http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051218/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_holidays_america
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ebenezer Scrooge would enjoy Christmas in America this year.
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Drowning out the sounds of sleigh bells ringing and children singing are the sounds of arguing. At issue is how to greet people, how to decorate main street and how to sell gifts -- all without offending someone.
Religious conservatives are threatening lawsuits and boycotts to insist that store clerks and advertisements say "Merry Christmas." Countering are those who argue they are being inclusive and inoffensive with the secular "Happy Holidays."
In the middle seem to be most Americans, who not only aren't offended but find the whole spat rather ridiculous.
"You'd think there might be some Christmas spirit around Christmas time around the issue of Christmas," said Paul Cantor, a popular culture expert and professor at the University of Virginia. "It's one time you really wish people really could live and let live."
Alas, that's not what this Christmas is all about.
Sparks flew when U.S.
President George W. Bushsent out cards referring to the "holiday season," a leading Republican declared the decorated tree on the Capitol lawn a "Christmas Tree" and not a "Holiday Tree" and the logger who cut down the tree for the Boston Common was so upset when officials called it a "Holiday Tree" that he said he'd rather see it fed into a wood chipper.
"HANGING OF THE GREENS"
Conservative groups have marshalled the forces of lawyers volunteering to help anyone fighting for Christmas displays and launched boycotts of retailers whose advertisements fail to say "Merry Christmas."
A school system in Texas found itself in court after teachers asked children to bring white -- rather than red and green -- napkins to a party, while Annapolis, Maryland raised hackles by calling its evergreen boughs and ribbons on public buildings the "Hanging of the Greens" rather than "Christmas decorations."
Fanning the flames are conservative talk show personalities bemoaning the secularisation of Christmas. Fox News anchor John Gibson chimed in with a book "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse than You Thought."
"'Happy Holidays' and 'Season's Greetings' are not a substitute for 'Merry Christmas,'" said Manuel Zamorano, head of the Sacramento, California-based Committee to Save Merry Christmas, which organises store boycotts over holiday advertising.
"Christmas is the holiday and 'Merry Christmas' is what we want to hear," he said. "It's political correctness gone amok."
BLAME POLITICS
Bah humbug, said radio talk show host Bill Press, author of "How the Republicans Stole Christmas."
"People have been saying 'Happy Holidays' for a hundred years at least," he said. "This is nothing new. It just celebrates the diversity of America."
He blames politics.
"It is all by design," he said. "The more people are talking about who's saying 'Happy Holidays' and who's saying 'Merry Christmas,' the less people are talking about Karl Rove, torture,
Tom DeLay, the war in
Iraq and other hot issues.
"And the more they stir up their evangelical Christian base over this issue, the more likely they are to get out and vote Republican in 2006," he said.
The debate has become comic grist.
"Every time you say 'Happy Holidays,' an angel gets
AIDS," warned television comedian Jon Stewart.
The satirical newspaper The Onion wrote a spoof about a judge who declared Christmas unconstitutional, with a photograph purporting to be workers dismantling the famed tree at Rockefeller Center to comply with the judge's ruling.
Making the rounds on the Internet is a series of mock memos from a fake company inviting employees to a Christmas Party, complete with open bar, gift exchange and tree lighting.
By the last of the memos, the increasingly beleaguered company is forced to apologise to its Jewish employees, the office alcoholics, Muslims, dieters, pregnant women, gays and lesbians, union members, management, cross-dressers, diabetics and vegetarians. In the end, the party is cancelled.
RETAILERS IN THE MIDDLE
Stuck in the middle of the debate are retailers, whose seasonal selling campaigns seem to raise particular wrath.
"When someone says 'Happy Holidays,' they're saying something very nice to you. There's no ill intent behind any of this," said Dan Butler of the National Retail Federation. "When you're dealing with the public you'll get positive comments and negative comments about everything in the world."
Perhaps, added Peter Steinfels of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, there isn't a war on Christmas after all but a more sensitive religious right.
Conservatives are using the super-fast Internet and e-mail to publicise what they see as extreme examples of "super politically correct conduct," he said. "It gives the impression that there's a great deal of political correctness ... when in fact it may not really be so different from the way it's always been."
