A group of about 60 Christmas carolers the the local Cure Church staged a good cheer invasion at a Kansas City, Kansas, Walmart last Sunday. Shoppers and employees stopped to listen and some sang along. Naturally the scene was caught on video, and, predictably, the video “went viral” on social media.
Also predictably, Scrooges were out in force on social media. Reddit patrons were especially hostile. “Not the Bee” was depressed at the reaction, sniffing, “This is Christmas we’re talking about! We used to understand that things were a little more magical and glorious this time of year.”
Well, yes, I am certainly sympathetic, but it was still a disruption in a private business without prior consent, and if anything flies in the face of “diversity” cant, it’s a public demonstration of a particular religion’s beliefs to a captive audience. After all, the group wasn’t singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” One person’s Christmas magic is another’s inappropriate proselytizing.
Your Ethics Alarms Christmastime Ethics Quiz is…
Ethics Alarms 
Even if they had been singing “Rudolf” or one of the snow ballads that don’t mention Christmas at all, the Scrooges would have complained. Songs that are specific to this season are all lumped into the religious expression category. Such people would have complained if even one customer strolled the aisles, tossing food in a shopping cart and singing along with Andy Williams blaring over the store’s music station.
That being said, I did read about this. I hate to throw coal in their stockings, but this was the wrong decision on the part of the carolers. They disrupted the workings of the store, distracting shoppers, possibly causing others to detour around them to get where they needed to be and creating trouble for the store itself on the part of the Scrooges and Scroogettes who I have no doubt took out their frustration on the poor beleaguered cashiers who have no more control over the carolers than they have to increase their own pay.
Get permission first. How hard would it have been?
Gearing permission would have been the better call, although most stores I’ve encountered actually prefer to have people spreading Christmas cheer. Happy customers spend more, after all.
As for if religious or Christmas specific songs are appropriate, I say absolutely. I appreciate that there are other holidays which happen at this time, and many folks enjoy being excluded. That being said, I celebrate Christmas, and will not be tut-tutted into shamefacedly halving my own celebration merely because other holidays exist.
Is Wal-Mart attempting to engage Christmas shoppers? Yes. Are others excluded because they worship Beelzebub or Mohammed? NO. In fact they are encouraged to join and be included. Any rejection is on them not on those whose arms are open to them.
Stop with the critiques of people who are trying to spread cheer. I am personally sick of hearing about making others spirits bright by buying stuff. That is not what this is about.
Find the good in things and not the bad. Otherwise, the season will be bleak and dreary.
The type who hate Wallyworld are going to hate Wallyworld no matter what they do at any time. Wallyworld’s existence just grinds their gears…
Merry Christmas to all… Mike
It looks like a counterattack in the Christmas wars.
I am just saddened by the opposite case, where Christmas and tradition is suppressed by the official government religion.
Our town has a housing facility that is mostly seniors with no other place to go and no family to help them. It isn’t a nursing home or assisted living facility, just apartments. Because the residents are paying for this with Medicare, the federal government decides what can happen in the facility. The manager asked several churches to come in to do something for Christmas, provide stockings with candy, sing carols, etc. However, the federal government decreed that if anyone dared to say “Merry Christmas”, that church would be barred from the facility. Everyone was required to say “Happy Holidays”. Last month, some churches provided food for Thanksgiving, but the facility was forbidden by the federal government from calling it Thanksgiving. It was mandated ‘Turkey Day’.
How does majority/minority culture wars factor into the ethicality of flash mobs?
Personally, I am not interested in shopping at Walmart if there are going to be flash mobs singing the latest version of “Allahu Akbar from the River to the Sea” during Ramadan.
However, need cultural unity beyond “buy stuff and go home”, and that unity will serve best if it comes from ideals which beyond our grasp we must always strive.
I couldn’t hear what they were singing, but if it were overtly proselytizing, I would say unethical(and this is from an opinionated Calvinist). But if it was a traditional Christmas song like “Joy to the World” and it was a random one-time event with no unreasonable disruption, I would say ethical. So, is this way of thinking just consequentialism?
Is the question the ethicality of singing flash mobs in general or just churchy ones?
I agree with you, Oh. If it’s OK for a church to do this, than it’s OK for a Hari Krishna flash mob too. And it’s not.
When I read about the carolers, the following incident was the first thing that went through my mind because I was worried that someone would try to establish a false equivalence between the two stories. Thankfully, nobody has.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/14/target-employee-called-racist-for-breaking-up-flash-mob-that-tried-to-film-dance-video-in-store/
And, as a church choir member, I have no problem with Christmas carolers singing in stores.
I object to flash mobs of any kind. Matters not whether they are singing carols, plaing beethoven, ravaging stores, protesting any number of geopolitical complaints.