The War on Christmas Continues (Congress, solution, retired, income)

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by TheWiseWino

The only war on Christmas that I can see is the rampant drive by commercial interests to irrevocably convert the Christian celebration of Christ's birth into an orgy of consumerism. As a result I find it more than a bit hypocritical to blame non-Christians for recognizing Christmas for what it is, weeks of frenetic shopping and maybe a few hours reflecting on the meaning of Jesus' birth. If Christian's have a beef with the anti-Christian forces, then take it up with them. Take it up with Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's, QVC, and Amazon (just to name a few).

LOL..Christmas has it's roots in the pagan winter celebration of Saturnalia (pagan god Saturn).
That was a weeklong celebration of lawlessness, gambling, gift giving and partying. It was adult themed.

Maybe we're just reverting back to the pagan roots of Christmas.

[GregW]

I generally wish everyone merry Christmas even though I am not a Christian. I do have a pagan pine wreath on my front door.


I support the idea of returning to the Saturnalia. It could be a five or six day blowout of rampant hedonism after which most could go back to the cubical farm for another three hundred sixty days.

[JerZ]

Oppressed Christians Huddle Underground

[westcoast_CA]

Its Merry Christmas. Its celebrated as the birth of Christ. It will ALWAYS be a Christian celebration and those who don't like it can ..... you get the drift.




Merry Christmas all

[emm74]

Originally Posted by westcoast_CA

Its Merry Christmas. Its celebrated as the birth of Christ. It will ALWAYS be a Christian celebration and those who don't like it can ..... you get the drift.




Merry Christmas all

Yes, because it's the ONLY holiday celebrated in December.

Happy Hanukah to you!

[Tonyafd]

Originally Posted by natalie469

Christmas should be about celebrating jesus' birthday and not about decorations. Honestly, how is this a war on christmas

The war on Christmas is the effort that is made to satisfy the bigotry of those offended by this benign Christian holiday.

[JerZ]

Oops, duplicate...weird...sorry!

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by Tonyafd

The war on Christmas is the effort that is made to satisfy the bigotry of those offended by this benign Christian holiday.

Oh for heaven's sake! Twenty-three pages into this already and you're still pretending Christmas is in jeopardy?

If you think it's all these "recent" developments that have "turned" Christmas from a religious one, read all the Medieval and Victorian accounts of gorging, drinking, dancing, jesters/clowns, parades and so on. People have always enjoyed the non-"Christian" parts of Christmas more than simply solemnly saying, "Today we're celebrating Christ's birthday...amen."

Compare your family Christmas dinner gorging and gift-tearing-into-a-thon to a Medieval court's twelve days of what amounted to a long ongoing carnival and tell us that it's this "war on Christmas" that's "making" Christmas no longer religious.

I often think of A Charlie Brown Christmas. That was 50 years ago. It was all about how the kids wanted a gazillion presents, aluminum trees and had no clue what the holiday even meant. Was there a "war on Christmas" then? I thought that was supposed to be the golden age where everybody bowed heads solemnly and knew "what Christmas was all about," guess we need to define a new golden age in that regard, eh?

If there IS a more PC bent today - not to exclude Christmas but to actually include other people's traditions (oh heaven forbid!) - exactly what effect is it having on the holiday? As I've already said, it's certainly not making Christmas "less religious" - it already had barely a veneer of religion to it (maybe midnight mass and a few mentions of Jesus' name at some point at the meal and a creche dutifully put up on the mantel to make God think we were being solemn about our planned near-hysteria-level revelry or whatever...come on...some of us were alive in these "long ago" days and remember that it WASN'T a golden age when it came to Christmas actually being religious as its overriding focus).

On the other hand, if you're talking about "not being able to mention" Christmas or decorate for it in public places or whatever, YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING. ME. Since Halloween it has been nothing but Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas in every single store I've been in, right down to the Home Depot. Since before that, there have been "Christmas in July" and "Christmas in August" blowouts both in B&M stores and on QVC and the like. Since Thanksgiving it's been a SCREAM of ZOMG CHRISTMAS IS COMING on TV stations, music stations, movies, books, "pre-Christmas sales!!!", "Did you know we have layaway? Start now!!!", magazines "What to cook this Christmas!", in schools where HEAVEN FORBID they do, yes, call it a "holiday" concert when the kids sing & play and they actually included, for us, the Dreidel song (ZOMG it's a war on Christmas! They said "holiday" and let Jewish kids attend!!!), ev. er. y. thing. has. been. CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS.

