Momnesia

War on Christmas? Sounds Like a Crusade

The Aiken Standard's publisher's granddaughter must have written this P.O.S., because there's no way that anyone else would have been able to publish something so obviously biased... right? Anyone? Bueller?

"The fear of offending someone by referring to Christianity's most treasured figure has driven individuals and businesses to declare 'war on Christmas,'" the article says. "But is the 'war on Christmas' battle being fought in Aiken, S.C.? We at the Aiken Standard wanted to find out. During our day-to-day out at stores and eateries, we said to clerks we hoped they had a Merry Christmas and gauged their reactions. Out of the 10 places we visited, we heard a return "Merry Christmas" only twice. Two clerks said, 'Thank you.' The remaining responses, except for one, were, 'You, too' or a variation thereof."

First of all, where is the liberal media bias in this story? How did this woman get into a newspaper office? Didn't they ask her party affiliation at the security desk? This is an outrage! She should be working for the Republican Party!

Hyperbole aside, the point of saying "Merry Christmas" to someone is not some secret code for "Do you also accept Christ as your personal savior?" Or, at least, I hope it's not. The point is to simply wish someone has a merry Christmas, out of the goodness of your heart. I think people miss the whole idea of Christmas by insisting that people return it back to them. Isn't Christmas about selfless giving? Is it so hard to selflessly wish that someone has a merry Christmas, no matter what they wish you have? And, in my experience with store clerks, they're often wishing you would just get the hell out of their faces.

Saying "Merry Christmas" is a seasonal shift from the normal "Have a nice day." "You, too" is a perfectly acceptable response; as is "Thanks." Although the first is preferable, in the way that "Bless You" is preferable to "Gesundheit," if only because it's easier to spell (thank you, built-in Firefox spell checker). In fact, because the statement is as much a vocal gesture of goodwill as putting pennies in the Salvation Army kettles outside the grocery stores, the only unacceptable response would be "Fuck you," or something of the sort. You wouldn't expect a Salvation Army bell ringer to give some pennies to you after you give to them. They just say, "Thank you." And that is - and should be - enough. Because you aren't doing it for a certificate of appreciation. You're giving money, or wishes for a merry Christmas, or holding a door open for someone in line behind you, because you are trying to be a nice person. Will you get something out of it? Maybe. The hope is that by leading by example, others will also be inspired to do nice things. And then the world will be a nicer place to live. And that's not impossible.

But it does become more difficult when you remove personal choice from the equation. Plato said that to be good, people had to think about being good. They had to internalize it as an intellectual pursuit, and reason through their own reasons for being good. Aristotle took it a step further and said that it's all well and good to think about being a good person, but you have to do good works, too. Exercising the good within you - as opposed to exorcising it, ha ha - is the way to be a truly good person.

And in by declaring that there is some kind of cultural war on Christmas, writers like this - or should I say paranoiacs like this - are removing the option to do good, which removes the meaning. When one is somehow required to say "Merry Christmas," it becomes a burden.

I say Happy Holidays. It's not to be PC. It's because I think of this time as encompassing a number of western holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. That's three, and that's plural, and I hope they're all happy for people and so "Happy Holidays" fits best of all. But most major religions in the world have some kind of celebration at this time of the year, so why not include them? I don't believe that we show our goodness by being exclusive and putting on a pious face in public and requiring such inanities as "Merry Christmas." I think we show our goodness by being inclusive, and putting on a humble face in public and giving to other people instead of requiring anything from them.

The Aiken Standard article continues: "Hints of awareness were spotted at Sunday's Aiken Christmas parade. Interestingly enough, we heard a young boy seated on a Boy Scout troop float in Sunday's Aiken Christmas Parade shout, 'Happy Hanukkah' to the crowd. Right after that, a Girl Scout troop float rode by, decorated with a mural of the Star of David, dreidels and menorahs."

When did "hints of awareness" become a bad thing? It smacks of the 2002 presidential election, when John Kerry was laughed at for being an "intellectual." I wouldn't have voted for him anyway, but I certainly hope that I live in a society where "intellectualism" and "awareness" are valued, not reviled. Besides, maybe the kids on the float were Jewish. Synagogues have been known to sponsor scout troups for the purpose of character training. Or, perhaps, those children really did simply hope that people who celebrate Hanukkah had a happy holiday this year. I think that shows the kind of selfless inclusion that only children can display. And God bless them for it.

"While the 'war on Christmas' continues, Markovsky noted that he is seeing the 'pendulum swing the other way' — some are offended when Christ is taken out of Christmas, to sometimes be replaced with an 'X,'" the writer for the Aiken Standard goes on.

Well that just shows the ignorance of not only the people who are offended, but also the writer of this article. Because using an "X" for the sign of Christ has been done for centuries, as drawn from the Greek alphabet. The word Christ and its compounds, including the word "Christmas" have been abbreviated long before modernity. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt," and is still in Eastern and Greek Orthodoxy.

In fact, this symbol, which many Christian may have seen without understanding it's meaning, is called the labarum, or sometimes, the "Chi-Rho" (pronounce it like "Cairo). It also means "Christ," and was developed by the early Christian churches. This symbol used to hang on our Christmas tree in the sanctuary of the Presbyterian church, Grace Covenant, in Conyers, Ga., where I grew up.

By numbers alone — gathered with our minimally scientific method — there is evidence of the war being fought in Aiken.

First of all, this woman cannot read or add. Because by her own count, 8 out of 10 of the people responded by saying "You, too," or some variation of it, which means "Merry Christmas to you, too," in verbal shorthand. According to the Census Bureau, 82% of all Americans self-identify as Christians. Of course, they're including about .05% who self-identify as Mormon, and a teeny few who self-identify as Eastern Orthodox, which this writer obviously would not include in her assessment. But, basically, it's a useful bit of statistical data. The flip-side: 17.9% self-identify as another religion, agnostic, atheist, or humanist, secular or no religion. Isn't it odd how secular and no religion are separate categories? People, if you take no other elective in college, take Quantitative Methods. Eye-opening. You really shouldn't believe everything you read about "scientific studies" in the news. More math in j-school!

Anyway. Back to my point.

As to what side will win and where it will lead us is anybody's guess, the article ends.

The fact that her research found that Aiken was generally representative of national trends wasn't good enough for that reporter. If this Aiken Standard writer has anything to do with it, the side that will win shall be the ignorant, uneducated and selfish side.

And we are all the worse for it.

Happy Holidays.

UPDATE:

A.C. brought this story up a few minutes ago.
"Is it possible that the kids were yelling 'Happy Hannukah' during the parade is because it is Hannukah?" she asked. "It's not Christmas."

And then she pointed out that right beside this story, on the Aiken Standard's website, is a click-through ad for the newspaper's "Holiday" gift guide. Not their "Christmas" gift guide.

Excellent reasoning, A.C. Your cool logic is always preferable to my histrionic emotionalism. It's nice to sit facing you every day. Except you have something on your forehead right now...