Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 19, 2015

I always said to customers “Happy Holidays” simply because December has so many.I mean, was I supposed to say, “Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Yule, Wonderful Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year”? (And that’s not all of them.)-Anybody who says there’s a ‘war on Christmas’ hasn’t been inside a shopping mall since August.

I very seldom hear “Happy Festivus” anymore.

So, which of the 10,000 names of gods are you LEAST offended by?

College Atheists Place ‘God Graveyard’ on Campus: 200 Tombstones of Gods We No Longer Worship

People who decide to be offended can find anything offensive. We had a guy come into our office last year, swearing and screaming about the war on Christmas. He stomped up to me, told me he was going to wish me a ‘Merry Christmas’ and what did I think of THAT!

I told him we had a staff member with a migraine, and if he couldn’t lower his volume, we would regretfully not be able to do business with him…

Some people are totally against political correctness..Fine, be unpolite, be rude, go ahead…..Yet they insist people address them in only their “correct” way this time of year….Merry Christmas!….Who do they think they are telling other people what to say? Hypocrites?…Right you are…Funny, huh?….Anyway, happy Varne’s birthday….The 30th…Three major holidays in a row, there……

And yet, they’re not offended by the sounds of Chipmunks singing their sacred songs on the muzak systems in the stores.

Make it a point to say Merry Christmas. You will be surprised at almost everyone smiling and saying it back to you!

Another one: Happy and blessed Mawlid al-Nabi!

Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

Goodness. If you are celebrating Christmas say Merry Christmas, if you are celebrating something else, say that, if you aren’t celebrating any holiday smile and say nothing. So simple.

I’m celebrating the news that the little drummer boy was found bludgeoned to death in an alley.

The question one needs to ask in reference to so called political correctness would be, are you being politically correct or just being polite? That said, if we can’t poke fun at stereotypes, yours, ours, and others, well, heck, it sure makes comedy hard.As for Season’s Greetings and Holiday Greetings, these are phrases that have been used for nearly a couple of a hundred years (give or take), mostly in reference to combining Christmas and New Years, which means if anyone should be offended by this greeting, would be all the other religions that celebrate something or another this time of year being lumped into something that was always intended as a Christmas Greeting. Then again, is it surprising that the self serving so called Christian few, but loud, wouldn’t know anything about the origin of the greetings they find offensive? Education and fact checking tend not to be their strong points.Past that I would have much preferred a cartoon with Lucy for my birthday. Ya know, because you know how much I believe the world should revolve around me. Too bad it seems the world never got that memo. :-/ ;) :P Just as well, I suppose..

You have been born 30 times?

Actually, I don’t say anything like that when I’m out in public. I say, “Have a wonderful day.” That works for everyone. Besides, “Merry Christmas” as a socially expected greeting perverts the significance of the day.

I always have thought it is “Io Saturnalia!” and I’ve been worshiping the Roman gods for many years now.

Bah, Humbug!

Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, happy Kwanza, and for all you atheists, have a nice day.

I prefer Bah! Humbug!

My family celebrates Chanukah, which this year has come and gone, but I hardly take offense to any other greeting. We live in a world of diversity, so whatever someone says to me in good will is welcome.

Something apparently affords anyone; an offensive season. Or maybe just being themselves.

And a goodly Solstice to all!

Say Merry or Happy (fill in the blank) according to who you wishing for a merry or happy be it Christian, Jew or whatever religion, and to those without religion I simply say So glad to see you. It is common courtesy to acknowledge another’s beliefs and it does not diminish yours.

The Nine Billion Names of God -Arthur C. Clarke

http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html

Fine. Grumpy Christmas to you.

Angry, hateful Christians——bah!

Humbug!!

Um…Feliz Navidad everyone! :-D

You have the right to be offended. You have the right to be silent about being offended. Should you give up the right to remain silent, nobody will think less of you. They hadn’t really though of you at all before, and this is going to be their first impression. Good luck with that.

I am offended that you think there are other holiday greeting! You will of course say mine, because only my way of thinking is not actively evil! :)

“I’ve been a long-time fan of the Aztecs’ Huitzilopochtli.”-————————————Ah, yes. The ironic chap who “told” the Aztec/Mexica to sacrifice and flay the Princess of the Culhua state they were vassals to.

How about, “Hello” ?

that would be the UCF Knights football, 0 – 12

@GiantShetlandPonyare you being politically correct or just being polite?

Yes, this is largely about being POLITE. Most of the people who rail against “political correctness” are basically saying they’re annoyed that they’re now expected to be polite, even to people who are not like themselves. They miss being able to ignore everyone else’s feelings! It’s so much effort to have to consider what things are like for someone who isn’t in the majority! They feel under attack if their 100% dominance of a culture’s language and rituals is reduced to 90% — waah waah, we’re being persecuted!!

That said, I do think this sort of obnoxiousness is far less prevalent “in real life” than it appears to be on television and the internet. The always-offended-bullies are (thankfully!) not that numerous, they’re just really loud.

Just remember, everyone, that December 25 was the birthday of one of the most important people in human history.Happy birthday, Isaac Newton!

This issue is not that some choose to say “Happy Holidays” as you seem to think. People have been saying “Happy Holidays” and “Seasons Greetings” for a VERY long time.The issue is that there are people being told not to say “Merry Christmas.”

I’m deeply offended that no one mentioned Diwali, which is also in December. And Ramadan was very recent, too. Bigots! :-)In any case, as I recall, those 9 billion names were to include those with up to three repeating letters. Of course, our computers are much faster these days, and, once initiated, could probably run the list in an hour.

A Happy Festivus to all!Let us begin the airing of the grievances.

with latkes?

forget which store i was at and the person helping me started to say merry christmas – stopped partway through – said – oh – i’m not supposed to say that and finished with happy holidays – she was obviously saying what she meant – not because of a store directive – or there wouldn’t have been the false start

It’s really all about our Constitutional Right to

Freedom FROM Christmas.

@Scratchy18Complex organic molecules, including sugars and alcohols, have been found on comets. So ‘outer space’ is not such a far-fetched answer after all.

For those who don’t get the “Nine Billion Names of God” references, it’s a quite old science fiction story by Arthur C. Clarke. A team of engineers and programmers is sent out by an unnamed computer company (which greatly resembles the IBM of that era) to set up and run a computer in a remote Tibetan monastery.

The monks believe that the purpose of the universe is to express all 9 billion names of God. These are all the possible words spelled in an ancient alphabet, up to a certain length, with various rules for how they can be put together. The monks have rigged interlinked prayer wheels to go through the combinations, but after millennia they aren’t even close to the first billion.

And then they learn about computers, and realize that there is a way to finish the job in days. They order in the most powerful mainframe, with the fastest printer, modified to print that ancient alphabet, and also heaps of paper, a generator, fuel, and on-site technical support. The engineers get the computer running, the programmers program in all the rules, and they proceed to print the 9 billion names on a mountain of printer paper. As the job is nearing it’s end, the project supervisor asks the head monk what they believe will happen when it’s finished. The answer is that the universe will have fulfilled its purpose, so it will end.

So the job is finished, the monks are satisfied, and the team packs up to return to civilization. Then the stars wink out, one by one.

I will wish others a “Merry Christmas”—when it’s the Christmas season! (December 24-January 6 or so)

December 24-25 works.

Jehovah’s Witnesses.