On the TV muds-a-slinging.
Not only has the retail world conspired to make us all hate Christmas before it is even December with the constant ramming of decorations, candy and gift buying hints down our throats. Hmmmm...perhaps there is some militant retail agenda going on here...
No, it is not enough that we have been enduring Christmas programming since before Halloween, now the news networks have to get in on the fight.
Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays.
Militant anti-Christmas liberals are trying to take away your Mrrrrican rights as a Christian to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
For Pete's sake.
Let's try this.
Salesperson: Happy Holidays!
You: Thank you!
Person on the Street: Merry Christmas!
You: And to you, also!
Do we really care if someone says Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? I mean, if some complete stranger is taking the time to say something NICE to you, is it really his or her problem if you take offense to how he/she said it? I know I'm hopelessly out of date with all these new things for liberals and conservatives to be all offended about, but this is what my momma taught me. If you know some-one is Christian, you send them a Merry Christmas card. If you know some-one is Jewish, you send them a Happy Hannuakah(sorry about the spelling, but I have to leave for work in like one minute). If you don't know, you send them a Season's Greetings or Happy Holiday card.
It's called being polite.
And if some-one says the "wrong" thing to you, you let it go, smile and return the greeting. After all, tis the season.
Sigh. I used to get sick of "this time of the year" around December 15th. Now it's more like October 1st.
Thor sez: Does this mean no presents? Because I was going to ask for a kitten this year.
6 comments:
If anyone knows how to actually find these uncountable hordes of liberals who are against people saying "Merry Christmas," I would like an exclusive interview with them.
I would also like exclusive interviews with the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Yeti, and other creatures that "people say" are out there but no one seems to actually be able to find.
Okay, I need to step forward...having spent more time in universities that I actually like to admit, and universities that were pretty diverse (the graduate student population at Michigan State was ~50% international students when I was there) I became sensitive to the whole "Merry Christmas" thing. I don't personally care (how someone greets me) - but then I was raised on baby Jesus and Santa Claus, so either way works for me. But in school I had long conversations over the years with my fellow students that talked about how alienated they felt with the whole "Christmas" thing. I know that alot of folks think it's 'over the top' PC, but I'm pretty careful to say 'Happy Holidays', unless I know for sure that the folks I'm sending greetings to are of the M.C. persuasion. Right now I have a graduate student in my lab that was raised a christian-taoist - a very small group of folks (her family actually moved here from Ecuador to 'spread the word' and live, in all places, NJ) - and she has never done the whole Christmas thing. I've talked with her, and she feels funky at 'Christmas' (oops, I mean over the holidays) - we just try not to make it worse.
So I'm not a horde (but I am a liberal) - I just felt that I had to come forward, sort of like saying in public: I'm a liberal, and I prefer to say 'Happy Holidays'. So - when is the interview???? Or were you only interviewing hordes?
Sigh.
I suppose I should have been more specific... my comment was against what I perceive as a disturbing trend in "manufactured news," the apparent purpose of which seems to be to get people riled up and taking sides against one another. So we can all fight against one another over holiday greetings instead of paying attention to emergencies like global warming. That kind of thing.
But, hey, I have wanted to interview you for a while anyway, so:
Tuesday. 7pm. Call me.
Thanks,
J
Yeah...but I guess that I also have to confess that my 'Happy Holidays' obsession (not that it's really an obsession, but I'm trying to add drama here...) has gotten me into trouble because I confronted a former business manager who REFUSED to not say a prayer about baby Jesus' birth before a 'holiday' potluck (yes, this was here in South Carolina, surprise, surprise) and I got into all sorts of trouble - when I was just thinking about the jewish and islamic folks on our faculty who wanted to hide in their offices during the whole event.
But hey, I'm all for attention on global warming. The recent news has been freakish, I need to catch up on some of the reading! Actually, right now, I just need to work on my grant...:) Procrastinating writing proposals is what I'm actually best at.
Well, that and avoiding interviews (unless forced by my boss). But I'd be game for a beer with you and JanetLee sometime, off the record. Maybe we need a blogger happy hour?
I too, was trying to make a point about the media manufacturing devisive story lines.
I agree with you, Pam, about being sensitive to people who don't celebrate Christmas and if I know they do not, I will insert their holiday of choice into any greeting I may give.
But I do feel that out in the general public (in the case of poor store clerks who are often told by management what they can say), you just gotta understand that most people celebrate Christmas and if some-one gives you a "wrong" greeting for your particular celebration, you just have to let it go.
By the time December arrives, I'm usually so burned out from the hype that my most favored greeting is "Bah Humbug". (insert jokey-tone of voice here)
I've gotten to be more of the 'bah humbug' persuasion on the whole thing - and wish there was a law to forbid Christmas music to be played in stores until at least after Thanksgiving. Geez. "They" are killing it. Did I hear correctly that Walmart recently made a new policy that they were going to say "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays"? Maybe I'm making that up. I know it's not the folks fault that have to say it - but it's hard not to think...oh, never mind. I'm still writing my grant so take everything much too seriously when doing so!! (Or maybe I'm sick of the holidays already...).
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