Happy Holidays from Saab

If we were honest we'd call it the " Feast of Mammon ".

Graham

We can. I'm quite happy with that.

You continue to miss my point.

I simply fail to see one.

Please do explain.

Graham

Yes, I totally agree. Happy Holidays - bwadr! I am certainly no a church goer or anything like that, but I thoroughly resent such changing of traditional names just because of fear that it might upset some group or other. Then why haven't they complained before during 2000 years? What right do they have anyway? And I thought religion was about tolerance.

Candles? Candles? They should be outlawed I tell you!! Do you know how many young children die each year from house fires started from burning candles (for cosmetic reasons only)?

Neither do I. I was just joshing... Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Yeah, well, can we get into the whole Darwin thing at this point, or would that be in astonishingly bad taste coming from a firefigher who has been to a fatal auto-Darwination fire?

Or not. Cue the South Park Christmas Song.

It's not an aversion, per se. More like trying to keep the peace with all the Jewish, Islamic, Ebonic, what-ever-ic people... Seperation of church and state (of mind I suppose).

Merry Christmas, Graham!

and if you didn't have one, what would it be called then? Eh?

Perhaps you can

It's anti-american because YOU said "What I don't get is this apparent

Just to be clear, people in the US are generally regarded as "Americans".

The other thing to consider is, while Christmas is a big deal for devout Christians ( I met one once...) and people that have too much money (I love the car commercials where the wife buys her hubby a new car. Who's money did she just buy that thing with?), personally I think it is all a bunch of ridiculous hype escalated by the corporations in an effort to sell more crap as gifts.

OTOH, New Year's is a wonderful holiday with no religious baggage or ulterior meaning other than the total and reckless enjoyment of one's self. And for what? Because we are starting a new calendar? Beautiful!! I think we should celebrate the solstices as vociferously...

When someone wishes you a "happy holidays" it's Crimby and New Years and most importantly the time you're getting off from work to spend with the people you wish, that makes you so "happy"... ;-)

Now have a freekin' Happy Holidays, OK?

Perhaps you can

Are you suggesting that asking about a practice that seemingly happens in just ( or mainly ) one country is to be interpreted as being *anti* that country ?

Graham

Ah ! right, thanks for the elaboration. I wondered if it might have some Jewish content given the number of times I've seen Hanukkah referred to recently. Although the Jews don't seem to have any trouble using their preferred name for the holiday period.

I don't understand why it seems to be such a big issue this year apparently though. Is the Jewish lobby getting bolder ?

Cheers. Wishing you a festive Feast of Mammon ! ;-)

Graham

But why suddenly now? Why has it become a peace keeping issue? Should we give way to religious intolerance? In particular when Christmas is just a name in the calendar for most people. What now about the name of the days in the week? They come from Norse goods Odin, Thor, Freya?

Perhaps you can

( or mainly ) one

In this particular instance, yes, but primarily as taken in conjunction with the rest of your anti-American ramblings...

You write well on a topic that clearly strikes a nerve in your sensibilities. From a strictly American perspective, I can say it's all about compromise in this society. For better or worse, and with varying degrees of success, we Americans seem inclined to send our children off to be cannon fodder in places most of us can't find on a map. We do it regularly and for the most obscure reasons. This habit has made a lot of us profoundly jealous of the concept of Liberty we like to kill and die for. Chief among these Liberties are a "short list" we call the Bill of Rights", it's the first ten items that address specific, concrete policies in our constitution. We all know that rampant PC is annoying but our Bill of Rights teaches us to be EXTREMELY suspicious of linking religion with our government. So we don't. We know that having lots of guns around is a factor in lots of senseless tragedies. Our Bill of Rights says don't let the government prohibit you from owning guns. So we don't. We are a capitalist society. Competition rules...more or less. When a topic like religion is a hot potato with our government, business is loath to risk involvement as well. I'm Christian. I say "Merry Christmas" to anyone I think may be similarly inclined. This excludes my Jewish, Muslim and Atheist friends. PC???? Maybe just thinking beyond my Anglo nose. Business can't be so choosy. Just not practical. Competition necessitates Seasons Greetings. It ain't pretty but it beats the alternatives.

Woof.

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