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'Merry Christmas' got her fired
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mariacanadiana View Drop Down
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    Posted: 29 December 2008 at 1:49am
Ben Stein, an american actor, wrote this about christmas. It seems to me the only people insisting on not calling Christmas "Christmas" are the people who celebrate it.
 
I thought it was insiteful so I'll post it here
 
"Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was  Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

 I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to."


Edited by mariacanadiana - 29 December 2008 at 9:53am
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abuayisha View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Hyposonic Hyposonic wrote:

"I agree.  What's the big deal - especially in America."
 

I don�t know if this was a joke or a sincere replay, but as Shasta mentioned, there are many holidays that many different cultures celebrate many of whom reside in the U.S. To be fair not to offend others in a place of work people ought to be neutral.

 

Very sincere - seeing that America is mainly a Christian country; so if you can�t say �Merry Christmas� here, where can it be said?

 
 81% of American adults identify themselves with a specific religion: 76.5% (159 million) of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Source: <http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm>
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abuayisha View Drop Down
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Points: 5105 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote abuayisha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2008 at 8:50pm

PAUL PAYACK: "What we're finding is that there's, it's kind of like there's a backlash where people are trying to say 'Merry Christmas' where they normally might say 'Happy Holidays,' because they see it as what's called the 'war against Christmas,' as some of the commentators are calling it. And there's not really a war against Christmas, but it's the idea that many major companies just take the name Christmas out of everything.

"OK, in Boston, this was an interesting one, that a farmer, a tree farmer in Nova Scotia, donated this large, magnificent tree as the Christmas tree for the Boston Common. So the mayor sends out something that says, we're going to have a holiday tree-lighting ceremony. Well, people went berserk, and the fellow that donated the tree said, I want it back if it's not a Christmas tree. It's not a holiday tree, it's a Christmas tree."



Edited by abuayisha - 28 December 2008 at 8:52pm
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mariyah View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Shasta'sAunt Shasta'sAunt wrote:

Originally posted by abuayisha abuayisha wrote:

"I hold my core Christian values to a high standard and I absolutely refuse to give in on the basis of values. All I wanted was to be able to say 'Merry Christmas' or to acknowledge no holidays," she said Tuesday. "As a Christian, I don't recognize any other holidays."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_on_re_us/happy_holidays_firing

 
I think people should be allowed to say Merry Christmas at their place of employment. Along with Eid Mubarek, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Lohri and the other 10,000 Hindu holidays, Happy Visakah Puja, etc.....
 
I have to say I agree on this oneSmile
"Every good deed is charity whether you come to your brother's assistance or just greet him with a smile.
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I suspect there is something else going on. I really doubt this would happen in Florida no less.. sorry something else is going on...
When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. Rumi
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Hyposonic View Drop Down
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I agree , this "happy holidays" pc nonsense is getting to me. Just because a muslim or a jew or a hindu doesn't celebrate christmas doesnt mean that the whole world has to pretend its not christmas.
 

It�s not about pretending it�s about being correct, whether it�s political or not. Fine. I will give you that perhaps 85% of Americans celebrate Christmas (if that is a correct figure), but that doesn�t mean the other 15% does not exist and must succumb to the majorities wishes. Christmas is historically a religious holiday. In America, it seems it has become socially acceptable because it�s associated with materialisim and commercialization. What you do is fine but there are Jews and there are Hindus and others who do not celebrate that holiday. You not acknowledging that is not cultural pluralism, its called ignorance not tolerance or acceptance.
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Points: 247 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hyposonic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2008 at 5:12pm
"I agree.  What's the big deal - especially in America."
 

I don�t know if this was a joke or a sincere replay, but as Shasta mentioned, there are many holidays that many different cultures celebrate many of whom reside in the U.S. To be fair not to offend others in a place of work people ought to be neutral.
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mariacanadiana View Drop Down
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Points: 38 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mariacanadiana Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2008 at 3:50pm
I agree , this "happy holidays" pc nonsense is getting to me. Just because a muslim or a jew or a hindu doesn't celebrate christmas doesnt mean that the whole world has to pretend its not christmas.
 
I say merry christmas to my friends
 
My friends say Eid Mubarak to me on Eid. 
 
Now that my firends is tolerance and acceptance :)


Edited by mariacanadiana - 28 December 2008 at 3:52pm
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