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Some people certainly do need forceful slaps in the face. I'm all for integrating other cultures into society, but that doesn't involve restraining and putting limits upon your own cultural traditions. People should be allowed to celebrate their own festivals without offending anyone, and I'm not offended by muslims celebrating Eid, so I don't see why we should assume they would be offended by christians celebrating theirs.
I, personally, am annoyed anytime I hear the term "happy holidays". Not because of the intent of the person and their meaning behind it(which is good-hearted I'm sure), but the driving force behind it. I agree with the people who say that it is political correctness gone amok. Even if someone were to be Jewish, I would retort with "Oh, well happy Hanukah then!" and that would fix that.
And as far as the retailers are concerned, I can see why they would do it, but it doesn't make it right. I believe this was the straw that broke the camels back with the average people and can't stand the political correctness that has infested our nation(s). The tides are about to change soon, for better or worse.
I am not offended by anyone saying Happy Holidays. However I do get offended when I hear this:
The satirical newspaper The Onion wrote a spoof about a judge who declared Christmas unconstitutional
Why? It was just a joke.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Wait a minute.
Christians are getting upset that people aren't using their preferred word for a holiday they stole from solstice-celebrating pagans in the first place?
Excuse me, but what the ****?
Where in the bible does it say Christians should expect that non-christians make witnessing easy for them? Where does it say non-Christians are to expected to go along with what Christians want? If I recall correctly, most of the New Testament was written by people who were being persecuted for their beliefs, often to the death, and the message was not to b!tch and whine about it, or to get angry when they were boiling you in oil... but to be filled with love and joy and to turn the other cheek and all that good stuff. EVEN IF THEY ARE KILLING YOU. Jesus forgave the people who nailed Him to a bloody cross and another guy praised God as they smashed his skull with rocks.
And modern Christianity thinks it's doing its religion honour by going on TV and whining like children because some people dare to use the wrong word for a festival they stole from pagans in the first place?! How does this make sense? Show me the verse in the bible that says this isn't immature and stupid.
The SOLE problem with "Happy Holidays" is that it sounds kinda dumb and naff (though if you mean "Christmas and New Year" or "Christmas or Hannakuh, whichever" it's entirely accurate), but if I wanna celebrate Decemberween or the Solstice or Punching-in-the-face-mas that's my **** business. Christians are getting offended by the term, boycotting stores, b!tching on talkback radio, getting all worked up, because in a country they bloody well run, they're're being forced to be subconsciously made aware of non-Christians? That's not just annoying, it's BAD CHRISTIANITY. It's putting scoring political points and whinging about crap above actually living a godly, loving sort of life and winning others to their religion.
So people should just shut up and be happy with their bloody tree-decorating, over-eating, wood-burning Winter Solstice "making the Goddess of Spring come back" festival, whatever people wanna call it. And DON'T try and tell me "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" because he ain't.
Know what's really funny?
Christmas isn't a Christian Holiday. Jesus wasn't born in December. Catholics moved it to December to piss off Pagens, just like with Easter. The entire arguement is ridiculous.
I thought you were supposed to call it Xmas anyway?
Futurama Joke?
I'm not even someone who really believes in God. It doesn't have anything to do with God, Jesus, what have you. It's the political correctness that bugs me.
Let's hear it for the seperation of church and state! Woohoo! And screw everybody else. Whether you say "Merry Christmas," "Happy Holidays," or "Happy Get Pi[COLOR=white]ss[/COLOR] Drunk and Fight With the Ceramic Ronald McDonald at the McDonald's Playhouse on 12th Street Day," it still means the same thing.
ATTN: WORLD
There is no "PC Brigade" conspiracy and "political correctness" is a way exaggerated fantasy that exists mostly in your head and on Fox News and Talkback Radio.
I wonder what neo-conservatives are annoyed more by, "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Hanukkah". It seems like they go mental whenever someone just wants to not be a Christian.
You're confused.
Neo-conservatism is basically a foreign policy position and says nothing about their views on anything else.
I am one of those who find the whole thing really ridiculous. On the Daily Show they had a clip of some American christian politician who said non-christians are not offended when someone says Merry Christmas. The interviewer in turn says, then christians aren't offended when someone says Happy holidays? his reply, yes, yes they are.
