Happy Holidays

I've been doing my part in the War on Christmas. I never understood the rage among certain people when they are addressed with that phrase.

I always said "Happy Holidays" when I worked retail. I didn't know what someone might be celebrating and that way I covered all my bases. I'm an atheist and have been for a long time, but I like Christmas. I exchange gifts. Look, I even got my wife a hula hoop.

She was so surprised!

I was raised Christian, and most of the people in my personal life are also nominally Christian, so I tend to wish people a Merry Christmas these days.

(Though there is one woman at work who is so aggressive in her hatred of the phrase "Happy Holidays" that she'll try to get store clerks fired if they say it to her. I always go out of my way to wish her "happy holidays".)

It's weird seeing these people standing up to defend their right to shout Merry Christmas. I mentioned in an earlier post about this guy online taking a brave stance by speaking out about Nazis. Sure, gutsy for 1942 Berlin, but today, not so much. And likewise, white middle class Christians aren't an oppressed minority. Nobody's trampling on your rights by wishing you happy holidays.

Pictured above: Not you

Political correctness has never been anything but a straw man. Are there people out there who really believe that we atheists descend into an incoherent rage when someone wishes us a Merry Christmas? I'll grow mildly aggravated if someone says "I'm praying for you" as a deliberate provocation, but mostly I accept Christmas wishes in the spirit they were offered.