The scarlet latte: A Starbucks drama

There’s nothing more exciting than jumping into a newly-spun web of popular controversy and trending topics.

Everyone has an opinion on everything, and if they deny it, it’s only because they haven’t had that opinion openly challenged.

That’s what college is for, Tar Heels.

In the case of the red cup (which we’ve all heard about by now), even though we all have an opinion, none of them really matter. Because, at the end of the day, we all just want our PSLs and slightly warmed banana nut bread.

That said, the irony here is that I’m even writing about this. I suppose I feel compelled to put some things to rest.

So we enter the momentous, invigorating topic of the Starbucks holiday cup and its incendiary effect on evangelical Christians. If there’s one thing the internet is good at, it’s creating a scenario in which one group is victimized or enraged and then beating that screenplay like a dead horse.

What’s news without the drama?

But here’s the reality: while the switch to the blank red cup has certainly upset a handful of people – namely a man by the name of Joshua Feuerstein whose post regarding Starbucks’ anti-Christmas cup went viral – there really isn’t a lot of substantial evidence pointing us to an all-out Christmas Coffee Crusade.

I identify as a Christian, and as I sit here in a cozy leather lounge chair surrounded by the ambiance of Starbucks cheer, I giggle inwardly at the idea of anyone demonizing a corporation that pretty much every individual frequents for their comically-complicated personalized coffee orders.

The truth of the matter is we’re all prone to placing blame on groups based upon generalizations and stereotypes that are often more impairing than helpful. Slapping a label on a conflict tends to excuse us from delving deeper into issues that require actual analysis and critical thinking.

Like a label, your name on a Starbucks cup isn’t all that you are. Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Daoist or atheist. For many of us, this is just a part of our identity. We’re more complicated than that.

If we let the media dictate how we feel about an issue, we’re just steering through our lives blind and ignorant.

Making the Starbucks cup into a prime example of ardent, stalwart Bible-thumpers, stealing the global spotlight in defense of baby Jesus, is really a preemptive misjudgment of so many individuals who aren’t bothered by this issue at all. We like to focus on extremists and use their actions to summarize the ideology and behavior of an entire population.

But I for one don’t want my dumb actions to affect the reputation or integrity of my entire family.

This is not in any way a statement or discussion in defense of those who are up-in-arms about the Starbucks cup. Because that’s just ridiculous. The beauty of this country and this campus is that we thrive on diversity in every facet of life, and holidays are no exception.

Of course none of us are obligated to celebrate holidays with which we don’t associate, but there’s no reason to leave anyone in the dark, either.

And besides, the red cup still holds something we all love. A frothy, 130-degree non-fat, three-pump toffeenut-slash-nut-flavor-of-choice latte with a dollop of whipped cream and a generous caramel drizzle.