Re: Bush sending cards that say ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than ‘Happy Christmas’.

I find it difficult to see what is offensive about the words ‘Happy Christmas’. Consider the etymology of the word; Christ’s festival. The reason that December 25th is a public holiday is that it is the date on which the birth of Christ is celebrated by Christians. Dec. 25th is a public holiday in the US, irrespective of peoples’ beliefs, or lack thereof. Would it be better if only practising Christians were given a day off and all others had to work? And if a person does not celebrate Christmas, why send them a card at all?

I googled some sites that sell Ramadan greeting cards but I couldn’t find any that say ‘happy holidays, non-believer’(they say things like ‘Allah’s Blessings be with you’). I wonder if non-Muslims living in Islamic countries receive cards from the government that say ‘happy holidays’ during Ramadan celebrations? Or non-Jews from the Israeli state during Hannukah?

I did find a Christmas/Hannukah dual purpose card, which is a little bizarre, if touchingly pluralist.

Political correctness is, for the most part, a good thing. It is fine and proper that sexist/racist/homophobic etc language is condemned. However, it can suck the life out of language too. On a linguistic level I like the word Christmas. It’s evocative of a particular season. Happy holidays, to my ear, is bland and generic.

There’s a lot of scary stuff happening in the world:

Arnie deciding whether a man should live or die (would you want the Terminator deciding your fate? A little inauspicious that)
People getting sick
Kids being abused
Donald Rumsfeld talking. About anything at all

Not Christmas cards.