Happy Holidays
Dec. 5th, 2005 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eggwardsLast night I was out with my parents. They are still liking the new car. In a way of showing off, knowing my Mom's love of the season, I put on the Holiday music channel. Yes, that's what I said, the Holiday channel.
My mother brought up the whole "Holiday" issue that has seemed to explode this year. Many evangelicals and some other Christians along with mouthpiece Bill O'Reiley have been making a big stink about retailers, broadcasters and others use of the word "Holiday" instead of Christmas. One of the most virulent voices has been the Rev. Donald Wildmon who has sent out email after email urging boycotts of stores that "refuse" to wish people a Merry Christmas.
Yep, I'm on the American Family Association's mailing list. I got on it when I emailed the form letter to Walgreens for supporting the Gay Games. Of course I made plenty of changes to the form to actually praise the drugstore for their support - support as the AFA reports, is actually based on trying to drive up HIV infections to gain customers. Lovely conspiracy theory there, but something tells me that the average AFA reader really doesn't care about the HIV infection rate among gays and lesbians.
Still, I get these messages telling me that all of these retailers and broadcasters are tying to destroy Christianity in America and get rid of Christmas. this shows a big lack of thinking on their part. The only reason that retailers, during their busiest time of the year, would want to remove Christmas from their store is to try to be more inclusive, to try to not alienate other customers, and to try to drive larger sales by getting people of many faiths involved in the gift-giving season.
In this nation, should you work to include everyone, suddenly the group who was once singled out by their year-ending celebration feels slighted. Why? Because suddenly their feeling of specialness is gone. the rubber stamping of their values has been pushed aside, or so they believe.
Personally I see plenty of signs of the season, lights and special sales and hear the songs of Christmas and other holidays. It hasn't gone away, and those who want to celebrate the birth of Jesus christ can do it. Religious freedom isn't dead, it's just that stores and broadcast outlets and cities have realized that there are other people out there in the world. Millions of other people who don't believe the same thing and don't wish to have The Little Drummer Boy drummed into their head. People and organizations have done their best to try to promote tolerance.
Unfortunately we still have this bunch of crybabies who, instead of feeling empowered to personally be able to celebrate their beliefs is going out to try to tell the rest of us that we're wrong, and only the loudest crybabies can work to get their Christmas back. They challenge these stores and tell them that they must tell them merry christmas of they will shop elsewhere.
The funny thing is that Target and Wal*Mart are two of the stores that have "removed" Christmas from their stores and advertising. Given that these two stores have driven out many other retailers from towns everywhere, just where are these people supposed to buy their presents? Amazon.com?
Some retailers have been giving in. Some, like Walgreens have said that they will comply with the demands of the boycotters and will include the word Christmas in next year's advertising. Maybe it's the truth, maybe it's just stalling, or maybe they will actually use "Christmas" in conjunction with several other seasonal celebrations, like Chanukah, Solstice and Yule.
I personally remember my bitch of a cousin being upset with the US Postal Service when they issued Chanukah and Ramadan stamps along with the traditional Christmas stamp a couple of years ago. Heaven help us for another round of damned inclusiveness. Luckily Ramadan has moved on so she can just be outraged by the Jews this season.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mind Christmas. It's often a nice, fun festive time of the year, and I look forward to the music. Still, you won't offend me by calling it a Christmas Tree, nor would you offend me by saying "Merry Christmas". Sure, my actual faith in the religion has waned, but I'm not scared of offended by the holiday. in fact, it's mighty easy to celebrate without the ties to the miracle birth.
That brings me to my father. As a pert of the argument about the loss of christmas (my parent's watch Fox News), he mentioned that Kwanzaa is made up and doesn't need to be celebrated. "Ok", I told him, "Christmas Day is just as made up as Kwanzaa." As he started to bark at my assertion I stated, "Whether or not Jesus (the son of God version) walked on the Earth, the fact is, December 25th wasn't his birthday, it was a day chosen to take advantage of the Pagan rituals and feasts that were already there in the people the Christians wanted to convert." Dad didn't have much of a response.
when we kept talking about the role of Christmas in America, I said to them, "One of the reasons that the season has gotten away from its religious roots is that people have let it. Over the last 75 years, more has been done to make Christmas time about family, crass commercialism, and the innocuous images of innocence (and of course Santa Claus) than it has been about the son of God. As you know, it's the Christians who helped make it this way." The idea of the perfect present took over from the reason why the celebration started for many people.
I mean, there was a Garfield Christmas Special, for goodness sake. The Charlie Brown special is the only one that actually mentions Jesus and rejects commercialism. Garfield? pass the Lasagna.
