what the fuck is wrong with saying "happy holidays"

[vynsane]

this "just say merry christmas" bullshit is going on for too long, now...

some people just don't give a shit about your holiday that used to mean something more than "buy, buy, buy!!!" and don't celebrate it. why should they have to be told "merry christmas" when it holds no meaning to them? do jewish people go around telling all the gentiles "happy yom kippur!"??? no! and any fundamentalist worth his salt would go out of their way to get offended by that.

i don't know when it was decided that the term "happy holidays" was a product of 90's political correctness, but i can't remember a time in my life where i hadn't heard it. as i obviously pre-date "PC", so then does the term "happy holidays." not to mention the fact that bing crosby sang it nearly 50 years ago! somehow the right-wingers have latched onto it as an offense tantamount to wishing them a "happy chanukah" (or yom kippur, or kwanzaa, even...)

take into consideration that the supposed spirit of this season is "peace on earth, and good will toward man"... append to that sentiment, i guess, "unless they're jewish, or don't believe in jesus, or lost their belief in god after being molested by that priest as an altar boy"... basically, this peace on earth jive is total bullshit, too...

i will be the first to tell you that political correctness has gotten WAY out of hand. but so, too, has the backlash against it - which has blown the whole thing completely out of proportion. obviously there will be people who never change (except for those who want to change... YOU from a degenerate heathen into a god-fearing, bible-thumping right-winger.) i just find it funny that the most apparently overly-sensitive people are the ones who lambast political correctness as being overly sensitive. for fuck's sake, all the dude in seattle wanted was a menorah set up SOMEWHERE amongst the fucking FOREST of christmas trees that were set up in the airport. sure, he litigated for it, but how else do you truly get your point across in this great litigious nation? he didn't want the trees TAKEN DOWN, he just wanted a reflection of HIS heritage PUT UP!

anyway, whatever. i believe that "happy holidays" is a totally appropriate greeting this time of year, and anyone who takes offense to that all-inclusive, all-encompassing salutation can bite my fucking humbug.

[jdr3]

Merry Christmas, Vynsane!

[jdr3]

in all seriousness that I might have, i actually think that "holy days" should be more of a private thing and not necessarily displayed publicly 'cause that just can cause segragation and envy of some sort.

As far as saying "Happy Holidays" I always took that to encompass the celebration through a time period, mostly december, but starting sometime around november into early january and is really more of a marketing code word for sale rather than anything to do with one's beliefs.

My prefered salutation: "Have a good one" for whatever that could mean.

[anarky]

Fuck you, vyn, you PC leftist sonuvabitch.

Just kidding.

The way I see it, say what you want, and don't take offense. If someone wishes me a happy Hannukah, well, I may not celebrate it, but I'm a fucktard with my head up my own ass if I don't see he's wishing me well.

I always thought "Happy Holidays" included Christmas and New Year, anyway, so it doesn't bother me at all. (Though I think it's retarded how a lot of companies decorate with Frosty, Rudolph, trees, mangers, and Santa, but say "Happy Holidays" to try to be inclusive.)

Christmas is pretty much horseshit, anyway. The Catholic church had a habit of subjugating peoples and letting them keep their holidays to keep them from getting too pissed, but they had to put a Christian slant on them. There may be biblical evidence that puts Easter where it falls on the calendar, but nothing whatsoever to put Christmas in any particular month, or even season. Nope, just a census that there's no historical record of, during the reign of a guy who died about four years before the traditional date of Jesus' birth.

Does that mean you shouldn't celebrate it? Not necessarily. It's still a good thought. But don't get pissed if others celebrate something else instead. Especially Kwanzaa. That should be the cause of amusement, not anger. (Seriously, that is a more bullshit holiday than Arbor Day.)

[mabudon]

Yeah, the "anti-PC" backlash is indeed silly, and somehow I think it is so strident so as to ridicule the very notion of "political correctness" so as to make it alright to be racist or whatever you want- SO many folks I have had interactions with lament the fact that "PC made it 'wrong' to think for yourself"

The way I sees it, the very fact that common courtesy and human decency and respect had to be "re-branded" is a sad commentary, and the fact that the whole notion "is restrictive" or whatever is almost worse....

I am far from being a christian, but I agree with anarky, hell, someone (first of the season) wished me "Merry Christmas" yesterday and all's I said was "Thanks, same back to ya!" and that was that

Anyone who wishes ME Happy Kwanzaa, tho, had better be ready for a quick informative lecture.. man, thanks to whichever one of you fellows it was who clued me in to that idiocy- the very fact that the West felt the need (no doubt part of the "white mans burden") to make up a new holiday for the godless masses in Africa so they,too, could feel compelled to buy a hole bunch of useless, unwanted SHIT at a certain time of year should be enough to inspire some sort of justified rage- hell, I would go to an Afro-American "FUCK KWANZAA" parade, hopefully they would serve Ethiopian food on them big-ass breads

And JDR3, yeah, "What's Shakin??" and "Take it easy" pretty much cover all my platitudes, sometimes interspersed with a bit of real-time weather analysis like "Keep warm eh!" for variety- usually when folks DO wish me "holiday specific" phrases my first thought is "Oh yeah, that is still coming up, isn't it??"

OH and a final note, me and my "real life" buddies still celebrate Lemmy Day on His birthday, the 24th of december- inexpensive(ideally funny in some real referenced way) gifts and lots of pot and booze, giving most of us good reason to sleep in most of x-mas day

So HAPPY FUCKING LEMMY DAY

[vynsane]

So HAPPY FUCKING LEMMY DAY

now that's the shit i can get behind!

i hear what you're all saying, but at the same time i don't see how "happy holidays" is any kind of watered-down substitute, but just an all-inclusive way of actually trying to spread joy and peace and love and all that other crap that this season purportedly is all about.

there are a lot of people that wouldn't take offense to either a "merry christmas" or "happy chanukah" if their heritage is to celebrate the one not being mentioned...

however, my rant is more directed at those who WOULD take offense to being told to have a "happy chanukah" - basically the anti-PC because they're fuckin' racist/anti-semitic mel gibson-esque retards.

but if any scientologist comes up to me and wishes me a "festive zorq" or whatever the fuck they celebrate, i'm gonna kick'em in their couch-jumping sack.

[Slicker]

Most of this just comes down to ignorance. It got changed because ignorant people complained and now people are complaining about it because they're ignorant. You just can't get away from it.

[Slimmie]

And now these ignorant fuckers screwed it all up for those of us who just pretended to be ignorant to get out of any kind of responsibility for anything.

[mabudon]

Oh yeah, I was right with you, Vyn, I know "Happy Holidays" was accepted for as long as I recall too, and hearing that it's some kind of volley in a "war on x-mas" makes me kinda laugh- TIL I realize there's folks that seem to actually believe that

As long as no-one wants me to do any kind of rituals or shit like that, I'm okay with whatever

[Slimmie]

What about the people that suffer from severe depression? Wouldn't saying "Happy Holidays" offend and exclude them because they can't have Happy Holidays? I think from now on I'll just give everyone a nice "Fuck You", that way I can offend everyone without leaving anyone out.

[Antropov]

"Season's Greetings" is for the depressed folks, Slimm.

"Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" are standard greetings for me, too. They've ALWAYS been. I've only realized recently (with the whole PC thing) that they aren't just a different way to say "Merry Christmas". What really pisses me off is that it's OK for folks to be pissed by the phrase "Merry Christmas", but the minute I were to complain about "Happy Kwanzaa" or "Happy Hanukkah" I'd have the ACLU, the Rainbow Coalition and Al Sharpton ankle deep in my ass.

My boss is one of those people who pushes "Merry Christmas". It does get kinda tired having to constantly hear her talk about it (further, she delayed my lunch by a half hour because she was at Kohl's for an hour looking for Christmas cards that specifically said "Merry Christmas". I guess I appreciate her measures, though, because Central Michigan University is VERY anti-Merry Christmas.

[Ran]

When I was growing up, I always thought when people said "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" they were just covering Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Years all in one go.

[jjreason]

I can't keep it straight. I like Christmas, and hence "Merry Christmas!" might come out of my mouth at any juncture in and around this date every year.... but there's no motive behind it. I'm not particularly anti-Happy Holidays or anti-Merry Christmas, or particuarly PRO.... well, you get my drift.

The fact is, a lot of people have some sort of celebration this time of year, and it's as good a time as any to wish your friends and a neighbours a happy or merry whatever.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

Isn't Bill O'Reilly the one who started this "war on Christmas" shit? He, and the retards who actually listen to him, need to pull their heads out of their asses. I hate how far-right-wingers love to act like they're being oppressed, when Christianity is the biggest religion in this country and is more socially acceptable than, say, Islam. They've got it good and should stop bitching about nothing.

I'm atheist but I loves me the Christmas. Any day that brings me free stuff is A-OK by me.

[anarky]

Are you truly an atheist, or an agnostic? Therein lies the question.

Atheism is a religious belief in no god, meaning it is a firm belief in nothingness. Agnosticism is the belief that it is impossible to know what higher power may be out there. A true atheist would not celebrate Christmas, though he may respect others' right to do so.

But to answer your question, I think either O'Reilly or Limbaugh. Colbert's the one who really brought it home, though. Unlike the other two, Colbert fucking rules.