The other day the kids left the TV on when they went to school and I was still working at my computer and didn't want to get off and one after the next show was about someone "saving" Christmas. These weird monster trucks that talk save Christmas! And meanwhile, help everyone learn the "true meaning" of Christmas. Can Dave save the Chipmunks' Christmas? At the same time, can the Chipmpunks save Little Tommy's Christmas? And somewhere in there, learn the "true meaning" of Christmas? Dora has to save Swiper's Christmas! Can she meanwhile help him learn the "true meaning" of Christmas? OMG. Are you kidding me? LOL. I turned the TV off at that point. I mean one more jingle-bell sound and Santa hat and nervous candy-cane sucking as Our Heroes run through drifts of snow (in Mexico?) and I was going to puke peppermint-scented vomit. (And I like Christmas! But holy hell it gets to be too much at a certain point!!! Why do you think people are always exhausted after Christmas and are kind of relieved to have things wind down...)

ETA: Oh ha ha! And I just noticed my boys are watching The Fairly Oddparents...Timmy cast a wish that backfired (surprise) and now he HAS TO SAVE CHRISTMAS, ZOMG! Plus the fairy world...(Can Timmy fix what he's inadvertently done and in the process, learn the "true meaning" of Christmas?) I probably didn't notice because I'm just so numbed out from constant jingle-jangle sleigh bell sounds and red-and-green everything since five minutes after trick-or-treat curfew.

Can we please stop being silly here...and realize that in the overwhelming majority of the U.S., from early November at the very latest through late December you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Christmas display of some sort, in libraries, schools, work. Everywhere. And even if it doesn't specifically say Christmas, you know it's about Christmas. (And no, in the 70s we sure didn't have creches in every public setting and NOT in school, who are we trying to kid here???)

Now. (deep breath) I happen to love Christmas. (Though as I said, at a certain point it gets to be too much and I just have to turn everything off...well, except the Christmas tree, which my kids believe must be lit 24/7 or...or I don't know what, LOL. I just know they won't let me unplug it until early January...) I'm not complaining about the holiday itself overall. BUT to pretend that there's a "war" on the day and spend 23 pages arguing about how in jeopardy it is is the height of silliness. Literally the height!

Grow up already! And merry Christmas.

[Tonyafd]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Colleges also put out their sensitivity warnings about "Christmas".

One college said bow decorations are ok but no red or green bows.
Another college suggested skipping holiday decorations (won't say Christmas) and decorate for New Year's instead.

There's a definite War on Christmas now. And it all started off with "No nativity scenes in public places" many years ago. Now it's the tree, the lights, the colors.


University Holiday Guidelines -- Anything Religious Should Be Avoided | National Review Online
“University members are reminded to be respectful of the religious diversity of our students and colleagues and are encouraged to use an inclusive approach . . . focusing on the winter season rather than a particular holiday,” it advised.



Universities say mistletoe, Secret Santa, red and green decor aren't politically correct

Thank you Happy Texan.

Imagine, sensitivity warnings?
To those who say there is no bigotry about this Christian holiday, I say look at how far some would go to make sure that the bigots are not offended.

[JerZ]

University members are reminded to be respectful of the religious diversity of our students and colleagues and are encouraged to use an inclusive approach . . . focusing on the winter season rather than a particular holiday,” it advised.

Because otherwise other people's traditions would have been excluded. As if they didn't even exist or if they do, they're silly, ridiculous and not worth mentioning (i.e. 3500 years of Jewish tradition). Just like in the good ol' days.

Where's the bigotry again, here?

It's half-hilarious and half-sad to see people defining "bigotry" as having their right to exclude others and dominate challenged. "Help. We're being oppressed! We USED to be able to shout down anybody else's celebration. Oh the bigotry we used to enjoy! I mean...oh the bigotry against us!"

Christmas "stuff" and Christmas celebrating are everywhere. Literally everywhere. Christmas has been crammed down the entire nation's throat since OCTOBER. If THAT isn't enough for you nothing ever will be. Ever. Period.


Grow up. I swear some people just aren't happy unless they have something to complain about. If you want to feel victimized I'm sure there's a somewhat more believable way to do it so you may want to start looking around for options. "Christmas is under attack" when you can't turn around without something red-and-green hitting you in the face from Halloween through New Year's Day just isn't cutting it.