Idle Ramblings

One from the 'Much Ado About Nothing' category...

I won't be wishing anyone a "Merry Christmas" this year. You'll just have to settle for a "Happy Holidays."

This is not because, as "The War Against Christmas" author Michelle Malkin, Fox News, Bill O'Reilly or others who fear a "vast left-wing conspiracy" would have you believe, I want to somehow belittle "Christmas" for anyone or try and suck out holiday cheer like some type of Yuletide vampire. It's simply that, for me, "Happy Holidays" is nice and generic and I don't have to remember to tailor my superfluous greeting to the individual.

As those who know me know, there's not a religious bone in my body. But, as long as you don't try to push your beliefs on me, I don't care what you celebrate. If you want to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, have at it. But don't try to push that on me, and that includes religious-themed displays, celebrations, etc. in an inappropriate place, manner or time. On the flipside, I don't care if a city, county, state or nation's capital has a "Christmas" tree or a "Holiday" tree. Call it what you want, however, I'll probably have something to say if you call it the "Baby Jesus, Lord and Savior" tree.

And, I also don't care if you wish me a "Merry Christmas," Happy Holidays,' or whatever. Say what you want, or say nothing. It's all the same to me.

But, for me "Happy Holidays" is a convenience and my attempt to at least try and be accommodating to those with different beliefs. In a given week, I might be around people who celebrate any number of the holidays this time of year: Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, Yule, Solstice. You name it, I probably know someone celebrating it. And I can't always remember who celebrates what. Most of the time, if you wish someone "Merry Christmas" as they are headed home to light the latest candle on their Menorah, they're pretty cool about it (though, maybe not if you reversed that). But "Happy Holidays" is safe. Or at least it should be.

But this year, there's a very handily orchestrated campaign to make "Happy Holidays" a big issue. They would have you believe that my wishing you a "Happy Holidays" is tantamount to telling you to "go fuck yourselves and your beliefs." It's "Happy Holidays" that's discriminatory against the poor, oppressed 80 percent of the country who at least claim they are Christian - including most every elected official and law maker in the country - they would have you believe. It's taking the meaning out of Christmas.

Of course, if you want to get technical about it, Christmas historically was a pagan holiday, as are most of the rest of the major religious-themed holidays which were co-opted by the church in an effort to destroy the pagan religions. But, I'll be nice and not point that out.

It's a very clever campaign on behalf of those who really believe there's a war on Christmas, Christianity, morality, Mom, apple pie and baseball. (Or it's a very clever campaign by those who at least have no qualms against using those who truly believe those things as political pawns.) It's an emotional, yet meaningless, topic that unites one rather homogeneous segment of the political spectrum, but has the potential to divide other segments. And like so many of the "cultural wars" issues, it's designed more for politics than for beliefs. Like gay marriage or flag burning, it's a non-issue. But it gets people more steamed up and motivated more than, say, the growing budget deficit, providing healthcare for vulnerable populations, making sure the environment is clean, etc.

I've seen the same level of nastiness from people "discussing' this "issue" as from those "discussing" the war in Iraq. You'd think Osama bin Laden was behind the move to wish people "Happy Holidays." (Or was that Sadam Hussein? I always get those two confused.)

My, doesn't this just stir up the holiday and/or Christmas spirit.

So, I'll wish everyone out there "Happy Holidays," no matter what holiday you celebrate. And just think about this: Aren't you glad you live in a land where you can celebrate whichever holiday you wish, or none at all, if you prefer?

posted by Joseph @ 12/10/2005 05:15:00 PM