'Christmas War' Crap.
If I hear anything else about 'the war over Christmas' I'm going to beat someone to death scream.
I hate lazy news, they take one thing and shove it down everyone's throat until everyone pukes it up and has had enough, then they still keep pushing 'til the next annoyance comes along. A few weeks ago it was bird flu, now this. It'll be over soon, but I'm already tired of it.
I don't think 90% give a shit either way; 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays' are interchangeable. They could give two shits.
However 5% or less of either end* have to make a big fuss. 'Oh! they're taking Jesus out of our Holiday and ruining it'
vs.
"Don't force your evil religion on me, you evil Republican."
My favourite part is mostly because it involves commercial institutions.
They generally don't care either way. They want to make money. If you'll come to their store if they say 'Merry Christmas', done -- they're saying Merry Christmas. If they'll come to their store if you don't, done.
Either way people do a lot of business this time of year, Christmas, X-mas, Holiday, Channica, Kwanzaa, Festivus whatever.
As per public institutions, I generally don't care†.
Another favourite the Christians act as indignantly as if this is new... I think it was the white house Christmas tree, they had their panties in a wad about... "Oh my god! they're calling it a Holiday Tree, what horrors!" They've been doing it that way for 10 years! Don't act like it's new. Secularism has been happening for years.
On the flip-side, "Oh my goodness how dare they call it Christmas! They should respect diversity and honour every damn thing anybody believes anywhere." It's called Christmas 'cause that's the majority of people in the U.S. believe in one form or another. If you don't, good for you have a cookie. That doesn't mean if you're not a good little boy or girl that Santa won't come by your house.
If you want to get down to it, it's a Pagan holiday. Christmas recognized then so it could co-op the pagan holiday so they would better adopt such customs. I think Jesus was supposedly born in the Summer... {shrugs} if he even existed.
The moral of the story is generally 'shut the fuck up', I don't think it's as much a religious holiday as a familial or social one for the majority of americans... they use to take a break, stress over family, materialism, and maybe, just maybe enjoy some good times. Don't make it worse, or take what little joy there is to be had, by rattling off in people's ears about overt religiosity/secularism/political correctness. Shut the Fuck up and let people be.
* probably, to be fair there are a greater portion of christians fussing about this. Since the country is like 70% {shrugs} such a way to some degree, but that's another thing altogether, besides the spirit of my rant is not to point fingers/blaming as much as 'shut the fuck up'
† unless it's a big financial thing. I generally think it's stupid to take public funds for holidays. As a rule I don't think it should be done. If people want to make a fuss they can donate money for such things.
However, there are larger injustices to go after 'til futher notice and since most small towns perhaps even big cities are again majority quasi-christian it's not the worst thing to do. I'd imagine most people probably want it, and I assume it's not the biggest drain on the budget ever. Pretty lights are nifty anyhow. Especially when it's dark all the time.
In a perfect world we would change it to private donors, but we're far from a perfect world.
I hate lazy news, they take one thing and shove it down everyone's throat until everyone pukes it up and has had enough, then they still keep pushing 'til the next annoyance comes along. A few weeks ago it was bird flu, now this. It'll be over soon, but I'm already tired of it.
I don't think 90% give a shit either way; 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays' are interchangeable. They could give two shits.
However 5% or less of either end* have to make a big fuss. 'Oh! they're taking Jesus out of our Holiday and ruining it'
vs.
"Don't force your evil religion on me, you evil Republican."
My favourite part is mostly because it involves commercial institutions.
They generally don't care either way. They want to make money. If you'll come to their store if they say 'Merry Christmas', done -- they're saying Merry Christmas. If they'll come to their store if you don't, done.
Either way people do a lot of business this time of year, Christmas, X-mas, Holiday, Channica, Kwanzaa, Festivus whatever.
As per public institutions, I generally don't care†.
Another favourite the Christians act as indignantly as if this is new... I think it was the white house Christmas tree, they had their panties in a wad about... "Oh my god! they're calling it a Holiday Tree, what horrors!" They've been doing it that way for 10 years! Don't act like it's new. Secularism has been happening for years.
On the flip-side, "Oh my goodness how dare they call it Christmas! They should respect diversity and honour every damn thing anybody believes anywhere." It's called Christmas 'cause that's the majority of people in the U.S. believe in one form or another. If you don't, good for you have a cookie. That doesn't mean if you're not a good little boy or girl that Santa won't come by your house.
If you want to get down to it, it's a Pagan holiday. Christmas recognized then so it could co-op the pagan holiday so they would better adopt such customs. I think Jesus was supposedly born in the Summer... {shrugs} if he even existed.
The moral of the story is generally 'shut the fuck up', I don't think it's as much a religious holiday as a familial or social one for the majority of americans... they use to take a break, stress over family, materialism, and maybe, just maybe enjoy some good times. Don't make it worse, or take what little joy there is to be had, by rattling off in people's ears about overt religiosity/secularism/political correctness. Shut the Fuck up and let people be.
* probably, to be fair there are a greater portion of christians fussing about this. Since the country is like 70% {shrugs} such a way to some degree, but that's another thing altogether, besides the spirit of my rant is not to point fingers/blaming as much as 'shut the fuck up'
† unless it's a big financial thing. I generally think it's stupid to take public funds for holidays. As a rule I don't think it should be done. If people want to make a fuss they can donate money for such things.
However, there are larger injustices to go after 'til futher notice and since most small towns perhaps even big cities are again majority quasi-christian it's not the worst thing to do. I'd imagine most people probably want it, and I assume it's not the biggest drain on the budget ever. Pretty lights are nifty anyhow. Especially when it's dark all the time.
In a perfect world we would change it to private donors, but we're far from a perfect world.