The Weekenders wrote:
As for other comments, I would check out whether its called Christmas as a holiday. That word is disappearing very fast in official publications. I work at a private newspaper for a retirement community, and we were not allowed to use the word Christmas even once in the six weekly editions leading up to the actual day. Not regarding trees, not regarding Dec. 25 etc etc. It's all HOLIDAY season.
I thought Christmas (along with Hanukkah and New Year's Day) was what made it the HOLIDAY season. Well, as political correctness would have it, Christmas is offensive because it's associated with Christianity, and so is Hanukkah because it's associated with Judaism. So, the next thing you know, the HOLIDAY season will be centered around New Year's Day! But, wait a minute! Isn't the calendar we use here in the Western World supposedly based on a Christian event? So, there goes New Year's Day, too! So much for the HOLIDAY season! :roll:
[quote="The Weekenders
As for other comments, I would check out whether its called Christmas as a holiday. That word is disappearing very fast in official publications. I work at a private newspaper for a retirement community, and we were not allowed to use the word Christmas even once in the six weekly editions leading up to the actual day. Not regarding trees, not regarding Dec. 25 etc etc. It's all HOLIDAY season.[/quote]
Sorry, Weeks, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be- at least not yet. The 2005 Federal Holiday is stilll officially Christmas.
Since the word 'holiday' comes from 'holy day' shouldn't the word holiday itself be banned as offensive to non believers?
(Now where did I put that tongue-in-cheek emoticon?)
May the joy of music be ever thine.
(BTW, my name is John)
I haven't been keeping up with this thread, but had a few thoughts I thought I'd share (and I apologize if I've told some of these anecdotes before -- I'm getting to that age).
During my childhood and teenage years in southern Utah I rarely (if ever) saw a black person. We had no blacks in our schools. The people were white and conservative. But I've wondered a lot about what makes people grow up with prejudice--or without. I can remember sitting in a high school senior civics class, discussing something-or-other and probably bored to tears, when a girl in the room said, "When blacks move into your neighborhood everything goes downhill" (or something to that effect). Without even thinking I said loudly, "That's sh*t." That kind of language used in a classroom in those days would get you sent to the principal's office faster than you could run, but I think my teacher was tickled to have some actual participation. We'd both grown up in the same town, the same religion, my family was just as conservative (read bigoted) as hers...why the different feeling? I don't know.
I moved to Washington DC in 1971 and had my first day-to-day contact with blacks. The church we attended was a block or two from Black Panther headquarters and we regularly received bomb threats and other threats. We were never allowed to walk to our cars unless in a group. It was a time of great unrest and there was a lot of fear. I became more frightened of blacks than anything else.
After leaving that environment I mellowed and was able to see things more clearly. When my daughter was in first grade she was describing a girl in her school to me, telling me something about her and asking if I knew who she meant. As we drove up to the school she said, "That's her, that's the girl I was telling you about." I was so pleased to realize that in everything she'd told me about this little girl, she'd never once said she was black. Her color made no difference.
So many factors play into the feelings we have about racial differences. Family, environment, experiences all have their input into our racial "banks." I'm baffled, however, by sheer hatred. I honor those who have worked throughout their lives to help us all realize our common feelings, goals, dreams. (I, too, would like to see MLK day renamed Civil Rights Day - there have been so many others who could be honored at the same time, not just as a sidebar.)
jbarter wrote:Since the word 'holiday' comes from 'holy day' shouldn't the word holiday itself be banned as offensive to non believers?
(Now where did I put that tongue-in-cheek emoticon?)
That depends. Are there real live nonbelievers who are genuinely offended by this, or are we complaining about some hypothetical PC "they" we keep hearing about?
I have to wow at Darwin's post on the previous page. Wow. Stories of the actual racism people endure kinda make us sound silly for arguing about abstract "unfairness" in the naming of federal holidays.
glauber wrote:But then, we'd have to go to work every day!
I do that anyhow, and I get quite peeved when I can't get something done because some slacker has taken off for Hot Buttered Popcorn Day, or whatever. The same goes for weekends. Get to work, people!!!
I also think that everyone should adjust their work hours to coincide with Central Standard Time. Then I'd at least be able to contact the lazy miscreants who only work an eight-hour day.
Mike Wright
"When an idea is wanting, a word can always be found to take its place."
--Goethe
BrassBlower wrote: Isn't the calendar we use here in the Western World supposedly based on a Christian event? So, there goes New Year's Day, too!
Thus the awkward BCE for BC and CE for AD. Willing to make historical references according to the Christian calendar, because of its near universality in modern society, but not willing to acknowledge what it's counting down from.
I live in a small town of 5000. There can't be more than twenty black people around here. On one hand, I am proud of the lack of hostility and racial tensions, but I am also extemely embarassed by a lot of the racial insensitivity.
My school recently had a "multicultural week." The innocent idea of celebrating other cultures got skewed in some pretty bad ways. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to celebrate other cultures by dress-up days. There was a poster up somewhere that had a list that went something like:
Monday - Dress like an Arab
Tuesday - Dress like an Indian
Wednesday - Dress like a Mexican
etc etc.
The sign was taken down pretty quickly by people who realized how horrible it was. I'm still vaguely ashamed of even living here, though.
We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine.
happyturkeyman wrote:
Somewhere along the line, someone decided to celebrate other cultures by dress-up days. There was a poster up somewhere that had a list that went something like:
Monday - Dress like an Arab
Tuesday - Dress like an Indian
Wednesday - Dress like a Mexican
etc etc.
I have seen and known people of all these ethnic groups (especially Mexican), and have yet to see any of them dress in the stereotypical fashion of their ethnic group. In fact, if you see anyone in a sombrero, it's pretty much a sure-fire bet they're a turista!
I have, however, been accused of occasionally dressing like a Texican!