So I asked the question to them, and I'll ask it again, "Why does a majority have to go on whining about their plight? Why use tactics of, and try to make yourselves out as a minority to get their way?" I guess I'll never know.
Personally I'm tired of the debate. call the season what you will, and enjoy the beginning of winter with your family, or friends, or loved ones, whomever they might be. You can wish me whatever you want, I won't be offended, and I wish that a few others would stop being offended as well.
Just don't push. It's the most wonderful time of the year, you know.
My mother brought up the whole "Holiday" issue that has seemed to explode this year. Many evangelicals and some other Christians along with mouthpiece Bill O'Reiley have been making a big stink about retailers, broadcasters and others use of the word "Holiday" instead of Christmas. One of the most virulent voices has been the Rev. Donald Wildmon who has sent out email after email urging boycotts of stores that "refuse" to wish people a Merry Christmas.
Yep, I'm on the American Family Association's mailing list. I got on it when I emailed the form letter to Walgreens for supporting the Gay Games. Of course I made plenty of changes to the form to actually praise the drugstore for their support - support as the AFA reports, is actually based on trying to drive up HIV infections to gain customers. Lovely conspiracy theory there, but something tells me that the average AFA reader really doesn't care about the HIV infection rate among gays and lesbians.
Still, I get these messages telling me that all of these retailers and broadcasters are tying to destroy Christianity in America and get rid of Christmas. this shows a big lack of thinking on their part. The only reason that retailers, during their busiest time of the year, would want to remove Christmas from their store is to try to be more inclusive, to try to not alienate other customers, and to try to drive larger sales by getting people of many faiths involved in the gift-giving season.
In this nation, should you work to include everyone, suddenly the group who was once singled out by their year-ending celebration feels slighted. Why? Because suddenly their feeling of specialness is gone. the rubber stamping of their values has been pushed aside, or so they believe.
Personally I see plenty of signs of the season, lights and special sales and hear the songs of Christmas and other holidays. It hasn't gone away, and those who want to celebrate the birth of Jesus christ can do it. Religious freedom isn't dead, it's just that stores and broadcast outlets and cities have realized that there are other people out there in the world. Millions of other people who don't believe the same thing and don't wish to have The Little Drummer Boy drummed into their head. People and organizations have done their best to try to promote tolerance.
Unfortunately we still have this bunch of crybabies who, instead of feeling empowered to personally be able to celebrate their beliefs is going out to try to tell the rest of us that we're wrong, and only the loudest crybabies can work to get their Christmas back. They challenge these stores and tell them that they must tell them merry christmas of they will shop elsewhere.
The funny thing is that Target and Wal*Mart are two of the stores that have "removed" Christmas from their stores and advertising. Given that these two stores have driven out many other retailers from towns everywhere, just where are these people supposed to buy their presents? Amazon.com?
Some retailers have been giving in. Some, like Walgreens have said that they will comply with the demands of the boycotters and will include the word Christmas in next year's advertising. Maybe it's the truth, maybe it's just stalling, or maybe they will actually use "Christmas" in conjunction with several other seasonal celebrations, like Chanukah, Solstice and Yule.
I personally remember my bitch of a cousin being upset with the US Postal Service when they issued Chanukah and Ramadan stamps along with the traditional Christmas stamp a couple of years ago. Heaven help us for another round of damned inclusiveness. Luckily Ramadan has moved on so she can just be outraged by the Jews this season.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mind Christmas. It's often a nice, fun festive time of the year, and I look forward to the music. Still, you won't offend me by calling it a Christmas Tree, nor would you offend me by saying "Merry Christmas". Sure, my actual faith in the religion has waned, but I'm not scared of offended by the holiday. in fact, it's mighty easy to celebrate without the ties to the miracle birth.
That brings me to my father. As a pert of the argument about the loss of christmas (my parent's watch Fox News), he mentioned that Kwanzaa is made up and doesn't need to be celebrated. "Ok", I told him, "Christmas Day is just as made up as Kwanzaa." As he started to bark at my assertion I stated, "Whether or not Jesus (the son of God version) walked on the Earth, the fact is, December 25th wasn't his birthday, it was a day chosen to take advantage of the Pagan rituals and feasts that were already there in the people the Christians wanted to convert." Dad didn't have much of a response.
when we kept talking about the role of Christmas in America, I said to them, "One of the reasons that the season has gotten away from its religious roots is that people have let it. Over the last 75 years, more has been done to make Christmas time about family, crass commercialism, and the innocuous images of innocence (and of course Santa Claus) than it has been about the son of God. As you know, it's the Christians who helped make it this way." The idea of the perfect present took over from the reason why the celebration started for many people.
