Do you remember anyone being OFFENDED by Happy Holidays before this year?

I can't think of a time before when people were so freaking stupid. Happy Holidays is not anti Christian. Merry Christmas is anti Chanakah, anti Kwanzaa, anti everything else. One of my coworkers FREAKED out the other day when I said Happy Holidays to someone on the phone. She was like it's CHRISTMAS. MERRY CHRISTMAS. I said what if the person I was on the phone with was Jewish or Muslim or Hinduu? I'd be offending them. Please just stop being so freaking tunnel visioned. I wasn't trying to deny Christmas. I was just trying to include every one else. Jeez. Anyone else having this problem?
Duckie

And the MSM is falling all over it....

Seems to me this stuff gets trotted out annually.

However, not as much as this year.

to drum up cash and ratings.

Shit, it just means happy holidays...New Years, Thanksgiving, Boxing day Xmas, all of it.... it's better than saying Merry Christmas, Happy new year, have a happy thanks giving, all in one fucking breath every time.

government, many state governments, and the media. Most of what they've touched has failed. Since they are loath to accept responsibility for the mess they have created, they must have something to divert the sheeple's attention, so in lieu of an election year type culture war, they bring up the canard that Christmas is under attack.

If only they knew what the many of the colonists really felt about Christmas in the 18th century.

then again these are the people that pushed to have halloween parties banned from schools because it supposedly endorses satanism. so I wouldn't put anything past them.

I do remember being in an airport several years ago as "Santa" came by greeting everyone with "Ho Ho Ho happy holidays". which I found kinda funny at the time. "It looks like Santa is trying to be politically correct" I said to the people I'm with. Maybe it's just me but I think that Santa is only representative of Christmas (actually just the commercialism aspect of Christmas), saying happy holidays doesn't change that. If you are going to be Santa you might as well have him say Ho ho ho Merry Christmas, the line ascribed to him.

but as far as greeting strangers Happy holidays is the most acceptable greeting. As a Jew I often feel out of place when people say Merry Christmas to me. Should I correct them? Should I ignore them? should I wish them a happy hanukkah just to make a point? This is the dilemma I face. For instance what do you do when an acquaintance gives you a Christmas gift? It's seems kinda rude to say I don't celebrate christmas when they got you a gift. but on the other hand to accept without clarifying means allowing them to believe you to be something that you aren't. Some time's it's a no-brainer of course like when a cashier says it, I will usually ignore it say thanks, take my change an then move on.

getting back on topic, Happy holidays gets the message across. christmas is a holiday and Merry is synonymous with happy. So the message is essentially the same. the only difference being the phrase happy holidays implies that the speaker acknowledges that Christmas isn't celebrated by all.

who was into the hype and complaining that the post office was selling stamps commemorating other holidays.

I commented that I thought it was pretty smart - more money to be made by selling to a large population (thought putting out there competing rw mantras... religious right tripe - vs - capitalism as a virtue)

He made a lame response that I can't remember, to which I responded with a similar libertarian 'making more money is a virtue' type response... to which he shrugged his shoulders and stopped ranting. A couple of folks in line gave me a nice holiday nod of approval (in Indianapolis of all places.)

Later my b-i-l not a big right winger - but a religious church attender (which has followed the politicized fundie line in recent years) made a comment while we were watching a report on the Weather Channel about their happy holidays comment. I made a comment about the vacuousness of the Bill ORielly war on Christmas thing, to which he took offense stating that he didn't watch Orielly (had seen the orielly ivans frankin media event and thought Ivans made sense and orielly was a jerk) - to which I let him know of orielly's efforts, and why I thought they were silly - that most folks being civil and saying 'holidays' instead of Christmas probably weren't thinking about dissin Christians (many - self included - probably were Christians)... and he listened... as if he really hadn't thought much about it - just sorta repeated the line - because on the surface it sorta resonated with him. THing is that he doesn't listen to rush or orielly, doesn't watch fox - he just goes to church and hears 'the talk' repeated there. Really sad.

Point being, all of the above is from last year.

And the two times I confronted it (albeit, gently) folks backed down. The whole thing is rather transparent in its superficiality - and when you call it on that the respondent may or not "see" it - but folks listening do - and are less likely to act on the whole silly campaign.

Even if it pisses them off. If it does piss 'em off, then I laugh because it's nothing to get pissed off about.

not to take the Christ out of Christmas. To this day, I have a hard time writing X MAS.

But no, I can't think of any other folks offended by anything about Christmas.

Such as Andy Williams, who has a great song, entitled "Happy Holidays". Maybe I will point this out to the usual suspects.

:headbang:

the bells keep ringing ..wishing happy holidays for all those who hear. I think thats it.

but it's not just about Christmas or the other winter holidays (they actually sing it first on New Year's Eve in the movie).

The point of the movie is that Bing Crosby's character is opening a club that will only be open on holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, etc.), and "Happy Holidays" is the club's theme song.

I have had customers who have lectured me when I've said "Merry Christmas", and customers lecture me when I've said "Happy Holidays". It's a damned if you do, damed if you don't kind of thing.

All in all, I'd rather say "Happy Holidays" and include everyone than say "Merry Christmas" and exclude people. I guess you can add me to O'Rielly's enemies list.

Actually, the offense found on both sides: the fundinazis, and the anti-religionists. Both sides are failing to respect other people's point of view, and I am sick to fucking death of it.

And really, how much effort does it take to just be nice?

:rant:

They've been disturbed by this for some time-trying to "put Christ back in Christmas" at least since I was a kid - and I was born in 1952.

As to the "happy holidays" vs. "Merry Christmas"I'm not sure. I can remember that OReily and Falwell were excercised about this for the last couple of years at least.

When those fuckers read the bible and realize that they are going against everything Christ stood for and everything he preached, and realize it's a book of stories not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a guidebook for people to follow on how to treat others. Generosity and love are the foundations of Christianity, but the idiots in this country don't have a clue what the fuck that means.
Duckie

This whole hubub is just one more elemement of the whackjob Fundie element's attempt to take over America. They want to insinuate themselves so deeply in American culture, government, schools and thought that we can't do a thing without God and Jesus being in it. You eat a meal and you have to give thanks to God, you get to your destination safely and God is the reason, the sun comes up because of God, you take a dump and give thanks to God who prevented you from becoming constipated. If you protest you are persecuting the poor lowly, powerless Christians, who compromise only 74% of America. :eyes: