Interesting Statistics

[LovelyLadyLux]

Since I'm kicking back and basically doing nada and definitely NOT going out to the shops have been watching TV News.

There was on snippet on USA News whereby they did a fairly comprehensive poll re: Christmas. It came back that 92% of people answering their Poll said that "YES" they DO Celebrate Christmas. 2% said other and/or they didn't celebrate anything and 3% said they celebrated Kwanza and Hannahka.

The point the Newscaster stressed is "WHO are we actually pandering to when it has become so terrible to say "Merry Christmas" and follow Christmas traditions?" Why are we so overly concerned about offending and WHO exactly is it that we are offending? IF 92 to 94% of us are celebrating Christmas who are the few who are dictating to us and taking the p*ss out of us being able to celebrate?

Found it to be interesting statistics as I've often wondered myself WHO is offended?

In my office in the USA it was terribly terribly a "NO GO" to say Merry Christmas as in saying this I 'might' be offending somebody. I often asked 'WHO' in the office might be offended cause I'd talk to them and explain that I'm just so old that Merry Christmas does just fall out of my mouth without thinking. Isn't meant to offend but it IS my season greeting. Nobody could ever tell me WHO I might offend but it always struck me as being terribly unfair that an office of 80 or so people all of whom appeared Christian and who were going to celebrate Christmas were held hostage by some unknown entity not bold enough to even come out and explain WHY they found this so offensive.

Kinda seems pretty ridiculous in hindsight ....

[Horus]

Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old git, but stuff em all, its Merry Christmas as far as I am concerned and at any other time of the year it can be whatever someone else wants to call it. All this crap about us no longer being a Christian country and all that is absolute rubbish, OK I may not believe in the God of the Bible, but in common with most others I know I have Christian beliefs inasmuch as I try to live my life using the same standards i.e, “Thou shalt not kill” “Thou shalt not steal” etc. Whereas I do not subscribe to most tenants of the Islamic faith concerning the treatment of women or of Jihad, neither do I conform to the Jewish faith although I may be a bit of a ‘Janist’ saying as I value even the lowest form of life on this planet, so I think its fine for me to be classed under the general heading of Christian, as is the country I live in regardless of actual church attendance figures.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I think it is safe to say "WE" (those of us in the Western world) are "Christian." Not in a religious sense of counting church attendance but in the sense that our laws derive from Christian-Judaeo principles and values as opposed to coming from Islamic traditions.

"WHO" is being offended is beyond me. Nobody to my face has ever said they've been offended by me at all and I don't go out of my way to be offensive however I do see ME to be quite like most others which brings me back to WHO the H*LL is being OFFENDED?!?!?!?! And WHY do I seemingly need to walk on eggshells around everybody these days "JUST IN CASE" I suddenly offend by verbalizing something as strong as "Merry Christmas."

I think the statistics bear out that WE have all been driven crazy by a small few.

[Mad Dilys]

I think it's nice to see people celebrating and I'd like to think that LLL and Horus you wouldn't be offended if I wished you a Muslim greeting for peace and happiness at the time of my celebrations?

For now I'll wish you all Happy and healthy Christmas and many more!

[Horus]

Thank you MD and no I am not offended in the least, if that is your traditional greeting then I'm OK with that.

[Grandad]

Thank you MD and the same to you.

I think in most cases people of different cultures or religions will respect each others customs and embrace and enjoy joining in with their celebrations. Who cannot resist Diwali, or Chinese new year?

We have muslim friends in London and they sent us a very nice bottle of wine from JL, and posted a very traditional Christmas card with warm best wishes. And they are certainly not offended by our customs, indeed, when they were neighbours their children EXPECTED to receive gifts at Christmas just like their school pals.

Everyone would get along just fine but for the minority with their own agendas.

Peace and Good Health be upon you all.......

[Horus]

Everyone would get along just fine but for the minority with their own agendas.

That’s correct Grandad, it all comes down to tolerance, for example I have some young neighbours who are Jehovah’s Witnesses and each year I post them a card through their letter box as I do for the rest of my neighbours. Recently another neighbour asked me why I bothered as they (the Jehovah’s Witnesses) did not believe in the tradition and never sent any out themselves. My reply was “well its my tradition and if they don’t want to return my Christmas greetings then that is up to them” So as I have said before I am not going to conform to someone else’s criteria just to be PC, if they do not like my card then that is their choice, if they do not wish to reciprocate, then that’s fine by me, either way they will still get a card from me each year.

[Robbo70]

I honestly wonder just who is offended, or is it more the stirrings of the haters who would have us believe some are offended. I am currently having to deal with Omar running round in his santa hat, doing happy Christmas to all and sundry. We had his family on Skype the other night and they were all yelling happy Christmas, and Ive yet to find anyone of any other faith who says they are offended by our traditions. Obviously you get the minority toss pots, like the king of brunei who cancelled all things Christmas last week, and I assume the knobs of ISIS, who are offended by the entire world, but in normal real life, just who is offended?

Last year, locally the paper reported that a small town on the outskirts of Manchester hadn't put up its lights and trees so as not to offend other faiths. The letters from local muslims, jews and indian faiths poured in, complaining at the lack of Christmas spirit in the town. Are people really offended, or do the national front types want you to believe that so you can hate the 'non whites' that little bit more

[Horus]

I like the way all the other faiths complained to the local council about the lack of Christmas spirit
I can just imagine your Omar running about like a big kid with his hat on great stuff

[Grandad]

Robbo you have painted a very vivid picture of Omar in my mind. :-) :-) Happy Christmas Omar. ;-)

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