Forget red\/blue states: the new cultural divide is betw. those who wear X-mas sweaters ironically and genuinely.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Such was my tweet yesterday, or rather, my reply to a tweet by Virginia Postrel, who had linked to a piece in BusinessWeek called, "The Big Business of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/forget-redblue-states-the-new-cultural-divide-is-betw-those-who-wear-x-mas-sweaters-ironically-and-genuinely.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forget red\/blue states: the new cultural divide is betw. those who wear X-mas sweaters ironically and genuinely.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Such was my tweet yesterday, or rather, my 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{"id":185,"date":"2014-11-25T07:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T13:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/forget-redblue-states-the-new-cultural-divide-is-betw-those-who-wear-x-mas-sweaters-ironically-and-genuinely.html"},"modified":"2015-02-26T22:58:49","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T04:58:49","slug":"forget-redblue-states-the-new-cultural-divide-is-betw-those-who-wear-x-mas-sweaters-ironically-and-genuinely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/forget-redblue-states-the-new-cultural-divide-is-betw-those-who-wear-x-mas-sweaters-ironically-and-genuinely.html","title":{"rendered":"Forget red\/blue states: the new cultural divide is betw. those who wear X-mas sweaters ironically and genuinely."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s the thing: \u00a0tomorrow, we\u2019re headed to Detroit (yes, of course, actually the Detroit area) to visit my parents (and afterwards you\u2019ll most likely be treated to another frustrated post on Why Can\u2019t My Parents Understand That Their Two-Story Car-Dependent House Isn\u2019t Right For Them Any More), and I can tell you what my mom will be wearing: \u00a0a Christmas Sweater. \u00a0And she\u2019ll be wearing it because she likes Christmas Sweaters, and she bought it when Christmas sweaters were popular, and was simply the Christmas version of the popular style of sweater at the time. \u00a0(I remember buying sweaters at Winkelman\u2019s, in the late 80s.) \u00a0When she\u2019s not wearing a Christmas Sweater, she\u2019ll probably be wearing a decorated sweatshirt \u2014 the kind you can find at craft fairs, with a winter scene on it. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a part of Christmas, just as much as getting out the Christmas Plates (red with a Christmas tree on them) and her other endless decorations (angels, her collection of Santa Bears, and the like).<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d like to get in the heads of the people who are buying and selling Ugly Christmas Sweaters. \u00a0Are they enjoying wearing the sweater, or are they enjoying mocking the sort of people who enjoy the sweater, or is their world small enough that they don\u2019t even recognize that the latter category exists? \u00a0And will the Decorated Sweatshirt be the next target of their \u201cirony\u201d?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"