Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. 

They must have thought they were in the clear.

When Starbucks released its latest Holiday Cups, you sensed that the coffee chain was tired of accusations that it was anti-Christmas. Or even anti-Christian.

So the latest cups seemed to feature every possibly Christmas trope in a cornutropia of happy Christmas symbolism.

Yet simultaneously, Starbucks released a video featuring the cups. In it, a lesbian couple hold hands. 

Somehow, this didn't cause too much of a stir.

Now, however, people are looking more closely at the cups again. At the top of the cups, more precisely.

There, you'll find two people holding hands.

What sort of hands are they? Other than human hands, that is. Could they be the same hands? Those very same hands? Could they be the same two, gosh, lesbian hands? 

BuzzFeed News noticed more of this sort of thing. Or, rather, decided to stir the cup all on its own.

Now, one can only wait for the inevitable lash, emerging from the back of the social media auditorium.

Wait, it's already begun to dribble through, yet with little force.

Can you get over your shameful lust for Starbucks coffee? Will you boycott? 

Infuriatingly (for some, no doubt), the company won't say whether these hands on these here cups are a pair of lesbian hands.

It merely offered this anodyne homage to universal hand-holding: "Each year during the holidays we aim to bring our customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season, and we will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world."

I fear, though, that this time Starbucks might not suffer as much as usual.

I sense that, as the year comes to a close, there's a certain tiredness in the partisan camps.

There has been so much, at such an intensity, that most people would surely just like to sit down and have an extremely peaceful Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Without the usual socio-cultural rancor. 

Is it possible? Let's hold hands and find out.

Published on: Nov 18, 2017
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.