Things I Don't Get #3477

[thessalian]

The so-called "War on Christmas"

Last year, around the Christmas holiday season, there were the usual bitches from customers_suck: Entitlement Bitches of both genders, idiots, scam artists and all the rest. Really, December 2004 on customers_suck looked no different than any other month.

This year, however, things are different. Yes, you still get the categories mentioned above, but you also get what I'm going to have to dub the Christmas Nazis. The ones who respond to the phrase "Happy Holidays" with "It's Christmas! Say 'Merry Christmas'!" This normally delivered in horribly patronising tones or tones of extreme aggravation, as if to go without the acknowledgement of Christmas as The Supreme Holiday of December causes them actual physical pain.

Of course, a fair number of the people commenting are American. This probably explains a lot, given the current climate. But I'm going to rant anyway, because none of this is fair.

There seems to be this odd belief that there's some kind of "war on Christmas" going on; a fair number of particularly ... 'devout' (for lack of a better word) Christians seem to be of the belief that the world is actively trying to stamp out Christmas as a holiday, and that the tendency to not say "Merry Christmas" to total strangers is the first step. And I really don't get it. At all.

Okay, yes. Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated on 25th December. I don't care that it's more than likely not celebrated on the day that Jesus was born, and that's with information from the Bible itself. I don't care that Christmas is essentially poaching a pagan holiday. I like Christmas. I know people of many faiths who like Christmas. No one wants to stamp out Christmas as far as I know. The fact is that Christmas is not the only holiday that's celebrated around this time of year. Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Yule ... all December holidays. Plus I'm sure I'm forgetting or am just unaware of others. The middle of winter is a good time to celebrate, as it's cold and dark and miserable and people want a reason to be happy, even if you're basically celebrating the "It's always darkest before the dawn" principle on the shortest day of the year.

"Happy Holidays" seems to be such a nice middle ground. To say that is acknowledging that there are many festivals and holy days going on and wishing the addressee happiness in whichever one they happen to celebrate. I think it's nice, because it shows awareness and does not foist a particular point of view onto people who might not appreciate it while still acknowledging that it is a special occasion.

This, apparently, is not good enough for certain louder Christian types. Apparently, just as their God is supposed to be the only one, so too is their December celebration. So the greeting can't be "Happy Holidays", because that doesn't acknowledge Christmas, which in turn is not acknowledging Christ, which of course is not acceptable. And all I can say to these people is "give it a fucking rest already". I do not demand that people acknowledge Ganesh, Mithras, Ptah, Bast, Anubis, Athena, Cthulu or whichever deity I'm dealing with at any given time, so it seems unfair that people are trying to take away from my chosen method of celebrating (which isn't really so different from Christmas, given that it still involves religious ritual, big dinners and present exchanges) by insisting that only their gods be acknowledged. I'm happy to leave my gods out of it, so long as we're fair and leave them all out in generalised greetings.

At home, of course, is different. You can sacrifice goats to dark evil gods in the privacy of your own home for all I care; just don't force me to wish you a Happy Steaming Goat Entrails day. And if you want to erroneously celebrate Jesus' birthday in the middle of winter, that's fine too, and I wish you a joyous day. However, fair's fair. If you won't tell me to have a Happy Solstice (or a Happy Yule, or a Very Merry Mithras) just because that's what I celebrate, don't expect a "Merry Christmas" out of other people ... particularly if they're customer service reps who have no way of knowing if you're a Christian or not. Accept the good wishes involved in "Happy Holidays" in the spirit in which they were given and shut up about us wanting to stamp out Christmas!

Comments

[caira.livejournal.com]

What gets me is that these people are, basically, saying "Merry Christmas" and meaning "fuck you". That "whoosh" sound you here is the point flying high over the heads of the entire fucking Bible Belt.

[caira.livejournal.com]

Or "hear", even. (You can tell I have a job again, can't you?)