Searching for Christmas, and the Missing Layoff Stories
This is the sixth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of "Christmas shopping season" vs. "holiday shopping season," and the frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references.
I have done three sets of simple Google News searches each year -- the first in late November, followed by identical searches roughly two and four weeks later.
A graphic containing key results from the past five years is here.
The results of this year's first set of searches, done at roughly 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, largely reinforce the trends noted last year:
The red boxes demonstrate that, although there has been a bit of a recovery this year, the relative frequency of references to the phrase "Christmas shopping season" vs. "holiday shopping season" is still down a little more than half in the past five years. That the establishment press has become congenitally reluctant to use the word "Christmas" when referring to the upcoming weeks of commerce where the vast majority of the American people will buy gifts for each other, their loved ones, and the less fortunate, and then unwrap them on December 25 or possibly on the previous evening, is basically beyond dispute.
The total number of shopping-related results -- down by roughly one-third from last year from 8,703 to 5,854 -- seems to indirectly confirm anecdotal observations I've heard from many and seen for myself that there isn't nearly as much emphasis (yet) on the Christmas shopping season as there has been in previous years. One trend influencing this which has mostly flown under the radar is that stores have been delaying their Christmas season hires until the last possible minute. If the person trying to help you in the coming week seems to have no idea of what they're doing, you'll know why.
The results of the layoff-related searches are more interesting in how they compare in absolute numbers to previous years. Yes, it's important to note that Christmas about five times as likely to be mentioned in a story containing the word "layoffs" (36.4% divided by 7.4% is 4.92). mentioned. But it's the fact the total number of layoff references is so low that is stunning. They're down almost 95% from 2008, which was of course an awful year; but is this year only 5% as bad? I don't think so.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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Comments
I think
Submitted by Ron_servative on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:23pm.
it must burn the tips of their fingers to type Christ
Are these numbers taking into
Submitted by Guttermouth's Return on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:24pm.
Are these numbers taking into account the temporary holiday positions created each season? I suspect that could have to do with the questionable numbers in you last paragraph.
Stll sharing that rollout with Stupid?
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:41am.
The entire graph was about google news searches not Labor Department data.
charlesandandy is done with the stick. Looks like it is your turn.
remember...
Submitted by Jnoble on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:37pm.
..every year without fail during the Bush era, even when the economy was humming circa 2004-07, the Christmas shopping season coverage from the MSM would be from the "money is sooo tight this year, people are cutting back their spending, stores are predicting a bad month, are we in a recession?" angle. (insert giant red arrow graphic pointing down over stock footage of people in mall and cash registers opening and closing and uninformative "man on the street" interviews: "Yes, we're cutting back this year because of the price of gas blah blah blah"
Christmas parties
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:42pm.
I had a friend tell me that for the first time in the 20 years that he's worked at his job, they are calling it a Holiday party instead of a Christmas party like they had in all the years he was there. He said the management was trying to make it a blanket term for everyone, including Hannukah and Kwanza. Someone forgot to tell the management that Kwanza is a fake holiday and that no one's ever complained about it being called a Christmas party before.
-Jon
i disagree; kwanza is not a
Submitted by charlesandy on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 9:16pm.
i disagree; kwanza is not a fake holiday.
Kwanzaa---
Submitted by matthewdean on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 9:51pm.
may not be fake, but it is as representative of a true holiday as the Congressional Black Caucus, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, and Jeremiah Wright are representative of the success of racial harmony.
MD
Kwanzaa is not
Submitted by charlesandy on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:10pm.
Kwanzaa is not fake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa
I didn't say anything about those people.
Kwanzaa
Submitted by Agnostic on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:26pm.
Kwanzaa may be real but what is real about it is in dispute. I would hope that neither of these sources would be considered too conservative.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/264192
http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/01/kwanzaa-cia-creation-to-promote-racial.html
Nope, thanks. I have no
Submitted by charlesandy on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:32pm.
Nope, thanks. I have no interest in reading your links about kwanzaa, nor debating details or specifics of the celebration. Someone on the thread claimed that kwanzaa was a fake holiday.
charlesandy---
Submitted by matthewdean on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:43pm.
You have no interest in reading links or debating details or specifics, but you have no problem belittling another posters post because you apparently felt it did not live up to your definition of what high-level discourse consists of.
Liberal, eh?
MD
Looks like you have no interest in filling out the subject line.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:36am.
What is it about liberal trolls and the stick up their butts that they all seem allergic to the subject line?
Do you all share the same stick? Ain't that how diseases are spread?
You'd better stay away from any debate courses, comrade troll...
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:45am.
...lest your class stray from your current wussified state of Taxxachusetts and you get your head handed to you in a real debate.
You're going to make a model useful idiot (maybe even poster child) for the freedom-hating tyrannical left someday, as you are clearly too stoopid to survive in a free society.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Umm, your own damn link proves its fake
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 1:25am.
Unless you believe I can also make up a holiday out of the blue, post in on Wiki, and BEHOLD, a holiday is born.
Dumbass.
Yes, it is fake
Submitted by ckc1227 on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 2:18am.
And nothing Wikipedia says can change that.
Kwanzaa is a fake holiday.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 1:18am.
Kwanzaa is a hoax.
Kwanzaa is a fraud.
Kwanzaa is counterfeit holiday.
Complete fake.
Kwanzaa is completely made up.
Kwanzaa is complete bull.
Kwanzaa was never real.
Make-Believe Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is phony
Kwanzaa is a sham.
