I have no problem with the phrase "Happy Holidays." After all, in the month of December Christians may be celebrating 4 Advent Sundays, St. Nicholas Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, up to 12 days of Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day, and Epiphany. Saying all of those could be quite cumbersome as a greeting, so I feel that "Happy Holidays" is an efficient form of oral shorthand, though essentially just "Have a Nice Day" in the month of December.
What I do have a problem with is when people claim that the phrase "Happy Holidays" is in some way culturally sensitive. I might lose some people here, but I argue that it isn't. The culturally sensitive argument goes something like this: I don't know which holiday you're going to celebrate this December, so I'm just going to say "Happy Holidays"--a generic phrase--because I don't want to be guilty of wishing you a happy [insert holiday] when in fact you won't be celebrating said holiday. My problem is that I don't see how using a generic phrase can be culturally sensitive because different cultures are proud of what makes them different. Treating a cultural celebration generically ignores those differences.
Political correctness often takes two forms. The first is where we call people what they want to be called. This is a type of being PC that I think most people agree with. Minorities in the United States, African Americans, LGBT, American Indians, Asian Americans, etc., all have words they like to be called and ones they don't. The most culturally sensitive thing to do is call them whatever it is they want. Most Native Americans actually prefer to be called American Indians, but what they'd really like is if you called them by the name of the their tribe. When it comes to saying "Happy Holidays," who is it that we are trying to placate? The first group that comes to mind are Jewish, but do they want to be wished a happy holiday, or would they prefer to be wished a happy Chanukah?
The other form of political correctness is where in order to avoid offending people we treat everyone identically, which is to say generically. I believe this is the kind of political correctness that deservedly gets a bad name. This is why we have elementary school sporting events where both the winners and losers get medals. The form of political correctness I mentioned in the paragraph above acknowledges people's differences, whereas this form ignores them; that is, it is not based on reality. In the real world there are winners and there are losers. Trying to hide this fact is essentially a lie and a disservice. Another example is how a lot of people believe feminism is about trying to make men and women identical. I imagine actual feminists must tire of hearing this, since feminism is about celebrating and empowering women--because men and women are different. Other people claim to be "colorblind" when it comes to race, but Black and White people are different in good ways too. We should be celebrating these cultural differences, not ignoring them. This also obviously goes too far when we take symbols of one of one of those holidays, like say a Christmas tree, and call it a "Holiday tree" even though none of the other December holidays have trees as a symbol. Again, I have to ask who is being placated by this genericness.
Moreover, the dean of the school where I work is Jewish, and the other day he handed out Chanukah gelt to everyone. I'm not Jewish, but I wasn't offended by this. In fact, I thought it was very cool that he was essentially inviting us to take part in his culture's celebration. Anyone who has lived in another country or studied a foreign language knows what it feels like to be on the outside of the target culture. Being invited to take part in that culture can be a joyous moment.
So again, I am not against using the phrase "Happy Holidays" because at worst it is a little generic. However, I am also not against holiday greetings that specifically mention Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan every 30 years or so, the Solstice, Festivus, or anything else that might be happening during the month of December. So what is the solution? I don't see why before greeting a complete stranger we can't simply ask something like, "What are you celebrating this month?" and actually get to know them a little before giving them a holiday greeting. After all, aren't the holidays supposed to be a time when people are closer and a little bit kinder? Then if they say Chanukah, wish them a happy Chanukah. If Kwanzaa, then wish them a happy Kwanzaa. If they're celebrating nothing (which some people do), then wish them a good day. Because everyone can always use a good day.
Obviously it's different though if you're a store (or a blog) and don't have the ability to actually get to know everyone who will be shopping there (or reading your posts). So to my readers I wish you a happy holidays, wherever you are or whatever you're celebrating.
What I do have a problem with is when people claim that the phrase "Happy Holidays" is in some way culturally sensitive. I might lose some people here, but I argue that it isn't. The culturally sensitive argument goes something like this: I don't know which holiday you're going to celebrate this December, so I'm just going to say "Happy Holidays"--a generic phrase--because I don't want to be guilty of wishing you a happy [insert holiday] when in fact you won't be celebrating said holiday. My problem is that I don't see how using a generic phrase can be culturally sensitive because different cultures are proud of what makes them different. Treating a cultural celebration generically ignores those differences.
Political correctness often takes two forms. The first is where we call people what they want to be called. This is a type of being PC that I think most people agree with. Minorities in the United States, African Americans, LGBT, American Indians, Asian Americans, etc., all have words they like to be called and ones they don't. The most culturally sensitive thing to do is call them whatever it is they want. Most Native Americans actually prefer to be called American Indians, but what they'd really like is if you called them by the name of the their tribe. When it comes to saying "Happy Holidays," who is it that we are trying to placate? The first group that comes to mind are Jewish, but do they want to be wished a happy holiday, or would they prefer to be wished a happy Chanukah?
The other form of political correctness is where in order to avoid offending people we treat everyone identically, which is to say generically. I believe this is the kind of political correctness that deservedly gets a bad name. This is why we have elementary school sporting events where both the winners and losers get medals. The form of political correctness I mentioned in the paragraph above acknowledges people's differences, whereas this form ignores them; that is, it is not based on reality. In the real world there are winners and there are losers. Trying to hide this fact is essentially a lie and a disservice. Another example is how a lot of people believe feminism is about trying to make men and women identical. I imagine actual feminists must tire of hearing this, since feminism is about celebrating and empowering women--because men and women are different. Other people claim to be "colorblind" when it comes to race, but Black and White people are different in good ways too. We should be celebrating these cultural differences, not ignoring them. This also obviously goes too far when we take symbols of one of one of those holidays, like say a Christmas tree, and call it a "Holiday tree" even though none of the other December holidays have trees as a symbol. Again, I have to ask who is being placated by this genericness.
When I was given the Chanukah gelt, I had the option to chastize
him and tell him to call it "Holiday gelt." Instead, I just said,
"Thank You."
Moreover, the dean of the school where I work is Jewish, and the other day he handed out Chanukah gelt to everyone. I'm not Jewish, but I wasn't offended by this. In fact, I thought it was very cool that he was essentially inviting us to take part in his culture's celebration. Anyone who has lived in another country or studied a foreign language knows what it feels like to be on the outside of the target culture. Being invited to take part in that culture can be a joyous moment.
Is this the solution?
Obviously it's different though if you're a store (or a blog) and don't have the ability to actually get to know everyone who will be shopping there (or reading your posts). So to my readers I wish you a happy holidays, wherever you are or whatever you're celebrating.
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