My Thoughts — Political Correctness...humbug!

Is this politically correct? Don't care!!!

By Rich Luongo

This may not be politically correct and it may offend some people — atheists and non-believers — but I don’t care. I’m going to say it anyway: Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! and in case you didn’t get it the first two times… Merry Christmas!

Some 90-95 percent of the people in this country call themselves Christians; about 65 million are Catholics with the Southern Baptists at number two with some 14 million and everybody else are members of other Christian denominations.

So why are we, the majority, afraid to say “Merry Christmas” during the season that traditionally extends from Thanksgiving until Dec. 25 when most of the people in this country celebrate Christmas in some way? We can’t have any trappings of Christmas in municipal celebrations because of separation of church and state…show me in the Constitution where that phrase is used... you can’t because it doesn’t exist…it’s a phrase made up by legal minds.

Let me rephrase my previous statement. This year the Christmas season started around Labor Day and has been building up momentum ever since.

Clerks in many stores can’t say “Merry Christmas” or even “Happy Hanukkah” to their customers because of offending someone. So what do they say….? “Happy Holidays!” When a clerk says that to me I often respond, “And what holiday are you referring to?” It can’t be Ramadan because that’s over by the time the Christmas season gets into full swing and it can’t be Kwanzaa which has nothing to do with religion and begins on Dec. 26.

 Here I am in a store surrounded by holly and wreaths and candy canes and pictures of Santa Claus(God forbid there’s a picture of the Christ Child and Mary within 100 yards of the store) and other trappings of Christmas but the clerk cannot say, “Merry Christmas” so I say it instead and to everyone in earshot. On most occasions the greeting is returned by other customers, but almost never by the clerks.

 Have I offended anyone yet? I have? Tough. That’s the way the candy cane breaks. This is the Christmas season. Period. Was Christ born on Dec. 25? We don’t know but it was picked as His birthday. We know it was chosen by the Christian church to counteract a pagan holiday. But 2,000 years later…who really cares? Except maybe the Christian bashers who have the same mentality as gay bashers.

 But what do I know, really? It seems those who are trying to downplay this joyous of all holidays should turn their energies to other things such as trying to discover why they’re all jerks. Point of order: Maybe the thought police should try to eliminate the word “holiday” from our vocabulary in the same way they’re attempting — without much success — to eliminate Christmas because “holiday” is a contraction of the two words “holy” and “day,” and we can’t have any of that religious stuff hanging around. It might influence our kids….

 Fortunately, a couple of major retailers have included the word “Christmas” in their advertising this season. There may be some hope yet for this world.

Let me rephrase my previous statement. This year the Christmas season started around Labor Day and has been building up momentum ever since.

Clerks in many stores can’t say “Merry Christmas” or even “Happy Hanukkah” to their customers because of offending someone. So what do they say….? “Happy Holidays!” When a clerk says that to me I often respond, “And what holiday are you referring to?” It can’t be Ramadan because that’s over by the time the Christmas season gets into full swing and it can’t be Kwanzaa which has nothing to do with religion and begins on Dec. 26.

 Here I am in a store surrounded by holly and wreaths and candy canes and pictures of Santa Claus(God forbid there’s a picture of the Christ Child and Mary within 100 yards of the store) and other trappings of Christmas but the clerk cannot say, “Merry Christmas” so I say it instead and to everyone in earshot. On most occasions the greeting is returned by other customers, but almost never by the clerks.

 Have I offended anyone yet? I have? Tough. That’s the way the candy cane breaks. This is the Christmas season. Period. Was Christ born on Dec. 25? We don’t know but it was picked as His birthday. We know it was chosen by the Christian church to counteract a pagan holiday. But 2,000 years later…who really cares? Except maybe the Christian bashers who have the same mentality as gay bashers.

 But what do I know, really? It seems those who are trying to downplay this joyous of all holidays should turn their energies to other things such as trying to discover why they’re all jerks. Point of order: Maybe the thought police should try to eliminate the word “holiday” from our vocabulary in the same way they’re attempting — without much success — to eliminate Christmas because “holiday” is a contraction of the two words “holy” and “day,” and we can’t have any of that religious stuff hanging around. It might influence our kids….

 Fortunately, a couple of major retailers have included the word “Christmas” in their advertising this season. There may be some hope yet for this world.

Comments

[Pat White]

Rich: When my kids were in grade school in Moorestown, the principal of the school would not allow any singing of Christmas carols nor a creche nor a tree -- however, he blew the shofar for Hannukah and allowed the singing of the dreidle (?) song --all under duress from ONE parent who was Jewish. He finally relented and allowed the singing of Silent Night, but only in German, so the kids wouldn't know what they were singing. So the Jewish parent had the song sung in the language of her people's oppressors. Does any of this make sense? I couldn't wait to get my kids out of that school!!