There are a few noticeable differences between the Publix in South Beach and the one we frequent near our new home in Central Florida. Some things are the same. The products, for the most part, are the same. The rotisserie chickens taste the same and the deli is stocked with the same cured meats. The uniforms are also the same, though the people in them are obviously different; speaking English being the most obvious difference in the employees. I cannot find halvah at our new central Florida Publix.
The one thing our new Publix has that the old one did not is a turnstile of books devoted to Christianity where you pull your number at the delicatessen. That red device where you pull the green tab with your number on it is perched atop a cornucopia of Christian books for every Christian problem: Forgiving your husband after he's cheated, Preaching to those who aren't interested, Introducing Christ into every aspect of your baby's life, and How to prove God exists. There are also the obligatory Christian children's books, e.g., Jesus and Me.
I honestly don't have a problem with selling the books, that's not my issue. If there is a market for it, then by all means, stock the shelves. I just find the placement funny. The books are at the deli line like they are some sort of impulse purchase. While you wait for the deli worker to slice your half pound of Boar's Head sun-dried tomato and rosemary ham, (one of my faves), maybe you'll grab a copy of, "Get Real: Making Core Christian Beliefs Relevant to Teenagers." Putting these books on the deli line (albeit a markedly slower deli line than the South Beach Publix) makes them the equivalent of the Weekly World News, Snickers, and Altoids you might grab on your way through the checkout line. As I said before, I don't have a problem with that, if they sell, they sell, but shouldn't someone else have a problem. What is the impetus behind it anyway. I know Publix is a Christian company, but are they evangelizing on the deli line. If they are, why not put the books in South Beach also, isn't it hypocritical to only save people outside Miami. Maybe they decided those high heeled women and tight shirted men in South Beach aren't worth saving. I know I'm overreacting, I dislike all the reminders that we live in a Christian country.
Every year at this time I'm shocked at the right wing talk radio and Fox "News" efforts to convince us that there is a war on Christmas. The idea that our overwhelming majority, Christians, are somehow being persecuted is laughable but I know there is someone in Kansas who believes it as strongly as they believe evolution is liberal propaganda and part of the gay agenda to turn everyone into a drug crazed lunatic. I find all this "War on Christmas" crap particularly offensive considering how many troops are in harm's way right now. Someone should tell Bush to redeploy our troops to the war on Christmas. Don't we already have a base on the North Pole.
2 comments:
Oye! Nosotros tenemos esos libros en South Beach! En Espanol! Viva Cuba Libre! Cuba Si! Castro No!
I saw a copy of james Dobson's "The Strong willed Child" on that rack. The first pages of it are where he describes how he BEAT his little dog, Siggie, (a Daschund - very small) Here are his James Dobson's words from the book, ""When I told Sigmund to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. That was Siggie's way of saying. "Get lost!"
"I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me "reason" with Mr. Freud."
Anyway besides wanting to repeat what a sadistic bas**d that "Christian" is I wanted to tell you that I took the book and the 4 others to the manager and read him that part. His look at me was of total "I don't give a rat's ass" He tried to explain to me that they carried all sorts of books, (most are novels and magazines with the occasional self help book interspersed. Anyway I went back to the store a week later and the books were still on the round thingy by the ham and cheese. I wanted to anciently spill the 75 cent tiny cup of coffee that I had bought there on all of Dobson's books. But that would be childish right? (hehe)
There must be a better way to stop this madness.
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