Political correctness surrounding Christmas inaccurate, ridiculous
By Andrew Mell Western HeraldOn Dec. 25, 2009, Western Michigan University officially closes for what the 2009-10 academic calendar calls the “holiday closure.” When an institution formally closes on Dec. 25, can’t the word “Christmas” be used at least then?
Apparently not. Using terms such as “holiday break” or “winter break” have become popular for those of us who live in constant fear of insulting someone; but really, in 2009 Christmas is the only significant holiday being celebrated in December.
Though the lists vary depending on sources, a liberal inclusion of holidays celebrated during the Christmas season includes Festivus, HumanLight, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years Day.
If you haven’t heard of all of these holidays, have no worries because you’re not the only one. Some holidays are modern inventions, either created as celebration for a group of people or for commercial purposes.
Thanksgiving is a legitimate holiday in our country and as such is properly adorned with a “Thanksgiving Break.” You’d think that we’d call it “November Break” due to the presence of Black Friday as well.
Festivus, celebrated on Dec. 23, was created by author Dan O’Keefe, and made widespread by his son Daniel, who was a writer on Seinfeld. The holiday apparently originated as part of a Seinfeld episode and is now celebrated non-denominationally and includes things such as “airing out grievances” and performing “feats of strength.”
The reason we are not in school from Dec. 19 to Jan. 10 is not because of Festivus; nor is it the reason that hundreds of millions of Americans get time off work. Therefore, when people say “happy holidays,” they do not mean Festivus.
HumanLight is a modern holiday, also celebrated Dec. 23, created by Humanists. This non-religious group created HumanLight as a celebration of, “a Humanist’s vision of a good future.” Further emphasis is placed on reason, compassion, and hope.
HumanLight also has no bearing on us getting time away from school or work, nor do people consider it when wishing “happy holidays.”
Kwanzaa, celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, was created by Ron Karenga in 1966 to celebrate African heritage and culture. Karenga is quoted as saying that Kwanzaa was created to, “give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.”
The celebration of Kwanzaa is a wonderful thing, but it is a cultural celebration, not a holiday. We also cannot attribute time off from school and work, or holiday greetings to Kwanzaa, because if it were the reason then it would only make sense to also have the entire month of February off as well.
Next comes Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday whose dates of celebration vary from year to year. It has been celebrated since biblical times and is quite legitimately a holiday.
Even as such, it also is not the reason that we receive time off from school and work. You see, in 2009 Hanukkah is celebrated from Dec. 11 to 19. If you’ll take note WMU does not release until the last final has been completed on Dec. 18, and you’d be hard pressed to find a non-Jewish business that gives their employees time off from Dec. 11 to the 19.
So, since it’s obvious that American society doesn’t value Hanukkah enough to give time off for it, the holiday is also not a factor in our “holiday break.”
This leaves Christmas and New Years. If you’ll recall, people used to say “Merry Christmas” for the entire month of December up until the 25th and then switch to “Happy New Year” for the rest of the month.
Since its been established that no other significant holidays are celebrated around Christmas, at least none that are valued enough individually to warrant breaks and commercialized frenzy, what is the need for all of this political correctness?
As far as agnostics and atheists go, until they are willing to protest holiday bonus checks, more than a week off at Christmastime, and the receipt of mountains of gifts every year, they have no leverage in their arguments.
And, in a world where the ACLU is threatening to sue a school district in Alabama for not permitting a lesbian girl from attending prom with her girlfriend, a move that aims to expand civil liberties and freedoms, why does it have the opposite stance on Christmas?
In 1989 the ACLU took the county of Allegheny to the Supreme Court to force them to take down a Christian nativity scene from their courthouse. The Jewish menorah and Christmas tree were deemed constitutional however.
Apparently religious freedoms just aren’t as appealing, or sexy, as sexual orientation to make a big deal about.
This time of year would not be what it is without Christmas. If you’re Christian then you celebrate it for the proper reasons. If you’re not, at least it is a holiday that is commercialized enough that it shouldn’t really matter.
The least we could do is not be so innocuous and call it for what it is: Christmastime. So, Merry Christmas everyone!
Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=12983
Posted by heraldstaff
on Dec 6 2009. Filed under Opinion.
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I agree!!!
Who are you to say which holidays are legitimate and which holidays are not? You cannot say that Kwanzaa is not a legitimate holiday just because it is a recent event, or because it doesn’t celebrate somebody who may not have existed approximately two thousand years ago, the birth of whom (if it occurred) was most likely actually some time in July. As for Festivus, it may be a silly idea, but silliness does not make something illegitimate. And are you actually proud that your religion’s “main” holiday has been co-opted by a “commercialized frenzy?” Or does capitalism somehow appease your god? Oh, and I don’t receive any sort of holiday bonus, and I would actually benefit from working during the “holiday closure,” but I do not have the option to do so. I am not offended by you wishing others a “merry Christmas,” but to assume that everyone else ought to be celebrating your religion’s holiday is arrogant and ethnocentric. And what’s worse, you forgot to mention the pagan celebration of the winter solstice, perhaps the greatest holiday happening during this break.
Christmas is a Christian holy day. It is not a secular event. It is true that the majority of people in the United States are Christian, it is not true that majority rules nor is it true that majority equals being right. If you wish to celebrate your holy day, please, do such, I completely encourage you to do it. Don’t impose your beliefs on me or expect me to bow my head in reverence. It’s not my religion, it’s not my holy day.
Now that I’ve taken care of THAT….
You’re quite welcome to say “Merry Christmas” to me and I won’t be offended. Despite my opening statement, Christmas is no longer a religious day of observation. Don’t pretend. Don’t kid yourself. Don’t try to explain it away. Corporations don’t give a rip about your holy day. Corporations would say “Happy Yom Kippur Day!” if it would bring in the kind of cash Christmas does. Christmas is a corporately-sponsored greed-fest that has nothing to do with the birth of Mithrais…er, Jesus. A corporation that does say “Merry Christmas” hopes to pander to the largest denominator and placate your “Christian sensibilities.” Don’t be fooled into thinking that the corporation is showing reverence for your beliefs. Santa in the stores? Candy canes? Gingerbread men? Snowmen with scarves? Where, pray tell (pun intended), do these fit in with Christian dogma?
It’s a corporate time of the time. Say whatever you’d like. You’ll offend very few people. Those of us who have a bit of brain-power aren’t going to suddenly become Christian and join a church. We’ll just accept it as a form of well-wishes in hopes that the end of the year is at least somewhat joyous.
OH SNAP SAM!!!! Andrew Mell doesn’t understand that there are other people out there besides his keyboard and Jesus. I guess all of us non-Christians should just stay in school through New Years because we don’t have a real holiday to celebrate. Bill O’Reilly wants his opinions back Andrew.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS WMU!!!!!
This bigoted and ignorant piece is unworthy of a college newspaper.
Not only did the author ignore several legitimate holidays which fall between Thanksgiving and New Year’s (St. Nicholas Day, Eid, Yule, Winter Solstice), but included a fake holiday (Festivus) and a non-holiday (Black Friday). But clearly, lack of factual information stands little chance when put next to this author’s personal sense of entitlement.
Putting his ignorance on display repeatedly, he insinuates the ACLU “outrageously” defends the rights of gay people while daring to intervene at government endorsement of religion. He somehow managed not to notice in his “research” that the ACLU does work on freedom of religion cases, which the case mentioned was not. As if it’s so OUTRAGEOUS that a kid could choose their own date to the prom, that it makes state-sponsored religion seem positively harmless. Is that his logic?
Thanks for dismissing Kwanzaa as just a “cultural celebration”, because we can all be sure that if there is one thing holidays are NOT, it is cultural celebrations. Brilliant argument.
Also, thanks for the astounding comment “American society doesn’t value Hanukkah”. Again, pure brilliance.
Why does the reader get the sense the author is not black, not Jewish, and not gay? The cavalier dismissal of their/our issues and cultures? Hm.
There is so much more one could say about this piece. But something gives me the feeling it’s a hopeless cause.