Monday Meme Madness - War on Christmas Edition

So our president is saying we can now say Merry Christmas again and seems pretty proud of that. It's funny, during all the years of the war on Christmas, I still said Merry Christmas to people I knew celebrated that holiday and happy holidays when I didn't know or I also meant happy new year.

We don't need to go over all the ground of the inclusivity of happy holidays or the fact that saying Christmas was never really outlawed or a cause for shame. I still don't get why someone would be offended that a cashier at a store who is also a stranger would say happy holidays. I don't think they mean it when they say have a nice day. It's just something that we do in American culture. We also don't need to tread over all the talk about how commercialism is more damaging to whatever religious aspect of Christmas people hold. For most Christians, the birth of Christ is just one small element in the larger festivities. I'm sure most people invest more mental energy into what presents they are going to buy and the logistics of purchasing and making the food for whatever parties. So yeah, you can say keep the Christ in Christmas, but people prefer the social aspects of the holiday.

Most of the memes about the war on Christmas are actually aimed at poking fun of the notion that there is a war on this holiday. There are also tons that are just stills of Bill O'Reilly's talking points. But I did find a few sincere memes, well cartoons, about it. So, hold onto your hats, everyone, and have yourself a merry little Christmas!

This is actually a pretty good comic stylistically speaking, but it still is stupid. First off, we notice that while the first two children did not say their curse word aloud again - as if saying it to each other would be offensive; I mean, wouldn't they just say it in this circumstance? - the third boy says his whole word. And what is interesting is, he can't say "I said the C word" because we would imagine a different word.

I'd also love to know if anyone anywhere would actually even reprimand a child for saying the word in school. I get the point, but it's dumb if it has no basis in reality.

The ACLU gets a lot flak from the right-wing. It's like some people don't know what the ACLU actually does. The conservative media like to say they are stifling free speech, when actually what they mean is they don't like the message the ACLU is promoting, that they promote individuals' rights to religion and speech, but make sure the government is not promoting it. I've looked into so many of these claims about the Freedom from Religion Foundation as well as the ACLU and I see lots of misportrayals in the media. It's worth looking into because usually what you find is that there is a government agency somewhere depriving someone of their right to express themselves or allowing Christianity to the exclusion of other religions.

An actual meme! I like how saying Merry Christmas is a way to stick it to the liberals. You need the follow-up meme of a liberal not giving a shit and not thinking twice about it. I'm never offended by people wishing me happy any holiday. Businesses have started saying happy holidays because they don't want to assume all their customers are Christians who celebrate Christmas.

The interesting thing is there are several groups of Christians who (gasp!) do not celebrate Christmas.

Well, *this person* seems like a right asshole. So you are going to assume everyone you meet celebrates your holiday? Looks like your parents raised you wrong.

Yet another person who seems like a complete asshole.

It's not that Merry Christmas is offensive, it may be that the person does not actually celebrate Christmas.

Seriously whatever. My eyes are rolling out of my head.

Get over yourself and have a happy holiday!