It seems like this comes up at some point every year: The "war on Christmas." The belief that by not going out of their way to acknowledge their religion and only their religion, the rest of the world is clearly trying to bring down Christianity as we know it. A war that's apparently being waged any time some minimum-wage Walmart employee wishes you "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas," or anytime a town doesn't erect a nativity scene at city hall, or whenever some dipshit complains to a school district about religious music being played at their kid's band concert.
But it's been at least a fairly non-violent war. Until now.
A Salvation Army bell-ringer was accosted by a woman in Phoenix who took particular offense to the 'holiday' greeting. That's right: Saying "Happy Holidays" is akin to declaring jihad on Christianity, but jaw-jacking somebody for saying it, even someone who's trying to raise money for charity, is entirely acceptable. Because clearly, the Salvation Army is the enemy here. You know, that bastion of atheism and homosexuality, the freaking Salvation Army.
And people wonder why I'm not a practicing member of anything anymore. Are we seriously at the point where we're getting outraged over well-wishes from people? That's really the most offensive thing to you, is someone wishing you well, simply because they don't celebrate the same religious holiday you do? I mean, never mind that Jesus, whether you're a believer or not, is not the "reason for the season," but rather the winter solstice and accompanying pagan celebration, which were in existence long before December 25th was declared by the church to be Jesus' birthday. But even to acknowledge that, god forbid, another holiday exists between Halloween and the new year is something worthy of physical violence?
But that's just one example of how Christianity is being "oppressed" this holiday season. Then, you've got this: a Christian group covering up an atheist display with a banner, then complaining that they're the ones whose right to free speech is being suppressed. Now, I guarantee that if some atheist group were to put a banner over a nativity scene or something similar, Christians would be up in arms over it, and rightfully so. So why is it okay to do it to another group? Part of me is hoping this is a hoax, just because I don't want to believe anyone is this stupid.
What I don't understand is why in the hell it has to be this way. Christians: Your holiday is already recognized by the federal government. Every store on Earth has Christmas sales out the ass. Damn near every show on TV has a Christmas special of some sort. How much more public acknowledgement do you fucking need? Enjoy your holiday and quit shoving it further down everyone's throats. Atheists and whoever the hell else doesn't celebrate a holiday in December: You either have the day off, or you're likely getting time-and-a-half to be there. Let 'em have their damn Christmas songs without complaining that they're trying to indoctrinate you. Enjoy the fucking day off and don't be such a goddamn buzzkill about it.
I'm sorry, but this whole thing has "first-world problems" written all over it. Y'know, there are plenty of examples of freedom of religion being trampled on around the world, and the worst we can come up with here is some vapid talking heads on cable news fretting about whether Jesus and Santa are white. For the love of fuck, it's not like anyone's being arrested or killed for practicing their religion (or lack thereof) however they want to, so why in the hell can't we just live and let live? You go believe whatever you believe, I'll do the same, and neither of us will go start a media firestorm about the other. Deal?
No comments:
Post a Comment