It must be time for that ridiculous War on Christmas again. I was scrolling through my Facebook page when I saw a post from a woman I used to work with. It said:
I'm inviting all my Facebook family and friends to join me in returning to the traditional greeting of "MERRY CHRISTMAS" instead of the politically correct "Happy Holidays"!! If you agree with me, please re-post this message.....
MERRY CHRISTMAS! We need Christ back into our lives
GOD IS WELCOME IN MY HOUSE。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * Π_。˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ *____~\。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門| •
If God is also welcome in your House, repost this!
To see what I posted in reply, and what happened after that, follow me down the rabbit hole...
I posted the following comment:
I don’t understand the hate for “Happy Holidays”. God is welcome in my house, and also in the home of my Jewish son and daughter-in-law. I wouldn’t say “Merry Christmas” to them, or to my DIL’s family, not because I want to be “politically correct” but because it would be just plain rude. I was brought up to respect other people’s beliefs. It saddens me that the “us-vs-them” mentality has spread to the point that common politeness is sneered at as “political correctness”.
I thought that was a pretty mild reply. I didn’t say a word about Faux Noise, or brainwashing, or wingnuts. I thought that at the most it might spark a debate; perhaps people would respond with reasons why they feel that Christianity is under attack. Instead, when I logged on this evening I discovered that the woman had de-friended me.
First of all, good riddance. With friends like that, I don’t need enemies (as my mother used to say). However, this woman couldn’t possibly have proved my point any better than she did by de-friending me! We weren’t best buds by any means, but I had worked with both her and her husband for a few years (before they retired), and we’d always gotten along well. Oh, but all I had to do was disagree with the Hive Mind; question the War on Christmas, and suddenly I became the enemy. I expressed – oh horrors – tolerance for people who aren’t exactly like me, which means I must be an eeeeevil librul.
The whole “political correctness” smear is a hot button with me anyway. To me it just sounds like jerks whining because they can’t belittle and demean other people with impunity. (Never mind why on earth they would want to; I know that there are unfortunately a lot of people who can only feel good about themselves if they are putting someone else down.) The right wing has been very successful at demonizing perfectly good words and concepts; in fact, it’s one of their most basic tactics. They have demonized the whole concept of politeness, of tolerance, of respect for other people. You’re either “us” or “them”! You’re either with us or against us!
The “War on Christmas” is another hot button. Although I am a Christian and a regular churchgoer, I deeply resent the attitude that Christianity is – or should be – the official religion of the United States. Even before I had a Jewish son, I was outraged by the implication that Christmas is the only real holiday; that everyone who celebrates something else should just suck it up. That non-Christians are second-class citizens, undeserving of any consideration or respect for their beliefs. This latest meme, as far as I’m concerned, is particularly reprehensible. Somebody at wingnut central has decided that being wished “Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, is an insult. The person is wishing you happiness, for crying out loud! Why not just say “Thank you”?
Ordinarily I’m not the person who can’t rest while “someone is WRONG on the Internet”. I have a few Facebook friends who occasionally post news items and quotes in their statuses that I find insulting or hurtful, and I just let it go. I’m the world champion of turning the other cheek, considering the source, and picking my battles. I guess the reason I couldn’t let this one go was because it wasn’t me being insulted, it was my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Say what you want about me, but come after my family and you’ll meet the Tasmanian Devil! It was definitely the Taz in me who wrote the status I posted:
The person who de-friended me today because I said, "It saddens me that the us-vs-them mentality has spread to the point that common politeness is sneered at as political correctness", just proved my point. (Unless they de-friended me because I have a Jewish son and daughter-in-law, in which case they proved a point that I was too polite to make.)