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Author Topic:   The Christmas Wars
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 28 of 138 (774040)
12-12-2015 1:45 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by RAZD
11-29-2015 10:53 PM


I see more complaining from non-Christians about Christians bitching about the war on Christmas than I actually see Christians bitching about the war on Christmas.

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Replies to this message:
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New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


(1)
Message 29 of 138 (774042)
12-12-2015 1:53 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by Tanypteryx
12-10-2015 4:29 PM


quote:
Nobody said you can't say "Merry Christmas."
What they said was that you shouldn't say Merry Christmas because the person you're saying it to might not be a Christian, not celebrate Christmas, and instead celebrate something else. Saying Merry Christmas could indicate to them that you just assumed that they did celebrate it and probably are a Christian, and that could offend them and/or marginalizes their faith or something, so instead you should use something benign like "Happy Holidays".
Woo-hoo, we're PC bro!

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Replies to this message:
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New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


(2)
Message 30 of 138 (774044)
12-12-2015 1:58 PM
Reply to: Message 25 by Phat
12-12-2015 9:20 AM


Re: Have A Ho Ho Holy Christmas!
Does'nt "Holiday" originally mean Holy Day? If so, a federal holy day would exist in a secular government.
It used to mean that but not any more.
What good is "holiness" without someone or something to attribute the "holy" to?
Well, I still get paid to not show up to work.

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Replies to this message:
 Message 53 by Jon, posted 12-14-2015 8:26 PM New Cat's Eye has replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


(2)
Message 31 of 138 (774046)
12-12-2015 2:02 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by Dr Adequate
11-30-2015 8:09 PM


Oh, c'mon, it's a War On Christmas if Starbucks isn't celebrating Christmas hard enough ... before Thanksgiving.
You really count that? One pastor said something stupid, and then non-Christians make it go viral through click-bait on Facebook.
And then you blame all the Christians for bitching about a War on Christmas when most of them never really did.

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 Message 8 by Dr Adequate, posted 11-30-2015 8:09 PM Dr Adequate has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 42 by Dr Adequate, posted 12-13-2015 11:03 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 38 of 138 (774146)
12-13-2015 7:13 PM
Reply to: Message 32 by AZPaul3
12-12-2015 5:04 PM


Then you are not watching FOX or the christian networks, listing to the christian radio programs or reading the christian blogs and forums.
Of course I'm not! You are!?
It's more than pervasive. It's a study drum beat of christian martyrdom and abuse by this society with (given the season) "Merry Christmas" right there at the top of the bitch list.
Are you guys complaining that the sources of right-wing christian propaganda are, *gasp*, providing right-wing christian propaganda!?
How would you respond to me going to the darkest depths of the sources of left-wing anti-theist propaganda, and then complaining about how atheist are intolerant of religion and are trying to destroy our rights to it?
Is that what we're supposed to do? Go to the other side's worst of the worse, and then use a broad brush to paint them all as being that?

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
 Message 40 by AZPaul3, posted 12-13-2015 9:45 PM New Cat's Eye has replied
 Message 43 by Dr Adequate, posted 12-13-2015 11:07 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 51 of 138 (774227)
12-14-2015 8:10 PM
Reply to: Message 40 by AZPaul3
12-13-2015 9:45 PM


How else to know what the weirdos are doing if you don't listen to and read them?
I don't care what the weirdos are doing.
I would respond with a "Well done." Surprised?
From you personally, not so much.
From the proverbial you (which you personally are probably not), I doubt it.
If you don't know it's going on, and indeed it is, you won't know it when you see it in the open and how to counter it.
I'm pretty sure I'd just tell them to fuck off
Know thine enemy.
I guess I didn't consider (the proverbial) us enemies.
I thought this wasn't really a war...

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New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 52 of 138 (774228)
12-14-2015 8:18 PM
Reply to: Message 44 by NoNukes
12-14-2015 1:46 AM


If the goal is to sell as much stuff as possible to customers, then why is using "Seasons Greetings" considered PC rather than just being commercially smart? A retailer should use whatever gets the most customers through the door.
Sure, and not to say that it's either way, but:
If you're gathering demographic marketing data and making a commercial decision, then that's one thing.
But if you're pandering to a national political agenda then that's another.
Actually, though, I was talking about a personal level.
Like how I ought to not wish the random passerby a "Merry Christmas" to avoid marginalizing other faiths or hurting their religious sensibilities.
Christmas is a secular federal holiday; that's bullshit.
Now, I can cite instances where that might not be happening. But generally speaking, using "Season Greetings" ought to be perfectly acceptable unless you've got a butt hurt reason for getting offended.
Back to corporate policy: if I walk into my local Wal*Mart, and my local Bob the Greeter says "Season Greetings" instead of the regular "Merry Christmas" that I'm used to, and then I question him about it and he explains that it's Wal*Mart's national policy to replace "Merry Christmas" with "Season Greetings", because they're trying to avoid marginalizing other faiths or hurting their religious sensibilities, and I also believe that this is due to pandering to a national political agenda rather than from gathering demographic marketing data, then I would think that people could understand why I would consider that to be some PC bullshit.

