For a number of years now, there have during the holiday season been unsubstantiated claims about a perceived and ill-defined war against Christmas perpetuated by "the left."
From what right-wing pundits and commentators on the likes of Fox News and its Canadian counterpart Rebel Media tend to proclaim with the utmost and frantic urgency at this time of year, liberal snowflakes have ruined ó or are relentlessly driven by some insidious agenda to ruin ó the celebration of Jesus Christ's birthday. Which as a trivial aside is by all historical accounts, including biblical, more likely to have occurred some time in the spring. But let's just ignore that inconvenient tidbit.
Cups from Starbucks and expressions such as Happy Holidays, which are merely meant to be inclusive of all faiths that observe religious celebrations at this time of year, are allegedly part of an elaborately devious and subversive socialist plot to usurp the true meaning of Christmas.
Yet meanwhile, Santa Claus, plagiarized pagan yuletide icons such as decorated trees that have absolutely nothing to do with Christianity, and an insatiably gluttonous, greed-driven corporate crusade for endless profits largely all seem to get a full stamp of approval.
If there really is a war being waged against Christmas, unfettered corporate greed is the vanguard leading the assault with great zeal.
The minds of young children have in altogether too many cases from birth been bombarded with advertising and branded to recognize corporate icons such as Ronald McDonald and Santa Claus before they could identify say, for example, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. Or even ol' J.C. in many cases. Earlier and earlier access to digital media and screens such as tablets and smartphones is only likely to exacerbate this disturbing trend.
Also, no one seems too worried about buying their kids plastic toys and high-tech gizmos manufactured by sweatshop slaves, who are oftentimes in a cruel twist of irony also children, in developing countries with little to no regard for labour rights. Was I ever crushed when I eventually learned the toys I had once so relentlessly begged for as a kid were products of an exploitive global economy that without fail favours the wealthy.
But apparently, "Happy Holidays" is more offensive than all of that and worth actually making a fuss over.
Deciding to ask the Internet whether anyone actually gets offended by being wished "Merry Christmas," I found a few links right off the bat. After perusing some comment threads in online discussions on the subject, I found that although people who do not celebrate Christmas tend not to care whether someone wishes them a Merry Christmas, there is no shortage of fuming anger from those who apparently get triggered by being wished "Happy Holidays."
But then, there are those who posit ó attributing Barnhart's Dictionary of Etymology ó that "happy holidays" is merely derived from the evolution of the Old English saying "holy day."
And if Christ's birthday does not constitute the very definition of a holy day, I'm not sure I know what does.
So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Ramadan, Happy Kwanza, happy whatever-you-celebrate!
Regardless of your chosen faith, or perhaps even lack thereof, let's just treat one another with decency and understanding, casting judgment aside at the door.
That sounds like something Jesus might have done. What better way to celebrate his birthday than by striving to follow his example, rather than getting bent out of shape over semantics?
