A Comment on Comments

Little Merry Sunshine received a new comment today on a post I wrote almost three years ago and was in no way controversial. It wasn't about politics, sex, religion, or even the combination of all three.

The anonymous commenter simply said that I need "alot of professional help." His or her misspelling, not mine.

Here at Little Merry Sunshine, I welcome the dialogue that intelligent comments bring. Heck, even the unintelligent comments often bring some value. And I'm very open to letting all political or religious views be expressed. I think we all have something to offer and although I can't say that any comments I disagreed with have ever changed my mind, Little Merry Sunshine readers often give me something to think about. I welcome that.

But here's where I draw the line: Bullying.

I'm a huge fan of the First Amendment. I hate censorship. I also hate censorship on my blog. I hate being that person who doesn't let people speak their mind. But if you want to be a bully and make personal attacks against me or my readers or if you want to threaten me, then I'm not going to let your words see the light of day.

If you want to be a bully, you'll have to go play in someone else's sandbox because you're not welcome here. Haven't you read the description under the title of Little Merry Sunshine? It talks about that I believe in building others up and celebrating what's good in the world. Sometimes that good is David Beckham in his tighty whities (oh, Lord, is THAT good!). Sometimes that's about equal pay for women.

Here's what it's not: It's not telling me I need professional help while hiding behind the name "anonymous." If someone has something to say to me, about me personally, have a backbone and use your name and say it to me.

I read a lot of blogs. Sometimes I disagree with what the authors say and I may leave a comment sharing my point of view. But you know what I never do? I never personally attack a writer. Why? Because it's mean spirited and 12-year-old girlish. And I sure as heck never do it under that handle of "anonymous."

I don't really have a lot of rules on my blog. In fact, I don't think I have any rules. But now I do, so here they are:

1. Play nice

2. See #1

Disagree with me if you want. Let's have a dialogue. Just play nice.

If you can't follow the rules, please don't come here.

Kohl's Black Friday Commercial: Everything That's Wrong With the Holidays

Have you seen the new Kohl's Black Friday commercial? Evidently it is a parody of a song by someone named Rebecca Black. I don't know who she is, I've never heard her song, and I don't care.

What I do know is that this commercial epitomizes everything that's wrong with the holiday season. Watch the commercial below. Not only is it horrendously annoying, but at 0:07 the "star" of the commercial attempts to block a little old woman from entering the store by putting her hand in the woman's face and physically touching her and then at 0:14 she actually removes an item from another woman's shopping cart, causing the woman to give her a scornful look. Frankly, given the craziness that always comes with the Black Friday frenzy, the "star" is lucky that's all she got.

As far as I can tell, Kohl's is promoting bullying and greed in this commercial.

Now maybe you're thinking I'm taking this whole commercial WAY too seriously, especially since it's supposed to be a parody. But here's the thing: I had no idea it was a parody until I did a Google search to find the video for you. I thought this was how Kohl's was seriously promoting its Black Friday sales.

Isn't it bad enough that stores are now opening for their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving itself and forcing their minimum wage employees to work? Yes, I know that police, fire fighters, EMTs, ER doctors, nurses, and anyone who works in a nursing home or assisted living facility work on Thanksgiving, but they are literally saving lives. For the life of me, I can't fathom that selling Cabbage Patch dolls (or whatever the IT gift is this year) ranks up there with saving lives. I could be wrong though.

But now we've got Kohl's telling people that it's okay to bully senior citizens on their rush into the store and that until a customer pays for their purchases, anything in their cart may be taken by other customers.

To me, that's bullying and greed. And I don't support businesses that condone those behaviors.