It so happens that bunch or major religions celebrate some sort of holiday around the same time in December. But that whole or “Season’s Greetings” thing is just annoying. I’m just going to go ahead and wish all you people Merry Christmas because that happens to be the holiday that I’m celebrating at the moment. I’m not doing this out of disrespect – I’m just extending my holiday wishes to everyone, whether they celebrate Christmas or not.
Now if I happen to know that a given person is Jewish, then I might wish them happy Chanukah. But if I have no idea, do I really need to rattle off 3 (or 4 if you count Festivus) holiday names, or make it an impotent PC “Happy Holidays”? When I say Merry Christmas all I mean is:
“Hey, I happen to be celebrating Christmas at the moment! If you do too, then have a Merry one!”
In the same spirit, if someone would wish me happy Chanukah or Kwanzaa I would not mind. I would gladly accept the wishes, and reciprocate with the same.
So this is a new rule for December. Next time a random person that you don’t know wishes you happy/merry whatever, and it happens to be a different holiday from the one you celebrate, just say thank you, then repeat whatever they said, and move on. Don’t get offend them, don’t correct them, don’t make a scene. Just take the wishes, and go.
Merry Christmas you people!
[tags]christmas, chanukah, kwanzaa, holidays, seasons greetings[/tags]
Happy Christmachanukakwanzaa! :p
Some people are offended by the least, even when they mean it well.
Don’t care about it and do it your way: Happy Holidays!
Ah yes how can one not agree more? The arrogance of those that wish to control how we speak and think, the foolishness of the Radical Elite. While I may lean far indeed to the left and dance with even anarchy, I find myself as you shocked by the PC police. But you see it is no coincidence so many faiths of old celebrate this season, the birth of the Sun Gods, ever-living, ever-dying, forever reborn in each of us. Astronomy itself has the key, as the sky provides the source of much mythology. And I as you wish all a happy holiday, no matter the name or the faith or even the lack of faith. It is merely a social tradition and seems to have lost any spiritual significance anyway. Rejoice! Christmas Is a Celebration of Capitalism :
I would hope that is a joke but it appears not to be showing perhaps that absurdity is not always limited to those of us with Leftist philosophy. haha. Perhaps a bit late but Merry Christmas Luke, and a Happy New Year!!
Yeah… except I vote for a bit less tolerance. Festivus and Kwanzaa are frivolous inventions, not real festivals, and anyone claiming to celebrate them should be mocked savagely!
Chanukah is not very much better really. You have to be a tiny bit of a nut to be really into Chanukah. It is not a secular festival. It’s for freaks, of either the religious or racialist variety.
Only Xmas is a secular, cross-community festival in Western countries.
Having said that, I still think that Xmas is a load of tacky, bad-taste, commercialised, Christian-tainted crap that I only celebrate because my family insists on it.
New Year’s Eve is a much nicer, natural, neutral, fun festival. I always enjoy it.
Not sure if you know but Chanukah is celebrated by JEWS! It is not for wackos and freaks!
These ARE just celebrations, anyhow. Who needs a good reason to celebrate? Why can’t we just do it?
Josh, I’m assuming that you are responding to David’s post. I never said Chanukah was for freaks. In fact I totally don’t mind when someone wishes me happy Chanukah during the holidays.
Josh, that doesn’t make sense. 1) For what possible reason would you think that I don’t know that Chanukah is a Jewish festival? 2) Why on earth do you think that being for wackos and being celebrated by Jews are mutually exclusive concepts? Do you think that being Christian and being a nutcase are mutually exclusive too?
I was responding to David. I think your approach, Luke, makes the most sense for someone celebrating Christmas alone.
And david, you got the logical negation wrong. You said ‘it is for freaks’. The logical statement you could derive is: For all people that celebrate Chanukah, they are freaks. The negation is: There exists a person who celebrates Chanukah, and is not a freak. Look it up.
Alright… I’m gonna stay out of this one, but please keep it civil guys.
I have nothing against any religions, and I respect all holidays equally – it’s just that I hate the whole political correctness thing. I think we can get along just fine while without sacrificing our own traditions, rather than try to conform to some bland generic template that no one likes anyway.
We are all different and that’s what makes it interesting.
I’m all for open minded discussion, but if this turns into flame war or name calling I’m gonna close the comments on this thread.
Josh, don’t use a veneer made of the vocabulary of logic in order to sound knowledgeable.
The fact remains that what you said didn’t make sense. You said “Not sure if you know but Chanukah is celebrated by JEWS! [ergo (implied)] It is not for wackos and freaks!”.
I was clearly making a generalisation, and “freak” is clearly a subjective, imprecise and colloquial term, so finding a single individual who both celebrates the festival and is not a freak does not invalidate what I am saying at all.
The point is that Chanukah is a religious festival. Religious people are almost by definition nuts because religion is based on believing stuff not because it is true but because it is written in the holy book. Therefore, you can expect people enthusiastically celebrating it to be nuts. But what about people who are atheist or agnostic and merely celebrate Chanukah out of racialist identification with the Jewish tribe? I view such people in the same way as I view white supremacists celebrating whiteness — freaks.
This only leaves out people who are neither racialist nor religious but are simply weak-willed and copy what people around them do. I’m willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt. But these are not the ones going around to gentiles saying “Happy Chanukah!”
Now, how is this different from Christmas? Well, in Western nations there is a strong secular tradition of Christmas. I myself think it is a load of tacky, tasteless, Christian-tainted crap, but I understand that there is an argument for considering it a neutral, secular festival (in the nations in question), and therefore I wouldn’t say that people celebrating Christmas (in the nations in question) are weirdos. But people enthusiastically celebrating Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, or pagan Nordic/Aryan festivals generally are.