The debate over whether to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” seems unproductive and confusing. Perhaps we should just have multiple-choice greetings on our cards, such as
Happy (Choose One):
a) Christmas
b) Holiday
c) Hanukkah
d) Kwanzaa
e) Spangles Day (It’s all about the Ranch)
The confusion seems to be working through the culture. I was a bit taken aback by a sign I spotted on the way to work that seemed a jarring blend of secular and religious purposes. It read something like this:
Happy Holidays
Be Careful —
Hell is Real!
Does that seem like a mixed message to anyone else?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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37 Comments
Maybe it hadn’t been a debate in the midwest where most everyone is a WASP, but I remember living in Virginia and it has always been Happy Holidays.
Well, You and the fellow nextdoor may have wished each other whatever you like, it is a free country, under siege, but still a free country.
Your street in Virginia does not an America make.
Merry Christmas is a non-negotiable American cultural norm.
What? No “hed” about Bush’s Speech?
Watching and listening to that pathetic Zionist drooling for even more dead bodies, though expected, had much more of a cringe factor, almost enough to make one think that maybe Karl let Bush actually write some of that nonsense.
It was awful.
The doofus actually said: “We are winning.” and in effect; “there’s going to be a lot more American dead soldiers” and; “many more dead Iraqis” for years to come. so, don’t factor that in when you vote to throw us all out next November.”
You actually have to ask yourself: “Is this really happening?”
Bush was banging on that “terrorist” drum, with not an “Insurgent” in sight because the “terrorist thing” is all he’s got left to prop-up his lies.
How could anybody be the president and be that stupid?
Unreal.
Tempest in a teapot..started by intolerant people and perpetuated by conflict junkies who like to stir up trouble.
Merry Christmas.
PS. And to my Jewish friends, happy Hannukah, to my agnostic friends, Happy Holidays.
Happy Hannuramakwanzmas!
Like I said, it’s a free country, and I’ll defend your right to believe and practice as you see fit. That takes care of 2% of America, unlike some countries where you must be of a certain race to be a full-fledged citizen.
To the other 98% of America I say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
And peace and good tidings to all mankind.
Merry Christmas. Peace on Earth. Goodwill toward men.
Bomb Iraq.
Galahad, That’s the crazy man’s idea, not an American Idea.
Of course we know who gets their jollies killing Arabs, not just Iraqis. Kind of a equal opportunity killer { a whole country of BTKs }.
Dear Ed,
Mery Christmas to you too! Keep posting!
esod
Ever since we began to secularize the celebration of the birth of Christ this has been building. After all, it is highly unlikely that the birth occurred in mid-winter (shepards with their flocks in the fields). The tree was stolen from European faiths where it had been used to celebrate the Solstice. Same with holly and other emblems of the season.
Unlike Easter, Passover, etc etc etc we celebrate this season for months. So, it makes sense to be inclusive and say Happy Holidays overall. Meanwhile; to most people I know I say Merry Christmas. To my lawyer I say Happy Chanukah. To some other friends I say Joyous Solstice and to another Happy Dashain. No problem.
BTW – can someone please explain to me how all this shopping has anything to do with celebrating the birth of a Jewish carpenter?
Christmas has become a part of American culture and there was no problem until Israel started flexing its new found muscle into breaking down American culture.
Every aspect of American values, from invading countries, to torture, to attacking the constitutional garrantees, to lying to the American People, nothing seems safe anymore.
America is under moral siege.
Those without morality really have nothing to lose, so not to worry. This doesn’t involve you.
If a card that says “Happy Holidays” constitutes an attack on the true faith, christianity must be on pretty shaky ground to begin with!
“‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House,no bills were passed ’bout which Fox News could grouse.Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near.Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds,while visions of school and home danced in their heads.In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan,and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran.Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell.Americans feared we were in a fast track to … well.Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily,a fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly.We will pretend Christmas is under attack,hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back.Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger,Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger.This time of year, we see Christmas everywhere we go,From churches to homes to schools and, yes, even Costco.What we have is an attempt to divide and destroywhen this is the season to unite us with joy.At Christmastime, we’re taught to unite.We don’t need a made-up reason to fight.So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter and those right-wing blogs.You should sit back and relax, have a few egg nogs.’Tis the holiday season; enjoy it a pinch.With all our real problems, do we really need another Grinch?So to my friends and my colleagues, I say with delight,a Merry Christmas to all, and to Bill O’Reilly, happy holidays.Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.”
