Getting rid of a holiday?
I saw this piece, and was curious as to what everyone else thought:
To celebrate Christmas, take away the holiday
The author almost has a couple of good points.
Even though the holiday is Christmas, most stores and many public places refer to the time of year as "the holidays". Even iconic-yet-secular images (decorated trees, the Santa mythos, etc) have come under fire by politically correct wanna-be's.
OTOH... how many holidays do Americans celebrate as they were intended? President's Day is now an excuse for sales. The Fourth of July now marks the midsummer party. Memorial Day is less for honored soldiers (living and dead), having become the unofficial start of summer.
The author crucifies retailers as opportunists for jumping on the Christmas bandwagon, condemning them as poor planners for basing their sales on the traditional strong season.
Business comes in cycles. Period. Warm weather sells shorts and bathing suits. Cold weather sells coats and fake fireplaces. Retailers wouldn't become the responsible dullards the authors fantasizes about. With Christmas gone, they would have an extra week of sales -- "holiday sales" would remain, with "year end clearance" replacing the verboten Christmas.
And as for Christians outing themselves to take days off... yeah, right. I can see family types taking the day off... maybe. Then again, how many of you know folks that have taken off for Easter? Ash Wednesday? Any weekday holy day of obligation? (My mom's a devout Catholic, and retired, and she still doesn't make it to all of them!)
There would be one good side. The kitschy Christmas crap -- stuff that's useful only 4-5 weeks a year -- would go away and stop wasting space.
To celebrate Christmas, take away the holiday
The author almost has a couple of good points.
Even though the holiday is Christmas, most stores and many public places refer to the time of year as "the holidays". Even iconic-yet-secular images (decorated trees, the Santa mythos, etc) have come under fire by politically correct wanna-be's.
OTOH... how many holidays do Americans celebrate as they were intended? President's Day is now an excuse for sales. The Fourth of July now marks the midsummer party. Memorial Day is less for honored soldiers (living and dead), having become the unofficial start of summer.
The author crucifies retailers as opportunists for jumping on the Christmas bandwagon, condemning them as poor planners for basing their sales on the traditional strong season.
Business comes in cycles. Period. Warm weather sells shorts and bathing suits. Cold weather sells coats and fake fireplaces. Retailers wouldn't become the responsible dullards the authors fantasizes about. With Christmas gone, they would have an extra week of sales -- "holiday sales" would remain, with "year end clearance" replacing the verboten Christmas.
And as for Christians outing themselves to take days off... yeah, right. I can see family types taking the day off... maybe. Then again, how many of you know folks that have taken off for Easter? Ash Wednesday? Any weekday holy day of obligation? (My mom's a devout Catholic, and retired, and she still doesn't make it to all of them!)
There would be one good side. The kitschy Christmas crap -- stuff that's useful only 4-5 weeks a year -- would go away and stop wasting space.