"Happy holidays" is bullshit Christian normativity.

[Mina]

Since people refuse to let this die, can I coopt this thread to complain about something that actually annoys me on a similiar topic? (I actually kind of prefer happy holidays to merry Christmas, honestly.)

The Tesco Christmas commercial featuring people in hijabs and turbans celebrating Christmas.

It seems like all the backlash is from right-wing xenophobes and "keep the Christ in Christmas" types, and the official left stance is that it's amazing and inclusive. But I find it pretty condescending.

Maybe practicing British Muslims or Sikhs will prove me wrong by coming into this thread and say, "Actually, most of us do decorate our houses for Christmas and invite our whole families over for a turkey dinner," but in my experience, most people who practice religions other than Christianity do not give a shit about Christmas. Atheists who go, "Christmas is for everyone, because it's become a secular cultural tradition" generally have Christian ancestors, so it's a cultural tradition

for them

. It's not "inclusive" to erase people's differences instead of celebrating them. At least a token hanukkiah feels like an actual acknowledgment of other cultures, rather than, "We know that all non-Christians are just dying to celebrate Christmas like we do."

[Mina]

What part of it are you having trouble understanding, Firebringer?

I don't think the ad was horribly racist or anything--it was just trying to show they cared about diversity but felt a bit tone-deaf to me.

[Mina]

@Firebringer: I am pretty verbose!

@Davsto: how religious are the ones you know? I mean, I know people who like using it as an excuse to throw a party or give presents or wear a funny sweater. My manager at work was raised Muslim and loves Christmas, but she's non-practicing and married to a Christian--she doesn't wear a hijab. I don't deny that non-Christians celebrating Christmas is a thing. I just don't like the implication that it's common, I guess. It doesn't jive with my personal experience.

Canada is probably a lot more secular than the U.S., but I don't know about the difference between Canadian and British Christmas.

[Mina]

I've heard Jesus is recognized as a prophet in Islam, so maybe I'm projecting here. The ad annoys me based on my personal experiences surrounding Christmas, but might resonate with others.

[Mina]

I disagree you can't get annoyed on behalf of other people, but in this case, it was also on behalf of

myself

, and I'm not claiming to speak for anyone else. Part of why I posted was also to see if people with more experience would prove me wrong and say the ad resonated with them.

Also, "annoyance" doesn't mean "this ad should be taken off the air and you're big evil microaggressive racists if you found it heartwarming."

[Mina]

I try to not post much about this... but what? So first of all, Christmas has been more of a social holiday than a religious holiday for longer than I've been alive (see: the same thing in regards to Haloween). I've always said this, but the beautiful thing about the holidays is how they tend to bring people together. Christmas isn't a primarily religious event anymore except in small pockets. Christmas has spread cross-religion at this point, so saying otherwise is kind of rude.

Speaking as someone in a minority religion, no, this isn't true. To be honest, your mindset here is part of what bugged me about the ad. You

think

everyone cares deeply about the magic of Christmas and enjoys the experience of having it shoved down their throat 24/7 for two months out of the year, but that's not the case for everyone. Like I said, it's a secular holiday

for people who have Christian ancestors

, because it's part of their family traditions. And maybe I'm reacting more strongly because I've had the experience of being told that it's silly for me to want to spend time with my family for my holidays, because religion is a lie and I should be more enlightened than that...but of course celebrating Christmas is normal, because it's just cultural!

(Why, yes, I am a grinch!)

And let me put it this way. If the ad had featured people in kippas having a big turkey dinner, it would have been laughably ignorant. Orthodox Jews would consider celebrating Christmas to be akin to idol worship. Since it featured British Muslims and Sikhs, I downgraded it to, "Uh, is this actually a thing?" It was an opening for people to come in and prove me wrong if they knew more than me.

[Mina]

It's not exactly like I go around refusing to say merry Christmas to people or ripping up Christmas cards or boycotting Christmas parties or writing letters to radio stations every time I hear Christmas songs on the radio. Hell, I've technically celebrated Christmas before, since I've gone to parties and people's big family gatherings. I'm not asking you to change the fact that America/Canada/(Britain?) becomes a giant Christmasland for part of the year.

All I'm saying is that in my experience, practicing non-Christians do not make big Christmas dinners where they decorate the house with holly and invite all their non-Christian family. And if people like Davsto come in and say, "actually, I know people with X experience that conflicts with that," then that's fine, but everyone is saying, "no, Mina, your experiences are clearly made up and you're being obviously delusional because EVERYONE loves Christmas!"