If you want a rousing “Merry Christmas” with your shopping might I make a suggestion. Instead of spending your money at the Mall for your gifts go to Catholic Charities and buy a bunch of their Angel ornaments. I suspect that just might be more in keeping with the spirit of His teachings.
Jed, I didn’t say christianity, I said American culture. That’s what they’re trying to destroy.
Notice that any value that Americans can identify with is under attack.
You destroy a people by tearing down the common ties which bind them together…..Their culture.
The first rule of conquest.
Look at the assault on Islam. Was it there before? They flipped Islam into the substitute for retaliation by calling it terrorism. An Arab retaliating against injustice it not a “terrorist” any more than we were “terrorists” for retaliating against Japan for Pearl Harbor.
But “terrorism” frightened Americans into giving-up their freedoms, their constitution, they justice, and compassion.
These people are slick-operators and they know exactly what they’re doing.
Christmas is a small part of it, but see how badly they want it?
See how they came in behind my first post, with guns ablaze.
Happy Xmas . . . now go out and get laid.
Ed,You seem to regard “American Culture” as something monolithic. It’s not: it’s roots are as eclectic as anything on this earth, and it remains a country of almost incredible diversity! So far, we’ve managed to work together in relative peace, most of the time.The way to attack us most effectively is to drive wedges between our various cultural and ethnic groups and get us to fight ourselves. You and Ian and the christian right, et al., seem to be doing your damnedest to do just that!So who’s undermining the “American Culture?”
Jed, I’m talking about right now, about what’s coming out of the White House.
We are being seporated from our constitutional values, and our heritage.
And you think this so-called war has anything to do with what’s best for all loyal Americans.
There’s your decisiveness, don’t lecture me.
Ed,Exactly how does a card that says “Happy Holidays” separate us from our constitutional values and heritage? And just who are these “loyal Americans,” and how are they different from us just plain Americans?
Jed: I think that you have that backwards. The strength of America has always been in the common values of its people. Those values are rooted in Judeo/Christian history. When the majority of people have shared values, there is unity of purpose. Diversity is good to a certain extent because a society should not stagnate. What we have now is more like diversity running amuck.
Face it guys. This country was originally a pagan land, thanks to the Native Americans.
And, Ed, you might want to check your facts. 17% of this country are non-Christian, and that number is growing.
Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings, my friends! And for the 83%, may your Christmas be merry!
“Unity of purpose.” Nobody was more unified than the Nazis. The Japanese Empire celebrated its “one pure race.”
Looks like the mongrel mutt nation of Americans is doing just fine with its “diversity of purpose,” thank you very much.
JD – there is a difference between animism and pagan. My forefathers had a legitimate belief system long before the invasion/genocide.
Outlander – As for the “values” represented there how do you justify the extermination of an entire people? Is that done the same way as justification for the genocide described in Joshua?
he Jews work more effectively against us than the enemy’s armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in. It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pests to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.
* Sometimes rendered : “They (the Jews) work more effectively against us, than the enemy’s armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in… It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pest to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.”* Both of these are doctored statements that have been widely disseminated as genuine on many anti-semitic websites; They are distortions derived from a statement that was attributed to Washington in Maxims of George Washington about currency speculators during the Revolutionary war, not about Jews: “This tribe of black gentry work more effectually against us, than the enemy’s arms. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties, and the great cause we are engaged in. It is much to be lamented that each State, long ere this, has not hunted them down as pests to society, and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.” More information is available at Snopes. com
The fraudulent nature of the Prophecy — and the fact that anti-Semitism was foreign to Franklin’s behavior — has been substantially documented by eminent historians. The late Charles A. Beard reported, “I cannot find a single original source that gives the slightest justification for believing that the Prophecy is anything more than a barefaced forgery. Not a word have I discovered in Franklin’s letters and papers expressing any such sentiments against the Jews as are ascribed to him by the Nazis — American and German. His well-known liberality in matters of religious opinion would, in fact, have precluded the kind of utterances put in his mouth by this palpable forgery . . . In his writings on immigration, Franklin made no mention of discrimination against Jews.”
Beard also noted that “the phraseology of the alleged Prophecy is not that of the 18th century; nor is the language that of Franklin. It contains certain words that belong to contemporary (Nazi) Germany rather than America of Franklin’s period. For example, the word ‘homeland’ was not employed by Jews in Franklin’s time. It was created in connection with the Palestine mandate.” Beard also showed “positive evidence” that Franklin held Jews in high regard, citing the instance when the Hebrew Society of Philadelphia sought to raise money for a synagogue in Philadelphia. Franklin signed the petition of appeal for contributions to “citizens of every religious denomination” and gave 5 pounds himself to the fund.
