this fear could be transferred there and we could have people running around fearful of committing crimes.
I don’t understand how people can be so easily offended by the littlest things in life. I understand that other people do(say,think,etc.) different things than I do, and that’s fine with me. Usually when people get offended, they get that way because it is something that they dissaprove of or would never do. So, they’re basically saying, “I would never do that. Why can’t you be like me?”