"I was at - forgive the expression - a christmas party..."

-sighs-

Political Correctness is stupid and annoying.
I am an agnostic athiest..Christmas to me is Santa, Frostie, Flying Reindeers, etc.
Christmas is also a remake of an ancient religion that stopped some really dumb behavior from ancient hebrews by giving the rulebook symbolic hero for equality and peace.

I know all of the above is mythos and fun, but it doesn't offend me. I am the core person that it should offend, but it doesn't offend me at all if a person uses Christmas.

So why the hell do people think its more politically correct to simply not use the word...

Its a christmas party. get over it..and yes, even a jew or muslim can celebrate christmas...because Santa is for everybody

Source

“I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party,” NPR reporter Nina Totenberg interjected on Inside Washington in the weekend’s oddest cautionary separation from a common description for a common event, seemingly embarrassed to invoke any religious terminology for Christmas. She didn’t say what she’d prefer for parties this time of the year to be named. “Winter solstice party”? Just plain old “holiday party”? Or a “seasonal gathering”?

How about a "snowflake themed stealth product exchange gathering" or maybe a "eggnog-centric late year mythos theme party?" (is party still a PC term?)

I think some political correctness is a good thing, but come on..if you went to a flipping christmas party...then you went to a christmas party.

Agreed! So what if it's a Christmas party. If people don't like the term "Christmas" then don't go to the party. It's as simple as that!

I call them Christmas or Holiday parties and it has nothing to do with being politically correct, it's whatever pops into my head at the time.

Excellent post as per usual. S &F

Merry Xmas! (I like that one.)

I don't get it either. Just because I might believe a different way than the next person doesn't mean that I shouldn't be allowed to even say the words that correspond with that belief.

What's next? I went to bingo at, forgive the expression, church.

Who's offended? I'm not a strong Christian by any means. Why is merely saying the words offensive?

Beware! Words coming!

I don't get it...still.

S+F

I will never understand all the controversy over Christmas. The only thing I can see is that Bill Oreally got some good ratings a few years back by making up the war on Christmas. In the last 5 years, it has actually turned into a war, not on Christmas but between sides. The reason it all confuses me is that I am with the OP on what Christmas means. I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through my freshmen year in high school. Despite all this Cahtolic influence, Christmas always meant Santa, Rudolph, etc. to me and had nothing to do with Jesus. It seemed to me that EVERYONE was worthy of a visit from Santa, had they been good boys and girls. It never even entered my mind that Christmas and Christianity were so closely tied. It was not because I was not paying attention in school nor lacked the understanding of the word CHRISTmas but in the way it was marketed. In school we talked about Mary and Joseph, the Inn that had no rooms, the wiement, etc. At home, we talked about trees, lights, PRESENTS!!!!!! On television, either there were few religious holiday specials to air or I just always missed them. I do have a collection of Christmas specials (claymation, cartoon, etc) of 57 DVDs. The shows range from 1962 to 2000. I have not re-watched them all yet but so far, no mention of Jesus in many of them.

I guess basically, as a dumb kid I just thought there were two different holidays called Christmas. There was the one everyone (for the most part) celebrated where Santa brought them presents, then there was the less popular one celebrated by religious people that entailed going to church for 3 hours at midnight. I guess that just always kind of stuck with me. You have your Christmas, I will have mine, we can both use that name. You hijacked a holiday, we modified it, its all good. Then about 5 years ago, this happened.

personally I like Festivus...

but considering the lawsuit happy culture we live in, I am afraid I'll be sued by the Seinfeld creators if I actually promoted it

This so-called "controversy" was created by obnoxious cultural-marxists who go around feeling "oppressed" by Christmas-Decoration and the Holiday in general....ooops...I used the word "Holiday" which comes from "Holy Day".

Im no Christian myself, but I enjoy the idea of Christmas Spirit.

reply to post by kalisdad


When do we start the Airing of Grievances? Followed closely by the Feats of Strength!

Christmas is so commercialized and secularized these days that it feels kind of silly to even think of it as a Christian holiday. Seriously, it's about presents, snow, and Santa these days.

Great post. Star for you, OP!

