There's a big controversy over the "appropriate" holiday greeting. Christians are up in arms over people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Use whatever greeting you like, but don't get on other people's cases for choosing to use Happy Holidays. And yes, the media and retailers really should talk about the holiday season, not just christmas. It's not about being politically correct. It's about including everyone and not acting like a group of bigots where the biggest religious bully wins.
The same christians that are ranting about the use of a general term and want the term "christmas" used specifically are also offended when any muslim holiday is celebrated. You have to choose: either you want a general use of holiday terms or you want to allow all specific holidays to be mentioned. You can't just have christmas discussed and no non-christian holidays mentioned.
The use of Happy Holidays has come about because of the increased presence of other religious beliefs in this country. America is supposed to be a melting pot of people with all types of backgrounds, including religions. We should embrace these changes and encourage that melting pot theme. The angry christians are trying to present this change as a loss of tradition or that they are being oppressed in some way. But sometimes traditions need to change and grow into something new. It doesn't take away from your beliefs or holiday celebrations. It's not a personal attack. It just encompasses more people.
I say Happy Holidays because that way I include everyone celebrating a holiday this time of year. I think the ranting christians are being selfish. I think if these people would take a second to think about how they would feel if everyone came up to them saying "Happy Hanukah", maybe they would see that the world does not actually revolve around them. Other people have different beliefs- why not include everyone in your greeting?
I personally am not offended by any holiday greeting. You are welcome to wish me a merry christmas, happy hanukah, happy kwanzaa, happy holidays, or my favorite: happy chrismakwanzukah. :)
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3 comments:
It's funny how you don't capitalize "Christians" and "Christmas" (which is the proper spelling because it's a proper noun (NAME)) but repeatedly capitalize "Happy Holidays". I get that you were trying to be derogatory, but you really should spell correctly!
It's not a matter of being derogatory, just an oversight. I'm sorry that's all you took away from reading the post.
Also, if you prefer to post without signing in, a nickname would be nice so I know who you are.
Actually it's not spelling, it's grammar. Spelling is merely a subset of grammar. Leave it to a teacher... ;)
Perhaps this person should allocate more energy to proper categorisation (which IS correct spelling according to my British dictionary) of language study and less to taking offense to another person's musings! :-o !
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