J. Henry Smythe, Jr., compiler of The Amazing Benjamin Franklin, has characterized the Prophecy as “a counterfeit,” adding it was a “libel of the Jewish race, unjust both to Jews and to the name and fame of Benjamin Franklin. I have investigated this calumny and find no historical basis.” Julian P. Boyd, librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, made the same evaluation, and John Clyde Oswald of the International Benjamin Franklin Society noted that “the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were secret. No official record was kept but a great deal of information has been accumulated and pieced together, giving a fairly good picture of what transpired. Franklin was then 81 years of age and in poor health. He took an active part in the proceedings but made his contributions to the deliberations not orally, but in written memoranda, which he handed to this friend, James Wilson, another member of the Philadelphia delegation, who sat by him and who read them to the Convention. They have been preserved and the collection is believed to be complete…”
The late Carl Van Doren, a biographer of Benjamin Franklin made this report:
The speech against the Jews which Benjamin Franklin is alleged to have made the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is a forgery, produced within the past five years [1933-38]. The forger, whoever he was, claims that the speech was taken down by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina and preserved in his Journal. The forger presumably knew that, in a letter to John Quincy Adams dated December 30, 1818, Pinckney said he had kept a Journal of the proceedings at the Convention. But this Journal, if it ever existed, has never been found. The forger claims that Pinckney ‘published’ the Journal ‘for private distribution among his friends’ with the title Chit-Chat Around the Table During Intermissions. No copy of any such printed Journal has come to light. Not content with these two claims, the forger has further asserted that the original manuscript of Franklin’s speech, apparently from Pinckney’s Journal, is in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute does not possess the manuscript.
The forger’s authority for his document is nearly as mythical as could be imagined. He cites a manuscript which does not exist, a printed book or pamphlet which nobody has seen, a Journal which has been lost for more than a hundred years. There is no evidence of the slightest value that Franklin ever made the alleged speech or ever said or thought anything of the kind about the Jews.
Well written and researched, Brian.
What’s scary is that the Ian’s of the world will always fabricate the evidence they need to justify their prejudices.
Can anyone with the most cursory understanding of psychology not see that virulent racism like this stems from a sense of INFERIORITY, which the racist then projects on to the “other”?
Biology teaches us that the hybrids are often stronger and more vigorous than the in-bred and parochial parent.
So it is with our American diversity.
Ian is a world class ________.
But that point is as irrelevant as he is.
Anyway, Ben has it right.
GW Clinton…your comment is just as irrelevant as Ian’s propaganda. By the way I assume from your email address that you’re referring to your shaved “privates”. Ain’t nothing uglier than the shaved crotch of an old white woman…almost as ugly as your unfounded prejudice.
Merry Christmas to everybody!If you don’t like it, then get over it. It’s my freedom to speech
Thanks Brian. Ben Franklin had a very close and warm relationship with the Jewish community in Philadelphia. Maybe Ian can post the bogus “Elders” book for us too.
Happy Holydays everyone!!
The word holiday is actually derived from the words Holy Day!
So.. Happy Holidays.. no matter what your holy days… and if you have no holy days, then enjoy your days off!!
Merry Cristmas and Happy New Year
Peace on Earth..Good tiding to all
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Peace on Earth….Good Tidings to All
Apparently Christmas trees are unchristian:
“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out ofthe forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
Jeremiah 10:2-4 (KJV).
and … from Wikipedia …
“The Romans also practiced many traditions similar to Christmas; specifically the “christmas tree”. The Romans often cut down evergreens and decorated them to pay homage to Saturn, the god of farming. This was to honor the fact that the evergreens remained alive during the harshness of winter. It was also traditional for Romans to exchange gifts during this holiday. These gifts were customarily made of silver, although nearly anything could be given as a gift for the occasion”
May everyone have a joyous Solstice celebration tomorrow. And rest assured, the sun WILL return.
Ian–are you under the misapprehension that Jesus was white?
Hmmm . . . he was probably about as white as Yassar Arafat. Also one of the relatives in his geneology was African (black). Not only that, he was Jewish.
VLRB = Viva La Raza Black
Scientists don’t determine race from dna, they determine characteristics of isolated subpopulations that exhibit distinctive genetic markers.
The same type of genetic fingerprinting can be used to look at subpopulations of tigers to determine whether the tiger is bengal, sumatran, or a more northerly population. That’s not to say that there is a “race” of “bengals”, or “sumatrans”.