This is the type of people at the forefront of this battle. I used to be christian by default (my parents are christian, so i was raised as such) but have since moved away from the organized religion portion, this being a prime example why, and instead try to look at the meaning behind the scriptures. I still celabrate christmas, as you can see, because its nice to celabrate with family and friends, and give and be happy. However notice Santa is my avatar and not Jesus. I am not and have never been offended by Happy Holidays, thats just a dumb christian belief of superiority over other religions. What if the owner of a company and chain of stores is jewish, and is offended to have to put merry christmas in the store window just because christianity is the majority?
Nich, that wasn't a politician. That was Bill ORLY.
This whole ****ed thing is basically non-existant and being blown out of proportion. They way these crazy Christians are acting you'd think it was illegal for them to say "Merry Christmas." The whole argument is incredibly petty. Someone expresses something POSITIVE about a time of the year, but because it doesn't fit neatly with your religion, it's incredibly offensive? I think I'd prefer saying "Happy Holidays" if only to spite these people, much as I would like to shout "**** YOU!" to the person who asks me not to say "****" when I stub my toe.
It doesn't have to do with the religion.
It's the purpose behind it! Why are peopling saying "Happy Holidays"? Because they are **** scared that they might OFFEND somebody because of it. God forbid I know, but I seem to be the only person here who seems to care about the people who want to say Merry Christmas instead. Sure people are free to say whatever the **** they want, but if you think about it, are they really allowed to say "Merry Christmas" without being criticized for it? And not just people; retailers, and politians too.
Are you just guessing that people are scared of offending people? If you hadn't heard this hugely exaggerated story at all, would you even differentiate between people saying it either way?
Nope. I noticed it on my own accord thanks. I just heard about it 3 days ago that other people also happen to think the same way I do. Weird huh?
I swear, you people waaaay to much of a fuck about really unimportant stuff. If people want to boycott a store because it doesn't say "merry christmas", WHY DO YOU CARE?
*yawn*
Better "Happy Holidays" than "Freedom Fries".
Oh, and if people are insisting that we're celebrating having the holiday season instead of Christmas, isn't that completely redundant? People tend to have holidays for a reason as opposed to for pretending that they don't have a reason.
Who is actually offended by open Christmas celebrations? I am, however, somewhat offended (on the behalf of Christians, since I'm not one) by the blatant commercialism of what's meant to be a Christian celebration and the whole retarded Santa Claus thing. I challenge anyone to ask any parents, "Would you lie to your child?" sometime around Christmas and take note of their answers.
btw Bj, we don't care about something like store boycotting in itself. We care that people are stupid enough to do such things, which shows that the average intelligence level seems to be going down. That's important.
This is an outrage. I'll be ****ed if my holiday season is ruined by non-believers. It's "Merry Christmas," ****it.
People can do what they want and believe whatever they want. Personally, I believe it's a waste of time, so I'll keep on telling people because it is my right to say so.
It's my right to say that it's my right that I have rights.
You missed the obvious point, richoad (why am I not surprised). You getting upset about them protesting this is stupid, period. Granted, it is your right to act stupid, but hey, if you can mock stupidity, so can I. These people aren't hurting you in any way. They're just protesting (without blocking traffic even), so leave them be, you defender of anti-war protests. If they don't want to shop at a store for (I think a good) any reason, WHY
DO
YOU
CARE.
Quit trying to validate your existence by putting others, who have a right and good reason to protest, down.
But by protesting they're showing themselves to be BAD AT FOLLOWING THEIR RELIGION!
do elaborate
oh, I see.
well, I hate to quote South Park, but "tolerance does not mean acceptance. You tolerate a baby crying next to you, and you tolerate a bad cold. It doesn't mean that it doesn't **** you off!" I honestly don't see how boycotting isn't tolerance. But then again, not many people on here would understand tolerance ;)
hah. I love it. Even further proof that Richoad is a humongous dumbass.
I don't see what you're talking about. Explain. Retort. Do something other than insult someone.
Um, where did my post go? Serioulsy. I could've sworn I posted some stuff here...
You didn't. Only Drewboy's post was ousted.
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