By: Alex Macey
Contrary to false popular belief, conservatives pride themselves on their tolerance. A true conservative would never discriminate against anyone on the basis of religious belief, race, or, especially, what holiday a person chooses to celebrate.
Yet we draw the proverbial line when society commandeers Christmas in an attempt to “universalize” it. While the motivations behind the endeavor may be honorable, something quite pernicious is afoot. These attempts to make Christmas more palatable to a broader range of people (as though the holiday is something intolerably repugnant) actually seriously compromises the integrity of the celebration—one that carries a momentous significance for a large portion of the population.
There are several contributors to the compromising of Christmas, but chief among them is the phrase “Happy Holidays”. The motivations for substituting “Merry Christmas” with this generic phrase are manifold. Initially, postmodern secularists deem the phrase less offensive to those who do not celebrate Christmas. Yet it is sheer hypocrisy, not to mention a violation of the first amendment, to squelch the use of a certain phrase in the name of tolerance.
Others argue that the phrase represents an attempt to combine the winter holidays into a general mass—a sort of “catch all” phrase to use when uncertain of which holiday a person celebrates, or whether that person will be offended by the use of one particular phrase over another. Yet the power of words is immense, and the reality is that this generalized phrase cheapens Christmas. What we celebrate is not a multitude of “holidays” but rather one particular holiday. A true adherent to a particular religion will not sample elements of Christmas and the other holidays (viz, Hanukah and Kwanza, if you hold the latter to be a legitimate holiday), but will celebrate one. Thus, the phrase “Happy Holidays” signifies a general attitude that suggests “all these celebrations are essentially the same and it doesn’t matter which one you celebrate”. A phrase that assumes the guise of tolerance, then, becomes a vehicle of apathy.
A second, more insidious contributor to the compromising of Christmas is the consumerist culture. We all will become prey to it, and to be honest, we all benefit from it at some point. At its heart, consumerism is not negative or destructive in the least. Yet the culture has begun to break down the integrity of the celebration of Christmas. A true problem arises when the consumerist culture becomes a major preoccupation that causes stress and anxiety, and detracts from the true purpose of the season of Advent.
Essentially, the consumerist clutches should not become the sole focus of the season. If this happens, then as a result, it doesn’t really matter which holiday a person chooses to celebrate because the purpose has been lost.
Ultimately, our culture needs to respect Christmas for what it is, rather than trying to make it something that we want it to be. It is not driven by material needs, nor is it something that deserves to be lumped into a category with other celebrations. It is not a postmodern construction, but an old and respected tradition. Let us treat it accordingly.