This refusal to use the word "Christmas" is part of a big old backlash to the evangelicals for flipping out over Halloween several years ago. I once had so much fun participating in my children's Halloween parties and carnivals, but around 10 years or so ago we were no longer allowed to dress in costumes and had to call the parties Fall festivals and such nonsense. I thought to myself back then that the world had gone mad. I know it for sure these days.

And of course, we wouldn't dare want to offend anyone living in this country who practices any other religion.

reply to post by SaturnFX


You have missed the point. Did you dance on the table? Kiss the wrong person? Insult your boss. Or otherwise make a jackass of yourself? If "No" then why not? If you did make a Jackass of yourself do tell!

Ain't she the same talking head who wished that Jesse Helms or one of his grandkids would get AIDS (this was back in the day, obviously) in order to increase JH's compassion ? She could perhaps more profitably have uttered a "forgive me" to excuse that little on-air gem.

Originally posted by WickettheRabbit
reply to post by kalisdad

 

When do we start the Airing of Grievances? Followed closely by the Feats of Strength!

Yeah I been walking in the snow all day, and my feets are wet and stink strongly...and if I gave them airing, there would be grievances among the lowflying passersby...Is this what you had in mind?

Originally posted by Seeker Mom
Great post. Star for you, OP!

This refusal to use the word "Christmas" is part of a big old backlash to the evangelicals for flipping out over Halloween several years ago. I once had so much fun participating in my children's Halloween parties and carnivals, but around 10 years or so ago we were no longer allowed to dress in costumes and had to call the parties Fall festivals and such nonsense. I thought to myself back then that the world had gone mad. I know it for sure these days.

And of course, we wouldn't dare want to offend anyone living in this country who practices any other religion.

We definitely wouldn't want to offend anyone. Some schools won't even allow the damn Pledge of Allegiance because of the word God. It's real simple...if something offends you, don't participate in it. Keep the Christ in Christmas!

Christmas to me was never about anything religious.
It was a winter solstice party and still is.
Celebration of winter solstice is older than most people think.
I'm not an expert but I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the religions of today.
Besides, further proof of this is that most civilizations had some kind of "thing" during this time of the year.
So...To me, Christmas is never offending as a term or a thing.
Only thing that offends me about christmas is the sheer amount of "capitalism" that goes along with it.
Greed. It ruins everything.

reply to post by SaturnFX


i'm a christian and when i was in highschool i often accompanied one of my girlfriends to an -excuse this expression- a synagogue.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
This so-called "controversy" was created by obnoxious cultural-marxists who go around feeling "oppressed" by Christmas-Decoration and the Holiday in general....ooops...I used the word "Holiday" which comes from "Holy Day".

Im no Christian myself, but I enjoy the idea of Christmas Spirit.

See, I find it to be just the opposite. Every year I see a story on Fox News about some school banning Christmas stuff because someone was offended or some town hall doing something different because someone was offended. Every year, when contacting the school or office in question, the story turns out to not be true. So, each year what I see is "Christians" complaining that they are being oppressed by non-Christians and enemies of Christmas when it never seems true. On the other hand, I actually never do see anyone complaining about Christmas decorations or themes anywhere ever. Maybe it is just what I see.

Originally posted by snusfanatic
reply to post by SaturnFX

 

i'm a christian and when i was in highschool i often accompanied one of my girlfriends to an -excuse this expression- a synagogue.

I had a, forgive the expression, girlfriend whom was a jew. I enjoyed going to the jewish festivals..ate some weird food, learned a bit about the culture, etc.

I am offended when they try to shove religion into tax dollar sponsored establishments...be it the 10 commandments monument at a courthouse, or stamping religious symbology on money, etc. I would also be equally offended if a hard athiest did the opposite
Imagine the outrage if money read: "This is the only God"

Religious people would be up in arms...and most atheists (soft) would also be pretty angered by that.

I know this may be slightly off-topic, but, as a non-American, here's something that I've wondered:

In the First Amendment of the US Constitution, it says: ''Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...''.

Yet, as far as I understand, Christmas Day is an officially designated National Holiday. Doesn't this contravene that part of the First Amendment, as the only religious-based Public Holiday in the US, is the holiest day of one particular religion ?

reply to post by SaturnFX


Excellent post. - S & F!

People just need to let other people be.

It all boils down to - if you'll excuse the expression - the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you think about it, all behavior should be based on that. If it was, there would be no issues between people.