The creeping secularization of Christian holidays is often illustrated by how “Happy Holidays” replaced “Merry Christmas” on gift cards and Coca-Cola’s Santa elbowed St. Nicholaus away from the scene. Few people pay attention to what is happening to Easter.
Unlike Christmas, Easter managed to retain its name so far, probably because there is no reference to Christ in it. But there is little more to it than that. When you try googling images of “Easter” or “Easter card”, you had better not count on seeing the Resurrected in any shape or form, unless He came back as a cute bunny pup. While the hegemonic infantilization of culture may to some extent accept baby Jesus in Its sweetness and harmlessness, it is obvious that a triumphant king that conquered death itself must be a manifestation of patriarchy and some kind of oppression.
The corporate code of conduct for Easter allows bright flashy colourful eggs, fluffy chickens and bunnies, and nothing more. Everything must be cute, childish and, most of all, neutral, so that no one can be upset. Not counting people who get upset when their faith, or even just culture for that matter, is being turned into a five year old’s coulouring book.
Faced with the current state of affairs, though, one has to ask which was first: a chicken or an egg (no pun here). Do search engines, stock photo websites and corporations merely reflect the condition of today’s society and its values, or is it possible that they are involved in some kind of social engineering and their ambition is rather to shape the world than reflect it. Numerous recent censorship scandals and “hate speech” policies involving Google, Facebook, and Twitter can make one opt for the latter.