I mean, there was a Garfield Christmas Special, for goodness sake. The Charlie Brown special is the only one that actually mentions Jesus and rejects commercialism. Garfield? pass the Lasagna.
So I asked the question to them, and I'll ask it again, "Why does a majority have to go on whining about their plight? Why use tactics of, and try to make yourselves out as a minority to get their way?" I guess I'll never know.
Personally I'm tired of the debate. call the season what you will, and enjoy the beginning of winter with your family, or friends, or loved ones, whomever they might be. You can wish me whatever you want, I won't be offended, and I wish that a few others would stop being offended as well.
Just don't push. It's the most wonderful time of the year, you know.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 07:56 am (UTC)Me and
As far as it goes with the holiday season, my birthday is on Yule, Dec 21, the Pagan holiday. My family was raised catholic (Miss Grandma Says), but even when I was a child, my mother taught me that there are many ways to see the season, and Christmas is not the only way to look at it. What matters is not the gifts, not the trinkets, and certainly not the shopping and hectic stress and guilt that comes along with the holiday itself. It is the time that you have a chance to spend it with people you love, family and friends, in hopes to make closer bonds. That's what matters, and while it is a shame that most people do not try and make every day one worthy of being that loving to one another, at least there is an open window every year to make up for it. I started celebrating Yule when I was seven years old, and my family embraced it. I don't get gifts on Christmas. I get them on Yule. Mom will save one gift for their day so I have something to open along with the rest of the family, and I think it's wonderful that they accept the customs of my faith along with theirs. I think the only person that really holds to the Xian faith version of Christmas is Gramma. Everyone else just uses it for an occasion where there is a way to bring everyone together for once. We never had much money for extreme things, and even the gifts aren't high tech and snazzy. It's the thought and love that we all put into the holiday that makes it important for us, and we could care less about how others have ruined such a good time to embrace it and take advantage with just trying to make a buck.
In regards to the religious notes on the holiday, to me, it doesn't matter. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a huge issue with Christianity, but they don't understand exactly why. It isn't the faith that I have a problem with. It is the people that follow it and claim they are true Xians when they mock their own beliefs by not even knowing what they truly are. They mock a faith that really is a beautiful one if followed in the way it was meant, by loving all mankind as an equal regardless of their beliefs and standing. If all Xians were that way, this nation and possibly this world would not be as fucked up as it is. I think they try to push Christmas so much because they are trying to cover up how horrible they can be by swaying the weak-minded with a front of "Christmas Cheer" to make others believe they aren't as cruel and heartless as they really are. It's actually quite sad when you step outside of it all and just look around. Very sad indeed.
That's why I don't see this holiday as a religious event. Not even for my own "kind."
I see it as a time where I have a chance to show appreciation and affection to people that any other time would have taken it for granted. That's pretty much good enough for me.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 08:33 am (UTC)Still, it's nice when people recognize that what I celebrate exists, but not from slighting of others ...
Luckily Ramadan has moved on so she can just be outraged by the Jews this season.
Such skills to outrage and I'm not even trying. What an ego stroke ^_-
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 09:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 01:40 pm (UTC)it's a lot easier to use the fairly neutral "holidays" than try to wish everyone a a good christmas/chanukkah/kwanzaa/posada/ramadan/diwali/yule.
if you're a conservative heterosexual WASP, try to pay attention to the fact that you're living in a country where many people aren't. hell, spend some time in New York City and see how you fare.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 01:48 pm (UTC)Persecution Complex
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 06:44 pm (UTC)JOhn.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:07 am (UTC)Personally I grew up in a mostly white suburb, it was pretty homogenized. I've seen plenty of group think amongst the residents. Luckily college and work have gotten me into more diverse areas.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:11 am (UTC)Yea! for Chanukah, the most well known minor holiday.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:17 am (UTC)Branding is so essential to holiday success. Besides, Christmas is so much better than Easter. Easter is only about Candy, like the devi's holiday, Halloween.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:22 am (UTC)for many, it's all about trying to make some cash.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 06:33 am (UTC)Now, if the AFA could tackle a real cause, like poverty, homeless families, hunger and medical fairness instead of psychotic, paranoid evils... maybe I'd stop laughing at them.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 08:49 pm (UTC)I love that expression!
I agree with everything you say here. I'm on the AFA's mailing list for the same reason as you. What a twisted view they possess!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 08:55 pm (UTC)