Dare we say, ‘Merry Christmas?’
By Tom Chambers • 9 a.m. Dec. 23, 2004 • 9 Comments • 0 Trackbacks
Whoever makes the rules on political correctness needs to be taken out and beaten with a wet hose — preferably while wearing a Santa hat and being serenaded by carolers singing “Silent Night.”
And the rest of you need a little more rum in your egg nog.
All of this “happy holidays,” “season’s greetings” and non-Christmas Christmas celebration malarkey has gone too far.
Now, don’t worry. This isn’t a tirade about the ways our pagan society has turned its back on Christ and the religious overtones of the “holiday.” Frankly, it’s doubtful he really cares about whether we celebrate his birthday, and Christmas has become so secularized over the years that we can hardly call it “religious.”
The battle over Christmas isn’t anything new — but this year it has taken a particularly vitriolic tone. Some blame the “red states” — the color not only means Republican but also represents Santa’s suit, apparently — and their new-found energy after clobbering the blue states in November.
Others blame the militant left and its need to deny the rest of the country of anything coming anywhere near Christianity — all that “faith, hope, love and peace” Jesus preached is just too dangerous for mass consumption.
But it’s not the crazy Christians or the pagan left that deserves credit for this angry debate over lumping Dec. 25 with all the other holidays. No, it’s the rest of us — who have fallen into the P.C. trap of sacrificing truth to appease worries that we might (gasp!) offend someone.
Humbug to that.
Apart from the typical controversy over nativity scenes at City Hall and Christmas carols in public schools, retail stores such as Target and Macy’s have opted out of using that “C” word.
Target has gone so far as to ban the Salvation Army bell ringers from its storefronts (and you can bet your Christmas bonus it’s not the word “army” the retailer fears). Of course, the stores are still decked out in “holiday” faire — presents, lights, trees and lots of red and green.
But retail outlets aren’t the only places where the over-sensitive have won the day. How many company Christmas parties are now “holiday” parties? On TV, stations (save Fox News) don’t wish us a “merry Christmas,” but “happy holidays” — with poinsettias, wreaths and, presumptively, “holiday” trees on the screen.
Humbug to that, too.
Some 80 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, and no matter how many “season’s greetings” and “happy holidays” you send to us, we know the secret code. What you mean is, “Merry Christmas,” and that’s what you should say.
The vast majority of this country shouldn’t be held captive to some semantic fascism because a small minority of the 20 percent that doesn’t use the “C” word is offended by it.
Humbug, again.
“Separation of church and state,” cry the multicultural weenies. But don’t include Christmas shopping and the company Christmas party as the “state” (on last check, ours was not a communist society where the lines between “state” and “company” are blurred). And don’t sit all high and mighty while you embrace the minor Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the made-up Kwanzaa and can’t utter that “C” word. (Note that the branches of the San Diego County Library are having 85 Kwanzaa events this month — apparently “cooperative economics” beats out “peace on earth, good will toward men.”)
Another humbug.
Christmas is, without a doubt, the largest, most celebrated Western holiday. In this age of multiculturalism, it’s regretful that we can’t keep some of our own culture — a culture 2,000 years in the making.
It’s even more regretful that we so easily begin to allude to it in euphemism, like the jailbird uncle the family doesn’t talk about — just so we don’t offend the ultra-sensitive, politically correct nincompoops.
This has just gone too far, and some are seriously fighting back.
Voters in Mustang, Okla., rejected an $11 million school bond measure this month because the superintendent pulled a school nativity scene and deleted “Silent Night” from a “holiday” performance while leaving all references to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
Merry Christmas to the voters in Mustang, Okla., for beating back our overblown politically correct obsession and standing up for truth in holidays.
And merry Christmas to you.
Use the “C” word freely. That’s the “holiday” we’re all talking about, anyway.
We shouldn’t shy away from it, and we shouldn’t let society shy away from it either.
Starbucks Coffee also does not use the word “Christmas”, except in the title of its “Christmas Blend” coffee, which preceeded the practice.