The Skirmish on Sanity

TNR online has republished Michelle's Cottle's (typically witty) 2004 Column on the silly excesses of both the "War on Christmas" types and the "no public display of anything even potentially religious" types. I am a pox on all of their houses type, myself. I'm uncomfortable with public (that is, by the state) displays of overt religiousity, but could not imagine, say, a high school choral concert without some sacred music -- from whatever tradition.

One of the aspects of this debate that mosts vexes me is the very term "War on Christmas." Conservatives, who love to play the whole more patriotic than thou card, are the ones proferring this nonsense, and I'm surprised that more people have not raised a simple point: In a time when we are actually at war, it is profoundly offensive to those under fire to have some ninny at Fox News claiming that saying "Happy Holidays" is somehow tantamount to war.

My view has always been that you need to know your audience. Or you need to know what you do not know about your audience. Almost every email I send out these days will have some sort of holiday greeting, even if it is professional. But when I am corresponding with an editor, or a professor, or a student, and if I do not know their religious beliefs and spiritual background, why on earth would I simply assume that they are Christians? Why would I run the risk of receiving a potentially awkward email saying "thanks, but I am actually Jewish"? And to pre-empt that most shopworn of accusations, there is nothing "politically correct" about this approach. The conscious decision not to be a solipsistic asshole is not a manifestation of pc -- it is a manifestation of common civility.

So Happy Holidays. Season's Greetings. Or, as Randy put it on My Name is Earl last week, Feliz Naviblah!