One of my stepsons works at a pizza shop. Today he discovered that he didn’t like greeting customers with “Happy Holidays” because it feels coerced and politically correct, so he spent the last two hours of his shift using the “Merry Christmas” salutation. I asked if anyone had instructed him to use “Happy Holidays.” No one had.
So, I asked him another question. I told him to imagine that he visited a Jewish delicatessen on the day before Yom Kippur. Then I asked him if he would be offended if someone wished him a good Yom Kippur as they handed him his pastrami sandwich. He said that he obviously would not be offended.
The truth is, he was imposing political correctness on himself. He was imagining that people might be offended by being wished a Merry Christmas, when that is almost never going to be the case.
Yet, it is rude to knowingly ignore someone’s religious background. You ought not to wish a happy Eid al-Fitr to a person who you know is not a Muslim. Likewise, “Happy Holidays” is more appropriate than “Merry Christmas” for a person you know to be a Jew. Still, very few people get upset by what they have every right to consider an honest mistake.
The “War on Christmas” is imaginary. And, in blue states, Santa is whatever you want him to be.
Fox News host Megyn Kelly drew strong criticism recently for declaring on air that Santa and Jesus Christ are white. She was reacting to an article by Slate called, “Santa Claus Should Not be a White Man Anymore.”
“When I saw this headline, I kinda laughed and I said, ‘Oh, this is ridiculous. Yet another person claiming it’s racist to have a white Santa.’ And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white,” Kelly said on Fox News.
Macy’s flagship store in New York, in what appears to be a response, dismissed that claim by arranging the option for customers to request a black Santa with whom they could take pictures.
“Santa is all things to all who believe,” Macy’s said, according to New York’s CBS affiliate.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also challenged efforts to tamp down Christmas greetings this year.
“Happy Holidays is what liberals say,” was printed onto a t-shirt the committee said they sold out of on Black Friday weekend. The NRCC subsequently introduced a mug with the same phrase in its online store.
Republicans are very sad and ridiculous people.
Happy Holidays.
Merry Christmas.
