Last Updated on June 13, 2017
First a plain red coffee cup. This time, an OCD sweater is getting people worked up.
If you were attending a tacky Christmas sweater-themed holiday party, this might be a good choice.
But some people don’t see the humor.
Target is apparently one of several retailers selling a sweater with the letters OCD in tall letters, and below that, the words, “Obsessive Christmas Disorder.”
Some people who have obsessive compulsive disorder don’t see the humor.
Others, meanwhile, compare this latest holiday controversy to last week’s bruhaha about plain red Christmastime cups being used by Starbucks; the cups got the coffee giant accused of trying to take Christ out of Christmas, even though the cups never had Christ on them to begin with.
One Twitter user said something interesting about the sweater in a complaint to Target: the sweater could be offensive to someone who actually has OCD.
That’s true, of course.
But that user at least implies that he or she doesn’t have it, and chooses complains that someone else could be offended. Is that what we’re turning social media into these days? An “offense police” platform? The tweet is correct, I’ll admit: someone could be offended.
I’ll go a step further: someone probably will be offended. It seems these days that people wake up each morning and immediately begin what must be the tiring work of looking for something to be offended by.
I did a Google search for t-shirts that contain the abbreviation “PMS,”  and suggested alternative meanings include, “Prepare to meet Satan”  and “Potential Murder Suspect.”  These shirts poke fun at the condition and its perceived symptom of unmitigated rage. Who’s lining up to protest those shirts? Oh, that’s right: it’s mostly women who wear the shirts to make light of their own legitimate condition.
Obsessive Christmas Disorder doesn’t poke fun at people who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder: it makes fun of the people who wear the sweater! By making a play on the initials, they’re making light of their obsession with Christmas (and apparently, tacky sweaters), not people who have the real disorder that happens to share the initials.
I’m not sure why that’s not more clear.