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 Message 44 by NoNukes, posted 12-14-2015 1:46 AM NoNukes has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 57 by NoNukes, posted 12-15-2015 1:15 PM New Cat's Eye has replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 54 of 138 (774230)
12-14-2015 8:47 PM
Reply to: Message 53 by Jon
12-14-2015 8:26 PM


Re: Have A Ho Ho Holy Christmas!
Pff... I get paid not to show up to work for two days
Sorry, I also have both Th. and Fr. off.

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 Message 53 by Jon, posted 12-14-2015 8:26 PM Jon has not replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 61 of 138 (774381)
12-16-2015 9:05 PM
Reply to: Message 57 by NoNukes
12-15-2015 1:15 PM


About half of your statement about what the Walmart greeter does is actually about you.
Well, not me personally, but about the hypothetical person I used to make the argument.
I agree that if you believe marginalizing other faiths is okay then you are going to label "Season Greetings" as PC. And you are going to do that without bothering to question the greeter.
Sure, but what if the person is simply an atheist that recognizes that Christmas is a secular Federal holiday?
Are they marginalizing every faith or are they marginalizing none of them?
And it doesn't have to be because they want to marginalize other faiths, remember that you're arguing that it matters what you believe, it could just be because that's what they're used to and that's how they like to say it, despite the fact that they're an atheist who recognizes holidays.
Does it really matter in-person what they believe? Isn't the point about whether the other person is offended or not? Isn't that the PC way? Isn't that especially the case in a commercial marketing situation?
Should whether or not I'm going to offend someone really guide my political decisions, though? Should it guide my forum-posting decisions? It's for sure if you consider them to be commercial, but we shouldn't have to sell our political or forum-posting ideas. We should be allowed to believe in what we stand for, and stand for what we believe in. Otherwise, you are, yourself, marginalizing another "faith" - scare quotes for the atheist holiday guys who'd say that that doesn't count as a faith.
Where we're at; does it end up mattering if I was an atheist that believed in a secular Federal Christmas holiday and wanted to wish that people enjoyed it, or whether I was a religious bigot who was trying to marginalize other faiths?
Can't the punishment be the same? That I am urged to stop saying some thing to people that I'm used to saying, for instance?
For the Wal*Mart employee that, because PC, had to change his season's greeting to his local friend Bob, which ending up actually offending Bob, because WoC, well... Bob's offense doesn't get to count, 'cause he ain't PC. No? From a commercial perspective, it does actually count though; that's prolly why Wal*Mart changed their policy. From a political perspective, though, I'm not so sure.
That's some bullshit. You can't do that commercially. You can't allow for political correctness to control national decisions like that. Sure it works in the big ol' diverse cities where most people are strangers, but in the small towns where everyone knows each other, it's offensive to those people's cultures to make them change something that's familiar and innocuous because enough people are manufacturing political offense to cause an impact on their personal social experience.
Isn't that what being offensive is really about; how you make other people feel? If you really are PC, then shouldn't you care about offending the people that (mistakenly) believe in the War on Christmas? Is cracking jokes and making fun of them, and offending them further, really the PC thing to do?
How much is the left side perpetuating the WoC, and is the OP an example of it?
Did Charles M. Schulz write that? Is this really another instance of 'Charlie Brown always being right'? Message 2
What about the Starbucks Red Cup thing? Message 8 - You realize that was all click-bait, right?
What do you think the distribution of people who clicked the bait looks like from Left to Right? Like, how much was pro-PC and anti-WoC people and how much was pro-WoC and anti-PC people? How far from half-and-half does the distribution fall, what kind of shape does it have?

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
 Message 62 by Jon, posted 12-16-2015 11:14 PM New Cat's Eye has seen this message but not replied
 Message 68 by NoNukes, posted 12-17-2015 9:46 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied
 Message 69 by Dr Adequate, posted 12-17-2015 10:21 PM New Cat's Eye has replied

  
New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


Message 65 of 138 (774436)
12-17-2015 4:55 PM
Reply to: Message 63 by Theodoric
12-17-2015 1:49 PM


Re: My take on the faux outrage
Why the hell would I say Merry Christmas in November or Dec 15 or any other freaking day besides Christmas Day?
For one: you might want tell someone to have a Merry Christmas beforehand if you aren't going to see them until afterwards, e.g. a coworker.
All I can say to all to the hurt "christians" is; Grow the fuck up. No one is trying to insult you or your religion. Just because you think it is special does not make it incumbent upon me to treat you or your religion with any more respect or disrespect than I would any other person or religion.
You should be telling that to the PC people who claim that wishing someone a Merry Christmas marginalizes other faiths.
How come jewish people are not whining about Hanukkah?
I dunno, but unlike Hanukkah, Christmas is a secular Federal holiday.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 63 by Theodoric, posted 12-17-2015 1:49 PM Theodoric has replied

Replies to this message:
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New Cat's Eye
Inactive Member


(1)
Message 70 of 138 (774452)
12-17-2015 11:04 PM
Reply to: Message 69 by Dr Adequate
12-17-2015 10:21 PM


No, that's retarded. Ramadan isn't a secular Federal holiday.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 69 by Dr Adequate, posted 12-17-2015 10:21 PM Dr Adequate has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 71 by Dr Adequate, posted 12-17-2015 11:39 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

  
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