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Tuesday 4 April 2017

Easter Egg Non Story BUSTED

The silly season has come early this year. That is the only reason so many intelligent and normally rational people have been persuaded to believe a ridiculous non-story which originated, it seems, at the increasingly downmarket and desperate Telegraph. The Tel appears to have been aided and abetted by that part of the Christian church that is on a hair trigger at any sign of neglect or assumed victimhood.
Cadbury - the firm that makes creme eggs - has once again partnered with the National Trust to promote easter egg hunts. So far, so mutually beneficial. But as the exercise is called “The Cadbury Egg Hunt”, with no mention of Easter, all hell has broken loose among that part of the press that was not already ranting about Gibraltar.

And rather than wave away questions on the faux ruckus as a waste of time, which is what she should have done, our not at all unelected Prime Minister, being a vicar’s daughter and in hock to the press, has joined in the condemnation over the missing E-word.

Thus we have the BBC telling “Theresa May has described the decision to drop the word Easter from the name of Cadbury and National Trust egg hunts as ‘absolutely ridiculous’”, while the Guardian joins in withTheresa May condemns National Trust for axing 'Easter' from egg hunt”, and the Evening Standard contributesCadbury Easter egg row: Theresa May hits out at National Trust for egg hunt name change”.
The idiocy has also engulfed Archbishop of York John Sentamu, normally a sensible person, and there has been the inevitable whining from former UKIP Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, who has wibbled “As I have said before, we must defend our Judeo-Christian culture and that means Easter”. What a complete and utter tosser.

So has “Easter” been expunged from the Cadbury Egg Hunt? Well, let’s have a look at the website, which, critics note, can be found at the URL easter.cadbury.co.uk.

The options at the top of the home page include Easter Hunt and Easter Products (so that’s three mentions of Easter so far). We are exhorted to “Enjoy Easter Fun”, followed by “Hunting for a way to make Easter magical?” and “Find adventure this Easter”.

There is Cadbury’s “range of Easter products”, “favourite Cadbury Easter treats”, “Easter fun in the kitchen”, “Arts and crafts for a fun-filled Easter”, along with four more mentions of, yes, Easter.
Just on the homepage, I make that twelve mentions of Easter. It is blindingly obvious that the name of the game here is Easter. And eggs and bunnies together can only mean one thing - once more, I give you Easter.

This is a total non-story whipped up by a desperate newspaper, the resultant bandwagon then jumped on by an equally desperate PM looking to keep in with the press on whom she is so dependent. Like all the “Wars on Christmas” that never existed, there is no “War on Easter”, no persecution of Christians, and no merit in flogging this dead horse.

Anyone would think the press wasn’t interested in real journalism. Just a thought.

14 comments:

Arnold said...

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a single mention of chocolate eggs in the Bible.

A.Robot (Mrs) said...

Nigel Farage 'Judaeo-Christian culture' eh?
Is this the same Judaeo-Christian Nigel whose teenage school chums remembered him singing 'Gas 'em all, Gas 'em all' etc at his not-at-all metropolitan-elite Dulwich College?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-fascist-nazi-song-gas-them-all-ukip-brexit-schoolfriend-dulwich-college-a7185236.html

A.Robot (Mrs) said...

A good day to bury bad benefit-cuts-and-Saudi-arms-deal news, eh?

Prisoner of Hope said...

Mayhem's response may also be down to revenge in spat with her previous Perm Sec at Home Office - Helen Ghosh now National Trust's Director General (http://bit.ly/2n7pekn)

David said...

Apparently Easter isn't really celebrated by Quakers. Dr Sentamu probably ought to have researched his speech a little better before deciding on the tub-thumping "spitting on the grave of Cadbury" bit.

Anonymous said...

Church of England - Tory Party at Prayer

Daily Torygraph - Tory Party house magazine.

National Trust - former Tory enclave, now behaving in a suspiciously lefty manner. Better send in the spycops.

mark said...

Easter - pagan - name comes from goddess of spring Eostre - and eggs have nowt to do with crucifixion or resurrection!

Matt said...

Looking forward to a record church attendance on Easter Sunday, as all the people frothing at the mouth take part in traditional Christian... Oh, what? The Garden Centre's got a sale on and the pub's firing up it's babrbie? Erm...

SteveB said...

Second word in TV advert is easter, 21 seconds in they mention hiding easter eggs. At the end the event is branded "The Great British Egg Hunt" - now there's a double edged argument waiting to happen. Perhaps Farage and May etc have something against it being BRITISH....... And has Farage forgotten that Cadbury is an AMERICAN company, did he get Trump's permission to say anything negative?

To be honest, the Cadbury marketing is all over the place with at least two names in use for the event and various side references to easter but as Arnold says, where exactly in christian teachings does it mention chocolate eggs?? Or easter bunnies??

David said...

Arnold, Steve & Mark - good comments. Eggs (chocolate or otherwise) are a Pagan symbol, ditto the Easter Bunny (which traditionally was actually a hare not a rabbit!!).

Anonymous said...

"Well, let’s have a look at the website, which, critics note, can be found at the URL easter.cadbury.uk."

You mean http://easter.cadbury.co.uk

Anonymous said...

More dead cats form the usual suspects.

Meanwhile our leader talks with the political and financial wing of ISIS.

Anonymous said...

What has Easter got to do with Christians? It's a festival as pagan as they come hence the eggs and bunnies.

Arnold said...

I don't think that the 2017 silly season came early, but that the 2016 one never ended.