Just a Rant (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid



Message

darchChylde -> Just a Rant (12/5/2011 6:56:02 PM)

Had a "sweet little old lady" explode on me when I responded to her "Merry Christmas" with a "Happy Holidays" and I feel a little ranty. (yeah, that's right; I'm making up words!)

____________________

I'm not a Christmas person! But I'm not politically correct. I say "Happy Holidays", not because it's the more socially acceptable term, but because I'm not celebrating the same damned holiday you are. I'll be celebrating the Winter Solstice (or Yule) in the wee hours of the morn on December 22.

You complain about taking the "Christ" out of Christmas, well too fricken late; it's already done. Just give up and call it Present Day and get it over with. It's too late to worry about the commercialization of the holidays, when I walked into work on November 3rd to hear Christmas music. Not just Jingle Bells or Rudolph and the like, but full blown Jesus music; talk about a hostile work environment insensitive to my religious beliefs.

So give it up Christians, and stop complaining we're taking all the religion out of your world. You freakin' won, the war is over. You (along with Islam and Judaism) created the world and the laws with your Abrahamaic ideologies and the rest of us just have to struggle to get a foothold in your sinking sand. It's not our fault that you (as a whole) only care about your beliefs during the holidays or someone wants your influence out of our schools. You made your bed, don't kick us out of ours because you don't like the fit.

*edited, because I really do know how to spell religious



ChatteParfaitt -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:04:40 PM)

Happy Holidays !!



LadyHibiscus -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:08:17 PM)

BAH FUCKING HUMBUG.



Hillwilliam -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:12:35 PM)

I don't care what people say. I generally say "Merry Christmas" because that's what the day is marked on the calendar. I think people on both sides get a bit worked up over this stuff.

I mean, here in a month, we have:

Yule

Christmas

Chanukah (please forgive the spelling, Steven, if I fucked it up)

Kwanzaa (I assume there are still a few adherents)

Hell, I think we even had Ramadan one year during early Decenber (forgive me Ashjor if I missed that one).

Yule (and other Pagan midwinter festivals lost to antiquity) was the first of the above celebrated but don't most neopagans talk about tolerance?

Lets all try to get along. I mean if a Jew says to me "Happy Chanukah" I smile and say "and to you also."

I wish my Pagan friends a blessed solstice and tell everyone else Merry Christmas by default even though Im an Agnostic who is pretty certain that the birth of Jesus was much later on (feb/march?)



gungadin09 -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:16:16 PM)

Happy Festivus.

pam



Duskypearls -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:19:47 PM)

Happy BDSMidus, OK?!



darchChylde -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:24:56 PM)

Just a note:  This wasn't a hatred of all things Christmas or Jesus (that's another thread, another day LOL),  just a response to one person (today) that I was too polite (and in shock) to respond to in the moment.



tazzygirl -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:32:18 PM)

I listen to the old folks. Many are sad at the changes they have seen. While I dont agree with them, I do understand their pov and try to be a bit more lenient.



Soyokaze -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:45:21 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

I don't care what people say. I generally say "Merry Christmas" because that's what the day is marked on the calendar. I think people on both sides get a bit worked up over this stuff.

I mean, here in a month, we have:

Yule

Christmas

Chanukah (please forgive the spelling, Steven, if I fucked it up)

Kwanzaa (I assume there are still a few adherents)

Hell, I think we even had Ramadan one year during early Decenber (forgive me Ashjor if I missed that one).

Yule (and other Pagan midwinter festivals lost to antiquity) was the first of the above celebrated but don't most neopagans talk about tolerance?

Lets all try to get along. I mean if a Jew says to me "Happy Chanukah" I smile and say "and to you also."

I wish my Pagan friends a blessed solstice and tell everyone else Merry Christmas by default even though Im an Agnostic who is pretty certain that the birth of Jesus was much later on (feb/march?)


