The PC Police Have Sunk to a new Low
I was having an interesting conversation today with many of my coworkers and people thzt I know. It seems that many individuals have chosen to say "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas. I initially wondered why anyone would choose to say happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas? Initially I thought maybe becuase it was becuase people wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. However, for most people that is not what Happy Holidays, really mean.
In essence, the Happy Holidays is to include Hanukkah as another holiday. But the question is why is Hanukkah celebrated as it is? Interestingly enough Hanukkah is considered a minor holiday in the Hebrew calender. It is not considered to be a major event in Israel and only has the pomp and circumstance celebration here in the US. Why is that? It is becuase some Jewish parents did not want their children to miss out on the Christmas day celebrations and found a holiday to have around the same time. That is the essence of Hanukkah.
What about Kwanzaa you ask? Well it was invented in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga for the purpose of giving African American individuals a way to reconnect to their African ancestors. There are a bunch of 7 principals which it is founded on. However, the question is, why is it placed at this point in time? Why not at another time of the year? Again, kids are given small "kwanzaa gifts" so now you mogiht be able to see the connection.
So why is it that we have these two holidays around Christmas? And what if you are not Christian, Jewish, and/or African American? Does that mean you too should have a special holiday as well? Should the Hindus get a whole week as well? Should we give the snake charmers a day? And where or where is the day set aside for the Druids?!
See what I mean, it is getting silly. To create a day just becuase someone else has a holiday is ludacris. If you have specific days in your religious calender go ahead and do so, but creating or making others important is asinine in my book.
And if you don't want to celebrate Christmas then dont. There is nothing that says you have to at all. Nobody is forcing you to do anything Christmas related. If you wish to celebrate in a secular sense go for it. If you are a purist and want to think of it as a religious day: Power to you. So as the days count down, think of ol Big Tex and his wishes to you and yours. They are not happy holiday wishes, since Big Tex does not believe in that Bullshit.
Big Tex wishes you a Merry Christmas! Why? Becuase THATS how I roll...
2 Comments:
As far as incoherent ramblings go, I give that one an 8. Been listening to Rush lately? Anyway, this whole "assault on Christmas" bullshit is, well, just that. Isn't it funny that these religious fundamentalists are getting all huffy over the fact that Target does not say Merry Christmas?
Just think about it - you'd think that these hardliners would be AGAINST the commercialization of Christianity's most holy day. But no, in typical form, the "logic" is totally reversed. Instead, these people get upset when there holiday is NOT pimped out. I can just see the ideal ad they have in their minds: "Wal*Mart - Because Jesus Would." And it would all be set to the tune of a little jingle and you'd get a free little baby Jesus with your Happy Meal orders redeemable for 5% off your JesusDay purchase...
Anyway, this is such a fake/non-issue that it really makes my laugh at how easily otherwise fine people, such as yourself, get caught up in the vicious propaganda of the radical right. My goodness!
Thanks for the response.
My big problem is that people have created holidays in order to have "something else" in stead of Christmas. Like I said, Hanukkah is made into a big celebration simply becuase Christmas is around that time. As i am sure you know Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are the big days of the calender. If you go to israel, Hanukkah is not a big deal.
I suppose the issue is not christmas/Hanukkah/holidays but the idea of seperation. There are few things we as Americans have in common. We do not agree politically, we come from very different backgrounds, and we tend to think and act very differently from each other. In contrast most of the rest of the world has certain national identies. I am just saddened when people create holidays to drive further drive us apart, when Christmas could be used as a time to bring us closer together.
Here is the thing. I am not Christian, but I can celebrate christmas in my way. Just like other non christians, others can celebrate as I do. While the religious fundies might get pissed as Christmas becomes more and more commecial, there are many ways to celebrate it, and relgious ideology need not be a deterrent.
As far as the commercilaization of Christmas: well that is another dicussion all together!
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