Merry Christmas is not offensive, but is less culturally aware

Good morning all.

Just a quick thought from my part. Lately I have seen so much about,

“You shouldn’t say Merry Christmas it’s offensive to those who don’t celebrate it”

So why does this particular phrase get people’s heckles up? Well it is simple. It is the use of the word offensive.

I’m not Christian, but I still wish people a merry Christmas, if someone wishes me a joyous Kwanzaa or happy Hanukkah, I reciprocate. I have friends all over the globe, real life ones, not just via social media. I speak with Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Pagans, Wiccans, Muslims and I have family who live and celebrate in Africa, and not once have any of them been offended by the words merry Christmas.

So what’s the big deal? It’s simple really, it’s all about the presentation. Instead of using a phrase like, “This year we are using Happy Holidays as it is more culturally aware”, people are simply told “Merry Christmas is offensive.” A great example, last year my home council prevented the use of Merry Christmas in the Christmas display. The official reason wasn’t to embrace the religions of other people, no, their official word on the topic was that Merry Christmas was offensive to other religions. Here in lies the problem. Wishing someone a Merry Christmas is not offensive, it is however less culturally aware. See the difference?

There is already enough conflict in the world and telling people that other religions find theirs ‘offensive’ only adds to the bad feelings. Where as saying we are a multicultural area and want to include other festivities in our greetings, would have less of a negative impact, if one at all.

I think we are taking this whole offensive thing to the extreme. All this serves to do is further divide people who, at the end of the day, are all part of the same race, Mankind.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on it all.

Happy Holidays everyone.