You forgot festivus for the rest of us : p



Hillwilliam -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:49:22 PM)

yup I did. Can you ever forgive me?[8D]



barelynangel -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 7:55:03 PM)

I respond in kind to people -- even if they wish me the wrong holiday, i always wish them Merry or Happy same Holiday because more than likely they celebrate the Holiday they are wishing you. It doesn't hurt me at all and ya know what, the way i see it, if it isn't a day i celebrate, at least they are wishing me a happy day on the day they do. That is really cool, whether they realize it or not, they are including me in their happy wishes for something they celebrate.

angel



laborboleta -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 8:27:43 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: barelynangel

I respond in kind to people -- even if they wish me the wrong holiday, i always wish them Merry or Happy same Holiday because more than likely they celebrate the Holiday they are wishing you. It doesn't hurt me at all and ya know what, the way i see it, if it isn't a day i celebrate, at least they are wishing me a happy day on the day they do. That is really cool, whether they realize it or not, they are including me in their happy wishes for something they celebrate.

angel


Yes, absolutely. Well said![sm=applause.gif]



Rule -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 10:36:33 PM)

You have got bad manners. Grow up.



Hippiekinkster -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 10:58:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: laborboleta

quote:

ORIGINAL: barelynangel

I respond in kind to people -- even if they wish me the wrong holiday, i always wish them Merry or Happy same Holiday because more than likely they celebrate the Holiday they are wishing you. It doesn't hurt me at all and ya know what, the way i see it, if it isn't a day i celebrate, at least they are wishing me a happy day on the day they do. That is really cool, whether they realize it or not, they are including me in their happy wishes for something they celebrate.

angel


Yes, absolutely. Well said![sm=applause.gif]

Yeah, indeed. She's OK, even if she can't boil water. [:D]

Me, I'm an Athiest (Antitheist, really) but I recognize such stock phrases are a form of social lubrication, and it takes nothing away from my views to respond in kind. And I can ignore the religious aspects of the holiday and enjoy it simply as a seasonal festivity.



GreedyTop -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 11:40:39 PM)

While I agree with responding in kind, I also see Darch's point... there was no need for the woman to get pissy at him! Seriously, he could have ignored her entirely (as I've had done to me by folks).



LafayetteLady -> RE: Just a Rant (12/5/2011 11:50:40 PM)

I am a Christmas person, and the old lady was rude.  Years ago, I had a Jewish friend, and we would go back and forth, her wishing me "Happy Hanukka" and me responding "Merry Christmas."  It was a silly joke we shared.  As angel pointed out, it is the spirit of wishing someone well that counts, even if this woman apparently has lost that point.

Many people seem to think of Christmas as a more "recent" holiday.  It isn't.  For informational purposes:

The pagan Winter Solstice has records of being celebrated as early as 46 BC.

There are records indicating that Hanukka has been celebrated at least since 164 BC, considerable longer than Christmas.

Christmas was first celebrated widely around 400 AD, but there is some evidence it might have been celebrated as early as 243 AD.  Yes, many Christians realize that Christ was probably not born on that day, however it has been celebrated on that day for many, many years.

Ramadan, a muslim holiday of fasting has existed since around 610 AD

Kwaanza is one of the "newest" winter holidays.  It was "invented" in the United states in 1966 by Maulana Karenga.  There is no such thing as "Kwaanza" anywhere in Africa.

Festivus first took place in February of 1966.  It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and later introduced into modern day pop culture by his son, Daniel, a writer for the Jerry Seinfeld show.  That show aired on December 18, 1997.

So yes, the Winter Solstice is the oldest celebration on record, but Christmas, Hanukka and Ramadan have been around much longer than many people seem to think.  I have no doubts that there were clashes between Pagans and early Christians or Jews.  However, since those three have been around for a couple thousand years, give or take, and they all, in some way shape or form are a celebration of life, what is really the point of anyone getting pissy about how the holidays are expressed verbally by any given person?

