Happy holidays
The Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, Sid Miller, on Facebook yesterday:
If one more person says Happy Holidays to me I just might slap them. Either tell me Merry Christmas or just don’t say anything.
That’s not nice. That’s not necessary. This is a big country; Texas is a big state; not everyone is religious and not everyone who is religious is Christian. If someone says a friendly “happy holidays” why get in a rage about it?
But I guess he’s not that kind of guy. His most recent post:
Good morning my friends. I hope your day is off to a great start. We are just a few days away from welcoming the birth of our savior. As we prepare for Christmas and the joy that accompanies it, I pray that you will thank God for the blessings that come with living in “one nation under God.” Merry Christmas and may God bless you, your family, our great state, and the United States of America.
No. That’s just rude. Trying to force his god on everyone is just rude. “Happy holidays” is (deliberately) inclusive of everyone; “under God” very much is not.
(Also – what’s with the guy riding a longhorn? Why’s he riding a longhorn to the pharmacy? Who does that?)
The insertion of ‘under god’ in the clear phrase ‘one nation, indivisible’ cannot be improved upon for demonstrating the deliberate, divisive intention of Christian Dominionists.
They really do hate democracy, secularism, the Constitution, and anything else that might challenge their closed, self-validating bubble of beliefs.
I think someone riding a longhorn to a pharmacy shows someone who is willing to admit that he has a problem and is willing to get the medication for it.
Heathen’s Greetings to all.
Also, there are *multiple* Christian holidays in December/January. Not to mention the events of solstice and New Years that are often celebrated as non-religious holidays. No one’s trying to force Christians not to celebrate Christmas– they are trying to wish them happiness.
But I hope his New Year’s Eve and Day suck, and that Epiphany involves him getting a parking ticket. May he have a couch throughout Kwanzaa, and he gets a stubbed toe on solstice. Festivus can give him food poisoning, and …
Or maybe he’d like to be happy on those holidays, too. But unless he changes his mind, it would be lovely for him to get exactly what he has expressed a wish for. A merry Christmas, but no happiness on other holidays.