Poor taste: "NOOK Honours Remembrance Week"

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Seems to me it's designed to encourage people to remember the sacrifices that have been made in the name of freedom. I think reading about those sacrifices is an excellent way to do that, and a bookstore pointing out pertinent books seems helpful, not distasteful.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't think I'd have used the term "honouring", but I don't really have an issue with what they've done.

To my mind, Remembrance Day is a reminder that people suffer during war, and books can help with that. It's my eternal (but hopelessly naive) hope that the more people understand what happens during war, the less likely they will be to call for it in future.

[Laridae]

I don't see anything wrong with B&N's promotion.
People lead busy lives and have many demands on their attention. Tying the promotion to Remembrance Day helps to focus people's attention on the subject and, hopefully, might lead them to spend some time reflecting on this important part of our history.

While I see no harm in their actions, it wouldn't hurt if they donated part of the profits to benefit returning service men and women or some other related charity, as has been suggested. It would be a classy act and it would help to counter the complaints about possible exploitation of a solemn and revered subject. Mebbe next year?

[Xanthe]

Speaking about the day being ignored, I just found out yesterday that the kidlets in my family aren't being given Veteran's Day off as a holiday.

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Seems to me it's designed to encourage people to remember the sacrifices that have been made in the name of freedom.

Do they only want to remember those or the soldiers who died while trying to put the boot on some other peoples' necks as well?

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Speaking about the day being ignored, I just found out yesterday that the kidlets in my family aren't being given Veteran's Day off as a holiday.

In the US? It's a federal holiday?

[Xanthe]

Yes, it is a federal holiday - since 1938.

They go to parochial school. They didn't get Columbus Day off either - also a federal holiday.


From Wiki:

Federal law cannot compel state, municipal, or other local governments to observe or recognize federal holidays in any way; the Tenth Amendment effectively reserves holiday creation policy to the governments of the several states.

However, here in NJ, Veterans Day and Columbus Day are also State holidays. (They are also state holidays in Illinois, which your location shows). So the kids are getting screwed out of holidays that should be observed. Makes me glad I went to public school.

[AnemicOak]

Public schools here don't get the day off (I think they did back when I went). There are lots of days we got off that they don't now.


IMO better than giving the kids the day off would be to use it as a special day to educate them about the day and what it's all about.

[Tarana]

We never got either of those days off. It makes more sense for the teachers to focus curriculum on these events than to give the kids a day off.

[jersysman]

I was talking about the same thing with some of the people I work with. This, as a day of from school, has been substituted by Election Day as a day off in the area of PA where I live. When I was a kid oh so many years ago, we went to school during Election Day. But, as time went by, this supplanted Veteran's Day. In our area, since they use so many schools as voting locations, security, especially after 9/11 is a priority, so they do not want people voting and kids going to school in the same buildings. So, that is one reason for the switch.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Speaking about the day being ignored, I just found out yesterday that the kidlets in my family aren't being given Veteran's Day off as a holiday.

My son didn't have the day off.

In addition to Veterans Day being a Federal holiday it is also a official holiday for Wisconsin. However, public schools remained in session today and as far as private businesses go only banks were closed. That said their was more in the way of observance in the small town I currently reside in than I ever saw when living in large urban areas or surrounding suburbs. The weekly paper that came out on Friday had a nice presentation of past military service for all the major conflicts that the US has been involved in starting with the War for Independence. One thing I found interesting in that was how the total casualty rate has fallen over the years, especially for recent wars, as well as the dramatic decline in service member deaths not from combat. It was sort of funny that the most recent wars were listed by the official PR names: Operation Enduring Freedom & Operation Iraqi Freedom. I suspect that by the time these make it into the history books they will have more descriptive names like the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. The latest listed was something called Operation New Dawn . Apparently another war was snuck in there while I wasn't looking ?

I don’t find the Nook promotion in bad taste or exploitative. I am actually more turned off by so many of the big box retailers who will be forcing their employees to work full days on Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday now obsolete and replaced by Black Thanksgiving?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Public schools here don't get the day off (I think they did back when I went). There are lots of days we got off that they don't now.


IMO better than giving the kids the day off would be to use it as a special day to educate them about the day and what it's all about.

Originally Posted by Tarana

We never got either of those days off. It makes more sense for the teachers to focus curriculum on these events than to give the kids a day off.

Originally Posted by jersysman

I was talking about the same thing with some of the people I work with. This, as a day of from school, has been substituted by Election Day as a day off in the area of PA where I live. When I was a kid oh so many years ago, we went to school during Election Day. But, as time went by, this supplanted Veteran's Day. In our area, since they use so many schools as voting locations, security, especially after 9/11 is a priority, so they do not want people voting and kids going to school in the same buildings. So, that is one reason for the switch.

Do your communities not have Veterans Day Parades? No special programs to commemorate the day? Or is it just another day?

Its very prideful to watch the parade here, and in other communities where I live.


As for "better using the day to educate them what its all about", we do that here during the school day.

As a matter of fact, during the first two weeks of the month lessons about Veterans Day are incorporated, Veterans are invited to speak to assembles, and programs are presented, especially in the upper grades.

If nothing else, perhaps this thread has reminded some that because of the sacrifices made by generations past, we are free to follow whatever path we choose.

My favorite quote, by Ronald Reagan, demonstrates why we have to never forget....

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

[DiapDealer]

I think there's a quite a difference between "Honoring our veterans" and "Romanticizing them."

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think there's a quite a difference between "Honoring our veterans" and "Romanticizing them."

Really.

I wasn't "Romanticizing" them. I"m not a starry eyed twit who sees nothing bad, only the good.

I do understand the sacrifices on many levels made by our service men and women.....that have always been made.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Really.

I wasn't "Romanticizing" them. I"m not a starry eyed twit who sees nothing bad, only the good.

Sorry, my post just happened to follow yours. It shouldn't be construed as any direct criticism of what you had to say. It was just a general response to the entire thread. I tend to quote that which I'm directly responding to.