The final two, being made up holidays, one created by a black activist during the civil rights movement and the other not really having any widespread meeting until used as a joke for a sitcom have zero standing as a "holiday" in my opinion.

So whether you are wished a Blessed Winter Solstice, Happy Hanukka, Merry Christmas or the oh so politically correct Happy Holidays, isn't it possible for everyone to at least recognize that the other person is simply wishing you well and not need to be snarky about it (including the rude old lady)?

There is really no need any time of year, not just during the month of December, which again has come to symbolize a celebration of life, to not play the school yard game of my beliefs are better than yours, neener, neener, neener.



Fornica -> RE: Just a Rant (12/6/2011 5:38:42 AM)

;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ysfQjKKi70



LillyBoPeep -> RE: Just a Rant (12/6/2011 5:46:17 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: barelynangel

I respond in kind to people -- even if they wish me the wrong holiday, i always wish them Merry or Happy same Holiday because more than likely they celebrate the Holiday they are wishing you. It doesn't hurt me at all and ya know what, the way i see it, if it isn't a day i celebrate, at least they are wishing me a happy day on the day they do. That is really cool, whether they realize it or not, they are including me in their happy wishes for something they celebrate.

angel


I agree with this. If someone celebrates Hannukah, it does me no harm to hope they have a happy one.

LL - all holidays are "made up." There's no deep biological reason for any of them. It sounds like your issue with Kwanza is because an activist made it up - but religions are forms of activism, too. I don't celebrate Kwannza (and think it's funny when someone looks at me and assumes I do haha) but some people do and it's meaningful to them. Being dismissive of that isnn't called for, IMO.



BoxwineForBrunch -> RE: Just a Rant (12/6/2011 6:02:27 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: darchChylde

Had a "sweet little old lady" explode on me when I responded to her "Merry Christmas" with a "Happy Holidays" and I feel a little ranty. (yeah, that's right; I'm making up words!)

____________________

I'm not a Christmas person! But I'm not politically correct. I say "Happy Holidays", not because it's the more socially acceptable term, but because I'm not celebrating the same damned holiday you are. I'll be celebrating the Winter Solstice (or Yule) in the wee hours of the morn on December 22.

You complain about taking the "Christ" out of Christmas, well too fricken late; it's already done. Just give up and call it Present Day and get it over with. It's too late to worry about the commercialization of the holidays, when I walked into work on November 3rd to hear Christmas music. Not just Jingle Bells or Rudolph and the like, but full blown Jesus music; talk about a hostile work environment insensitive to my religious beliefs.

So give it up Christians, and stop complaining we're taking all the religion out of your world. You freakin' won, the war is over. You (along with Islam and Judaism) created the world and the laws with your Abrahamaic ideologies and the rest of us just have to struggle to get a foothold in your sinking sand. It's not our fault that you (as a whole) only care about your beliefs during the holidays or someone wants your influence out of our schools. You made your bed, don't kick us out of ours because you don't like the fit.

*edited, because I really do know how to spell religious



aww it was sweet of you to give that old woman the chance to really spazz the fuck out over the (imaginary) assault on her (still, alas, deeply entrenched) favorite fairytale. aging christians love the chance to really lay into somebody over trivial concerns--it feeds their martyr complexes and affords them the risk-free opportunity to come as close to "suffering for the faith" as they really want to come.

you gave her the greatest gift of all this festivus season--the gift of self-righteousness after throwing a histrionic display over an imaginary injustice.



Iamsemisweet -> RE: Just a Rant (12/6/2011 6:05:42 AM)

I generally say Merry Christmas, just because I love the holiday, if not the religious aspects of it.

This is shaping up to be kind of a mean spirited Christmas, I started a similar thread to this a couple of weeks ago. I think it is because Faux news is getting their viewers all riled up by insisting there is a "war" on Christmas. Morons.



Page: [1] 2 3 4 5   next >   >>

Valid CSS!




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy
5.078125E-02