It's three days after Thanksgiving, and...

[conuly]

Oh, no, I can't dare conceive of more than one holiday at a time!

*eyeroll*

Well, that was mildly amusing. I shouldn't bother engaging them, I know, but I've been good... more or less... for a few months (I think), so... yeah.

You'll note that she's probably right - I've never once really heard anybody get offended at being told "Merry Christmas". Even the most die-hard non-Christians I know usually just roll their eyes and accept the greeting in the spirit in which it was given. As that's the case, why the heck can't these twits do the same thing?

Save your indignation for things that really matter, guys. Oh, hey, did you know that there's, like, a war or ten going on right now? There are people starving to death, and going hungry in this very country. There really are Christians in this world who are being persecuted, if that's what matters to you - though not many of them happen to live in this country. For that matter, there are honestly people in this world who really have never heard of Jesus - not many of them live in the US either. And what with the usual outbreaks of war, famine, pestilence, and death all over everywhere, why don't you do the rest of us a favor and go shove that Christian love and charity at somebody who could really use the help. I can name a few places.

Of course, here I am being all hypocritical and all, but man, this sort of stuff irritates me no end! All I want for Christmas is the right to greet people in the manner I see fit, preferably without starting the next world war. And I'm thinking that shouldn't be too much to ask.

Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but was it really worth that whole thread (not to mention this entire pointless entry)?

I didn't think so.

Comments

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm saying this here so as to not say this there. I try and live by a policy of not joining a dogpile on a dead-horse discussion. My ulcers thank me for it.

I'd like to know why Christmas is a holiday, but Thanksgiving and New Year's are not.

Eid, Channukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and the eleven days that are not Christmas for the Twelve Days I can see someone not wanting to acknowledge on religious grounds. I don't have to agree with your religious objections, you don't have to agree with mine, life goes on.

Thanksgiving and New Year's don't require religion to be practiced. Just a certain cultural background, and a recognition that some businesses will be closed.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

In Canada New Year's Day is a holiday. :) And if New Year's Day falls on a weekend, the monday is a stat! :D

Go Canada.

Hmmm.. I should celebrate the whole 12 days. Embrace all the festivities.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Err, yes, both Thanksgiving and New Year's are federal holidays in the US as well.

[conuly]

Eid doesn't usually occur during the Christmas season anyway.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

What do you mean, "Thanksgiving and New Year's are not [holidays]?" They're federal holidays, they're state holidays, (just about) everything is closed for them, there's no mail, I don't have to work. Particularly Thanksgiving.

Are you referring to people's insistence that there's only *one* holiday this time of year?

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I was unclear. What I posted was what I would have said to the person who got snippy about the phrase "Happy Holidays."

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I thought that was it, and then I read your comment again, and then I read it again, and then I read the response to it, and I finally decided maybe you live in some awful place where only Christian holidays may be celebrated.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

No, although I did grow up in a smallish town in southeastern Missouri.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Well, the word holiday does come from the idea of holy day. As such, it would not be unfair for only religious holidays to be considered holidays and non-religious ones, like Thanksgiving, to be given some other term. But because the term holiday has come to mean a day of celebration, whether it is religious or not, until and unless some term does develop to make that distinction, it's not really fair to kick them out. And if you do use the term to mean holy days, you have to include those for other religions, even though Channukah really isn't that holy and is an incredibly minor holiday and I utterly hate the way everyone acts as if wishing Jews a happy Channukah makes them tolerant and sensitive to other religions while totally ignoring Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are massively major holidays, simply because the timing doesn't coincide with any major Christian religions, and thus they must be unimportant. You hardly even see much of a nod to Passover, which is much more important than Channukah, although it does coincide roughly with Easter. But that's my raised Jewish rant, and I usually focus on my atheist rant.