This past Christmas season, a store in Berkeley, California sold T-shirts that said “F— Christmas”; the shirt bared the full name of the obscenity.
When William Donohue learned of this he personally called the store, Bear Basics, and asked a series of questions. What he discovered was interesting, to say the least.
The manager of Bear Basics, Sandie Handschoh, was not available when he called but he did speak to three of the store’s employees, including Mark who handles the store’s inventory. Without identifying who he was, Donohue said he wanted to buy three “F— Christmas” T-shirts and three “F— Hanukkah” T-shirts, using the obscene word in all instances. When he was told that they didn’t carry any “F— Hanukkah” T-shirts, he responded that this struck him as discriminatory. Continuing to press the issue, he was told that no one would make such a shirt, thus verifying what he instinctively knew to be true.
Donohue was then told that Bear Basics carries T-shirts that say “F— Halloween” and “F— Valentine’s Day.” Being Irish, he took special note of their St. Patrick’s Day line of T-shirts that read, “F— Me, I’m Irish,” an obvious play on the phrase “Kiss Me, I’m Irish.” Curious, Donohue then asked if they had any “F— the Jews” or “F— the Gays” T-shirts and learned that they did not. Just the Irish.
After describing this incident in a news release, Donohue offered the following commentary:
“Berkeley is not America but it is a leading indicator of what passes as politically correct. Among other things, it tells us that there is a market for those whose hatred of Jesus Christ is unparalleled in American history. Meanwhile, civil libertarians and other professed guardians of liberty are running around municipal buildings looking to see if there are crucifixes hanging from Christmas trees or kids singing ‘Silent Night’ in the lobby. And I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of them are running around sporting their new ‘F— Christmas’ T-shirts.”
If you would like to contact the store, write to Sandie Handschoh, Manager, Bear Basics, 2350 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, California 94704 or call her at (510) 883-9050.
Our members will be glad to know that when Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the Seattle-based organization, Toward Tradition, learned of the league’s news release, he immediately had one of his employees call the Catholic League pledging to stand with us in protesting this outrageous incident.