Kwanazz is complete flimflam
Kwanzaa is a montebank
Kwanzaa is a swindle
Soft Soap
Kwanzaa is a fourberie
Wait. Did charlesandandy get the stick back from Dead Zippers yet?
A “Holiday” party?
Submitted by needle on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:18am.
Uhhh, and just what "Holiday" would that be? Oh, you mean Christmas. Well , why didn’t you say so in the first place?
PS: By the way, “holiday” derives from “Holy Day.”
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
The backlash is growing...the
Submitted by gopsteve on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 8:24pm.
The backlash is growing...the public outcry over the PC minded people in charge will come.
Kind of off / on topic...I remember during any GOP administration...the MSM was always like "the American people are really looking for a deal this Holiday (Christmas) season."
So when aren't the American people looking for a shopping deal?
I guess when Carter or Clinton or Obama was / is in the WH, PERSONAL spending was / is not a concern?!
I don't know about you guys
Submitted by Rusty Shackleford on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 8:28pm.
I don't know about you guys but I am so excited for Holiday Day! I am going to put up Holiday Day lights and a Holiday Day tree and wait for Santa to bring me Holiday gifts! Horray Holiday!
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Chris Matthews: The Joy Behar of MSNBC.
Bill Maher: The Joy Behar of HBO.
Paul Krugman: The Joy Behar of The New York Times.
Holiday Tree
Submitted by rwnewsnut on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:07am.
Of all the hypocrisy, 'Holiday tree' takes the cake. For what other reason other than Christmas would anyone put up an evergreen tree in their home? If there is no other reason, then there is no reason to call it a 'Holiday Tree'. It is only to dilute Christmas further.
Christmas Hypocrites
Submitted by rwnewsnut on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:11pm.
I have noticed the same use of 'Christmas' when the story has a negative aspect. I enjoy reading the stories which provide the sales forecasts. During the Bush years, it was sales were as large as last year or they would predict decreases. When the sales numbers would be released, it was always with a 'but'; but the percent wasn't as big as expected, but sales weren't robust, but....
One Christmas it will happen. People who celebrate Christmas will finally say no more. No more materialism. Believers will get back to what Christmas is supposed to be. Possibly only exchanging small tokens of the season. Celebrating the season by being with family and friends. That is when all the stores (who no longer want to provide cards that say "Merry Christmas", who no longer sell "Christmas Trees", etc) will cry their eyes out. Boo hoo they'll cry. Why oh why is no one shopping? They worked to dilute the Christmas season. It would serve them right.
From what the media doesn't
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:17pm.
From what the media doesn't say these days, you'd think we were doing a lot better.
There Never Was A "War On Christmas", And There Never Will Be...
Submitted by TheReal7Sticks on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:44am.
I get sick and tired of this old myth about a so-called, quote-on-quote "War on Christmas". If such an occurrence ever existed, why didn't we have bloodied-up bodies on the streets where creches are set up, or Christmas trees lit ablaze and broken windows like Kristallnacht? Sorry, but everywhere I go, I hear or read the words Merry Christmas when I go out and do some shopping. If someone says to me "Happy Holidays", I simply say "Merry Christmas." And by the way, I'm a secular Jew, if that blows your mind. So maybe you need to get a grip and grow a thicker skin about it.
Really, dumbass?
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 12:49am.
Be sure and tell us all about it.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
So, your anecdotal
Submitted by Chris Norman on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 1:41am.
So, your anecdotal experiences completely negate every news story regarding the ongoing efforts to sanitize "Christmas" to the point of mostly removing it from public mention? Would you really have us believe that a "war" must literally involve guns, bombs, and dead bodies to be real? If so, then the "War on Poverty" must have not occurred as it didn't involve the strafing of upper class neighborhoods. Who are you - "Mr. Literal"?
Don't Bother
Submitted by sentry_99 on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 2:16am.
Sticks is a hit and run troll. Stops by, posts and never returns to defend.
why didn't we have bloodied-up bodies on the streets
Submitted by ckc1227 on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 2:24am.
"why didn't we have bloodied-up bodies on the streets"
Example number 1001 proving 7 IQ is a moron.
"And by the way,
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 10:10am.
I'm a secular Jew."
Yeah, we know. You've only told us about 500 times.
But you go right ahead and keep thinking that gives you a special pass to bash all things Christian.
throwing it around
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 10:35am.
You know, I used to have a part time worker who was Jewish. He fit the stereotype so bad that he fit the character that was created on South Park called Kyle, cousin of the Brofloskis.
This guy pissed all of us off. It wasn't till one of my other part time workers says she was Jewish and she hated that other guy's guts because he was such a stereotype.(his response to her was that she was a self-hating Jew, which in reality, she wasnt') The guy did the same thing, bash all things Christian till the Jewish girl ripped him a new one, and she enjoys the Christmas holiday too.
How bad was this guy? He would "hear" words from people like for example, I said the word "kite" because during one of our off moments, we were playing an online word scramble game...well, gee, guess what he "heard," which rhymes with dike? Pissed me off, I tell you! Finally I just got fed up and told him that he created an unpleasant working environment(which was the reason I fired him). He tried to say it was because he was Jewish and I said "this girl's Jewish, she didn't create the unpleasantness! Everyone's unhappy so I have to do what's best and let you go!" I'd rather fire one person who was a pain in the ass than lose good workers because of a pain in the ass. I didn't like doing that, but I had to do what's best for the work place.
-Jon
Christmas Layoffs
Submitted by papadon on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 11:12am.
You will find these stories filed in the same place as stories about "job maket for new grads."