November 29, 2007

Merry Christmas v. Happy Holidays: Richert Edition

Posted by Adam Graham in : Political Correctness

Okay, I’m a few days late on this, but the debate is still fresh. Over at Kevin Richert’s blog a few days ago, he wrote regarding the Merry Christmas v. Happy Holidays debate:

Personally, I celebrate Christmas with my family, buy a Christmas tree, enjoy Christmas carols, exchange Christmas gifts. As a Christian, I try to make sure to reflect upon what I believe to be the day’s spiritual significance. But I also respect the fact that others celebrate the season differently. So I’ve always gotten in the habit of wishing people “Happy Holidays,” especially when I’m not sure of someone’s religious orientation.

I understand the good intentions behind this. but the surveys don’t lie. 67% of Americans prefer to be greeted with Merry Christmas (Hat Tip: Captain’s Quarters.) A Zogby poll from 2006 showed 95% of Americans aren’t offended by Merry Christmas, while 32% are offended by store clerks saying “Happy Holidays” to keep everything PC. No word on how that affects newspaper editors, but I’d have to bet it’d be similar.

I’m at the very least annoyed by the phrase particularly in situations where what religion people are and what holiday they celebrate isn’t even seriously in question. It just seems like being PC for the sake being PC. If you want to be non-offensive, greet people the way they want to be greeted. If you’re sure someone’s celebrating something else, why not just wish them a Happy Festival of Lights and they can return a Merry Christmas? That sounds more like a respectful society, rather that letting things be governed by PC garbage.

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2 Comments

  1. Comment by Joan E. Harman

    Happy Holidays is a phrase that has been in existence since I was a teenager. I am 53 now so we are talking about 40 years in which Happy Holidays has been advertised in one venue or another. Political correctness however, has only been a buzzword since the 1990s. So, I have to wonder at the age of the person blogging here.

    Never could understand why Happy Holidays would cause anyone heartburn in the first place. Used to be that it covered the holidays of Christmas and New Years. But since this is a religiously diverse country, Holidays now cover any religious holiday whether Christian, non-Christian, pagan/or neo pagan, Jewish and Muslim specifically. Is the heartburn over Happy Holidays today in reality the heartburn over the fact that religious diversity exists in this country?

    That may be the REAL PC.

  2. Comment by Adam Graham

    Actually what you’re practicing is Newspeak, where you’re trying to redefine PC as not being PC. You’re right that Happy Holidays used to mean, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Years”, now it means, “Happy Whatever.” And gay used to mean “very happy.” Times change and so does the meaning of words. What makes the phrase so pernicious in many cases it’s foisted on people and saying “Merry Christmas” becomes a federal case.

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