How can I do my part for the War on Christmas this year?

[recursivelyenumerable]

are there bonds I can buy or anything?

[Madrun Badrun]

If you give me your money I promise not to spend it on others. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

sounds like a plan, it's not like I'd have done anything worthwhile with that money anyway

[recursivelyenumerable]

apparently my tepid joke has already been made ad nauseum on various blogs and comment threads.  oh well.

[Mandark]

apparently my tepid joke has already been made ad nauseum on various blogs and comment threads.  oh well.

Yeah.  http://www.236.com/news/2008/11/28/the_war_on_christmas_is_winnab_1_10448.php

At least you didn't go with "Why does X hate America?"  I get the popularity of that one (it was infuriating to be constantly accused of sedition when Bush's numbers were still north of 60%) but damn was it overused.

[Madrun Badrun]

So are you going to pay pal me all your money or just give me your credit card info?  I need to know soon cause I have gifts to buy. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

There is a lot of untapped potential for a Jihad on Christmas.

[Don Flamenco]

So are you going to pay pal me all your money or just give me your credit card info?  I need to know soon cause I have gifts to buy. 

Aha! so close, I was about to paypal you, but you screwed up! 


also, my father, a 75 year old Argentinean man, said last year: "I walk into a store and there's Christmas music in November! It's like they're raping me with religion!" 

[recursivelyenumerable]

Yeah.  http://www.236.com/news/2008/11/28/the_war_on_christmas_is_winnab_1_10448.php

I post first and ask Google later.  that's just how I roll.

[Mandark]

Fuck that shit.

I want to beat someone with a giant candy cane every time I hear the words "Happy Holidays."

You're just a wellspring of cultural angst and resentment, aren't you?

When I lived in England I heard "Happy Holidays" way more than any Christmas-specific greeting, and I'm sure it never occurred to 99% of those people that I might be Jewish.  It stood for Xmas + New Years.

[Mandark]

Anti-semite.

[Mandark]

Nobody is objecting to the use of the word Christmas, or saying that the purpose of the Mall Santa needs to be covered up.

The issue is using it as a stock greeting in a way that presumes the other person also celebrates Christmas.  Which isn't a huge crime but is inconsiderate in a doofy privileged honky way.

[drew]

i work customer service at a mailorder company

we say happy holidays because we don give a fuck

[brawndolicious]

I dislike any holiday-related greeting.  Maybe it's because I was raised Muslim and all of the holidays are days of mourning and fasting.

That's true, Mandark, but don't you think Christmas gets singled out? No one thinks twice about saying "Happy Thanksgiving." What if my ancestors from a dozen generations ago were massacred by New England settlers? Is it because another major holiday (Hanukkah) shares roughly the same time slot? Also, are Jewish people really that opposed to Christmas? At this point, isn't Christmas pretty far removed from its Christian origins?

Did it even have Christian origins?

[Ganhyun]

I dislike any holiday-related greeting.  Maybe it's because I was raised Muslim and all of the holidays are days of mourning and fasting.

That's true, Mandark, but don't you think Christmas gets singled out? No one thinks twice about saying "Happy Thanksgiving." What if my ancestors from a dozen generations ago were massacred by New England settlers? Is it because another major holiday (Hanukkah) shares roughly the same time slot? Also, are Jewish people really that opposed to Christmas? At this point, isn't Christmas pretty far removed from its Christian origins?

Did it even have Christian origins?

Christmas was originally a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. Or at least thats what I was taught. And then other things were added in such as the specific day we use today, feasting, the 12 days, santa, etc..

[Tauntaun]

So are you going to pay pal me all your money or just give me your credit card info?  I need to know soon cause I have gifts to buy. 

Aha! so close, I was about to paypal you, but you screwed up! 


also, my father, a 75 year old Argentinean man, said last year: "I walk into a store and there's Christmas music in November! It's like they're raping me with religion!" 

"You ever been raped by a Christmas tree before?!?!?"

[patrickula]

Most of the traditional Christmas stuff was adapted from pagan traditions... Jesus was slapped onto the existing festivities to make people more willing to convert... or maybe people just kept doing the fun stuff anyway.  Historians/theologians aren't sure Jesus was born in December, but that's when the winter solstice is... major party time.

[Eric P]

man the jesus plug-in really does work wonders

[brawndolicious]

I'm pretty sure that I heard that jesus was born in the spring.  It's probably just paganism lite since there's nothing really christian about it other than maybe the day of jesus' birth.