The Connecticutian

I love The Daily Show. I go on hiatus every once in awhile, but I do love it. I was just watching Tuesday’s episode (See here for some video clips — though I’m not sure I can link directly to the clips; and here for a transcript), 12/13, and Jon Stewart brings up “The War on Christmas” again. I posted on this earlier, because I’d gotten emails from both of my parents lamenting this war. Yet, again, no one can seem to say who “THEY” are that are not “LETTING” us celebrate Christmas or say “Merry Christmas”. Bill O’Reilly seems to be perpetuating this idea of a war the loudest, and here is an interesting clip from Media Matters.

His guest, John Gibson, wrote what must certainly be an absurd book. Gibson tells O’Reilly:

[B]y refusing to say the word “Christmas.” And what I’ve noticed is the way this appears in schools, for instance, is we now don’t call it the Christmas break. It’s the winter break, as if people worship winter. And there wouldn’t be a winter break if there wasn’t Christmas at that time of year. So once you call it — change the name. You won’t use the word “Christmas,” then you go to “winter,” you can sort of push the Christmas thing out of public view.

I don’t worship summer, and yet it is called “Summer Vacation”. I also do not worship March (whenever Easter falls — and we DO get Good Friday off at the school where I teach where there is a particularly high Jewish population), and yet we call it “March Break”. Hell, colleges call it “Spring Break”. It is just truly absurd, because if anyone looks around, this country so clearly celebrates Christmas. Happy Holidays means Merry Christmas, and it is a phrase that has been around for a VERY LONG time. I’m trying to find a reference that documents early usage of the phrases “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” — which have been around for at least 32 years, because I always associated them with Christmas. Alas, I am running low on time, because I am going to my faculty Christmas Party or Holiday Party — whatever the hell you want to call it, because none of the above is actually offensive. It doesn’t put anyone down. No one calls it the F**k Christians Day — I’d find that offensive.