I don’t send Christmas Cards every year. Whether I do or don’t depends on how much holiday spirit I have. When I send cards, I often write a brief message inside.
One year, I bought a beautiful card for one of my aunts and wrote a personal note in it ending with “Wishing you a very Merry Xmas.” Days later, as she and I were discussing how commercialism and anti-religious factions are destroying the true meaning of Christmas, she seized the opportunity to tell me, “I don’t like it when people substitute Xmas for Christmas.”
Immediately picking up on her subtle message, I respectfully asked (I emphasize respectfully because no matter how old we get, anyone with good upbringing is going to be respectful to their elders) “What’s wrong with Xmas?” Her response revealed her frustration with the issue and was similar to what I frequently hear from people concerned about Christ being taken out of Christmas.”
It seems like only a decade or two ago when the Merry Christmas greeting was put in the crosshairs of the PC brigade. Suddenly, on television broadcasts, in newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face people were saying, “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
I understand that Happy Holidays is an inclusive greeting that is less offensive to some people including nonbelievers and freethinkers. Also, there are people who because of their religious or personal inclination prefer wishing others a “Happy Hanukkah” or “Happy Kwanza.” Believe me — I get it!
Nevertheless, as I see it, PC is not only sucking the Merry out of Christmas, it is wreaking havoc all year long — revising the language, influencing behavior, and troubling the thoughts of people who are struggling to adjust to the so-called new norm.
American culture has rapidly disintegrated into one where people constantly worry about being politically correct, and anyone who refuses to conform is labeled a racist, sexist, homophobe or bigot. Hardcore PC advocates are as intimidating as Gestapo and because they often wield the power to get you fired, demoted, or ostracized, nonconformists feel compelled to be careful of what they say, what they write, what they think, and what they do.
I may be a few keys short of a keyboard, but it’s obvious that almost anything you say or do today is going to offend someone. Case in point. On October 30, Pedro Banda, a senior running back at Dysart High School in El Mirage, Arizona was ejected from a football game for unsportsmanlike conduct when he pointed to the sky in a religious gesture. Only time and space prevent me for citing numerous other instances of PC gone wild.
Many of us who resent some of the BS associated with PC believe that the original concept of the PC movement was well-intended. But that bandwagon became so overloaded with nonsense that it got off track and slipped over the edge long ago. So steep is the fall that the cart is still pulling blind-loyalists behind it.
I’ve never forgotten the conservation with my aunt about the use of Xmas. When I write the word now, I leave the Christ in Christmas. And relevant to PC, the Merry Christmas greeting always was and continues to be my preference over Happy Holidays. However, the next time I speak with auntie, I will have to remind her that the forces taking the Christ out of Christmas are bigger than me.
By the way — Wishing my loyal readers a very Merry Christmas!