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[jaydub]

Heretical spoilsports.

[pmcd9]

So what's your favorite Christmas music?  It's Vince Guaraldi, isn't?  That's pretty much a consensus, right?

[greenkoolayd]

i have to hear justin beiber Christmas songs 8 hours a day, so i dont enjoy Christmas music right now.

[Doc]

I had a really funny moment where this young girl I work with came around handing out candy canes.  She sort of froze up when trying to explain herself, clearly because she didn't want to say "Christmas" for fear of offending someone, so I helped her out by saying "oh you're handing these out for Decemberween?" and somehow I guess she decided I had given her the perfectly PC thing to say as I heard her moving from cubicle to cubicle saying "Happy Decemberween!"  It was sort of adorable.  I'm fairly certain she had no idea what I was referring to.  This is the same young lady, who all wide eyed and sincere told me she looked forward to being "older" like me because I seemed so secure in my self image.

Man, if someone actually got offended by a person giving them a delicious goddamn treat because the wish of goodwill wasn't specifically tailored enough then that person should get their holiday privileges revoked.

[pmcd9]

Man, if someone actually got offended by a person giving them a delicious goddamn treat because the wish of goodwill wasn't specifically tailored enough then that person should get their holiday privileges revoked.

They get to trade their delicious treat for a bag of dicks.

[jaydub]

i have to hear justin beiber Christmas songs 8 hours a day, so i dont enjoy Christmas music right now.

What sort of heinous crime did you commit?

[pmcd9]

What sort of heinous crime did you commit?

I chuckled heartily at that.

[greenkoolayd]

What sort of heinous crime did you commit?

im poor.

[miles]

Man, if someone actually got offended by a person giving them a delicious goddamn treat because the wish of goodwill wasn't specifically tailored enough then that person should get their holiday privileges revoked.

This reminds me of the semester I had one absolutely batshit insane roommate, and one very emotionally disturbed roommate who happened to be Jehovah's Witness. One night the insane roommate had a birthday party so the other one went into his room I guess because he didn't want to be tempted to celebrate. But later in the evening he poked his head out the door and called over to me to ask for a piece of cake.

[theinevitable]

I'm gonna have to be the devil's advocate here. I think it is totally Legit to be unhappy that someone wishes you Merry Christmas if you do not celebrate that holiday.

fitting, since non-christians are in fact, Devils.

[Jaded Tersk]

I don't think it's legit to be unhappy that someone wishes you a happy Christmas if you don't celebrate that holiday.  If somebody said that they hoped you enjoy your weekend, but you have to work Saturday and Sunday, would it make sense to be unhappy at them?  Maybe you think that the setting aside of those two days traditionally is arbitrary and pointless.

If somebody was signing your high school freshmen yearbook and put 'Have a bitchin' summer', but you had to do summer school or work on your daddy's potato plantation all summer, would it make sense to hold it against the person who wished you seasonal happiness? 

If someone wished you a happy Diwali or Eid, how would you feel?  That they were expressing an inclusive statement to you, despite having every indication that you're not 'one of them'?  You could choose to feel happy that they are comfortable being themselves around you.

Go with the flow, young man.  Don't be unhappy because someone attempted to include you in their own joy.

[theinevitable]

But see, it is not like that.

People say "god bless you" to me or "have a blessed day" sometimes. I am fine with that. That makes me feel happy, because they are saying a nice thing to me. I celebrate the major holidays and if someone who celebrates a minority religion says something to me (although, why would they, I am a white dude) about their religion I can take it in stride. If someone wishes me Eid Mubarak, it is EXTREMELY CLEAR that they aren't just assuming I'm Muslim-- they know I am almost certainly not, but they are being friendly. What we're talking about is a culture where it is assumed that everyone is a Christian, and if you try to be nice and leave some ambiguous wiggle room for other religions you are called an asshole.

What we're talking about is my Jewish roommate who, everywhere he goes for almost 2 months out of every year, has to hear Christmas music, and has people saying Merry Christmas to him, and Christmas decorations everywhere, and if someone tries to be inclusive and says Happy Holidays everyone BLOWS A fuck*ng GASKET.

The store where I work has been blanketed in Christmas decorations since Halloween. Loud, horrible Christmas music. I just don't get it. I love Christmas and celebrate it, and  even I do not want to hear that shit all the time.

[Doc]

See, I think the people blowing their gasket at happy holidays and people getting pissed at 'merry christmas' is essentially the same thing. In both cases it is a gesture of goodwill and should be taken as such. I get annoyed at the saturation with horrible decorations and carols and stuff too but if someone is actually wishing me well on a personal level then I take that as a real thing that is separate from all the superficial crap that's going on at the same time.

The exception is when people deliberately say Happy Holidays or Merry CHRISTmas as some sort of statement so they can turn a season of fellowship and celebration into part of the ongoing petty political point scoring that our society seems to be immersed in these days. They get a bag of dicks too, as is traditional for my people.

[theinevitable]

A parallel: I find it much easier to be a take-it-easy atheist now that I live where I do. If someone asks me what church I go to (although this has never happened,) I'll just say "I don't go to church."

In Charlotte, NC where I grew up, this was one of the first questions any new person I met asked me. It didn't bother me at first, but it grates on you, you know? All of these people making this assumption about you based on nothing, putting you in the awkward position of explaining yourself. It sucks. It doesn't make them bad people, by any stretch, but it can make a person uncomfortable. Once it happens enough times, it can make you angry.

I guess what I'm saying is: my roommate doesn't go around saying Happy Hanukah to everyone. Because, why would he? None of these people celebrate Hanukah. So, then, built into saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone you meet is the assumption that everyone you meet is Christian.

So. Yes. It doesn't make me mad. But I think it is legitimate for someone to be upset by it.

"Merry Christmas" is not a simple gesture of Goodwill. It is a simple gesture of goodwill with a "Christ is your savior too, you'd better remember that" attached.


Not to go all quasi-Godwin on this, but this is not too far from people saying that the black community is too sensitive about racial issues. It is real easy to say that when you're in a cozy house and no one has ever screamed the N word at you.

[theinevitable]

I deliberately say Happy Holidays to make a point that I don't care what holiday you celebrate. Why does that make me a dick? You're a dick.