Another thread about the "War on Christmas"

[cardaway]

Although, I'm beginning to question this because the NFL network is listing the games this Sunday 24th as Christmas day games, so if the NFL network says the 24 is Christmas, that has got to be true. You can't go against what the NFL network wants to do.

Only a fool would go against the word of God, and Bryant Gumbel is God. If you don't believe it, just ask him.

 

[poohandwendy]

I've never met an adult that believed Jesus was actually born on December 25th.

Me neither.

 

[Fitswimmer]

I've missed a few pages in this but someone else nicely made my point for me.

re' Nuke's deal: it is the intention of purposely provoking a response from someone rather than actually wishing them well that is wrong....you should be saying it with good intentions or not all if you do not actually mean it!

If you're doing it hoping that someone will get angry, then you obviously aren't interested in spreading any good will.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have a feeling that people would certainly call a shirt going on about the other side of the issue rude. Well then the same goes for these shirts that are designed to get in the face of those on the other side of the issue.

Maybe it's not rude, just really a sad statement about the people who wear them.

How so--exhibiting your first amendment rights--is not a bad thing?

A simple "the reason for the season" shirt is not an offensive thing. If you get offended by that...you must get offended by quite a bit.


I personally would never wear it. I don't know why--but I don't particularly like wearing shirts with words. I avoid them as much as possible.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Pick up a history book, you might learn something.

Due to the secular curriculum in public schools--any reference to Christmas--pagan, Christian or otherwise have been omitted.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

How so--exhibiting your first amendment rights--is not a bad thing?

A simple "the reason for the season" shirt is not an offensive thing. If you get offended by that...you must get offended by quite a bit.


I personally would never wear it. I don't know why--but I don't particularly like wearing shirts with words. I avoid them as much as possible.

I got the idea from a couple of their posts that these weren't "simple" reason for the season shirts - OP seemed to allude that the shirts somehow went beyond that - but they didn't say how....

i googled and all I could find were shirts that were actually quite pretty or cute - I couldn't find any examples that would be more "in your face" or anything - I not saying the OP is lying, just that I can't find any that would be worse than the simple message.....

not sure, wish OP would be clearer....

the message itself isn't offensive or bothersome to me.....just how SOME/FEW people intend it.....

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

the message itself isn't offensive or bothersome to me.....just how SOME/FEW people intend it.....

That would require getting into a conversation with the offensive shirt wearers to discover their true intentions...something that I don't think the OP would do or has done before. (though I have no crystal ball to know for certain).

The only things I have seen are quite tasteful shirts with that phrase in a pretty font of some kind. No different than a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Bah Humbug shirt from Target.

 

[cardaway]

A simple "the reason for the season" shirt is not an offensive thing. If you get offended by that...you must get offended by quite a bit.

Nobody used the word offended, I certinaly did not. I simply found them rude and quite ironic given the number of Christians playing the victim role in the many posts and articles on the subejct.

I don't know why--but I don't particularly like wearing shirts with words. I avoid them as much as possible.

I'm not a fan either, but they are quite popular again. Any store seeling t-shirts has a section of them, including the stores at WDW. These people were just puting their own spin on the latest thing. I also saw a lot of the religious shirts that mock the shirts made by other companies. Illegal as hell to use their copyrights and trademarks, but I doubt anybody will go after them for it.

 

[aquinas]

Welp, looks like some secular folks say there is a war on Christmas as well:

I wonder if Cardaway's real name is Tom? hmmm...

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10775

The secularist camp, lead by Tom Flynn, author of that Christmas classic The Trouble with Christmas, and editor of Free Inquiry magazine, charges that "Merry Christmas" is used to condemn and exclude non-Christians from the month or so between Thanksgiving and New Year's, a season that the Christians have hijacked, and with their traditions "poisoned the December air." Americans, says Flynn, "need to recognize that a war of sorts is genuinely in progress, a war to redefine American life...and it is desperately important that non-Christians win."

Trying to follow Mr. Flynn's twisted reasoning is like trying to follow a white line in a snowstorm. Christians, he claims, are attempting to redefine American life, and if they succeed America will be rendered all but unrecognizable. Worse, if the secularists are defeated, no one will be safe from Christmas carolers, Salvation Army bell ringers and Charlie Brown Christmas Specials. In a recent op-ed, Mr. Flynn equates the longing for the "bad old days" of Christmastime with Southern whites' pining for the days of lynchings and cross burnings. And Flynn is far from finished. Wishing someone a "Merry Christmas" may in fact constitute hate speech, equal in effect to cross burning:


[N]o Christian can wish a non-Christian "Merry Christmas" without the implied "Up yours" ringing in the hearer's ears. Addressed to non-Christians, "Merry Christmas" is now code for "All you non-Christians go to the back of the bus! This is a Christian country. We own the last two sheets of the calendar. We're number one! By the way, you're all going to hell."

 

[lillygator]

so the shirts simply said "the reason for the season"?

Personally, I like to people watch and WDW is a great place for it, but who the heck cares?

Merry Christmas!

 

[mickeyfan2]

My google search produced:

"Jesus is the reason for the season"
"Pagan rituals are the reason for the season"
"Axial tilt is the reason for the season"


OP what else was on the shirts that you found over the top?

 

[magicmato]

My google search produced:

"Jesus is the reason for the season"
"Pagan rituals are the reason for the season"
"Axial tilt is the reason for the season"


OP what else was on the shirts that you found over the top?

LMAO. Ok, that one has me giggling!

 

[ButchJohnson]

Only a fool would go against the word of God, and Bryant Gumbel is God. If you don't believe it, just ask him.

Yeah I thought using Gumbel was a rather odd choice, not that hes not too bad, but it's kinda like using Geraldo Rivera or something, just doesn't fit, he's not his brother.

 

[mickeyfan2]

LMAO. Ok, that one has me giggling!

I liked it too! They had a small picture of the earth and the axis going through it.

 

[Disneyland1084]

 

[poohandwendy]

Nobody used the word offended, I certinaly did not. I simply found them rude and quite ironic given the number of Christians playing the victim role in the many posts and articles on the subejct.

I still am not seeing any evidence that these shirts were worn with the intent that you felt.

This 'war on Christmas' stuff, in my experience, is basically being played out by a small group of extreme people from both sides. No different than when the Holocaust is brought up, there is always some freak who talks about whether or not it is a hoax. Come on, the vast majority of people know it happened.

The people I know, IRL, who would wear a shirt like that are making a point about materialism and expressing their faith. Nothing more.

I do not know one Christian who even takes this 'war on Christmas' crap seriously. Really, I don't.

I know you don't buy that, but it's the truth.

I just don't understand allowing the minority, the extreme, to cloud your opinion.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I also saw a lot of the religious shirts that mock the shirts made by other companies. Illegal as hell to use their copyrights and trademarks, but I doubt anybody will go after them for it.

I'm not sure about them being illegal. I think when things are taken as parody, like Weird Al songs and Mad Magazine you don't need the approval of the original artists. I know Coolio didn't give his OK for Amish Paradise.

 

[Free4Life11]

My google search produced:

"Jesus is the reason for the season"
"Pagan rituals are the reason for the season"
"Axial tilt is the reason for the season"


OP what else was on the shirts that you found over the top?

I found all of the above and:

I will say I've never seen someone use a cross as a tree topper!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm not sure about them being illegal. I think when things are taken as parody, like Weird Al songs and Mad Magazine you don't need the approval of the original artists. I know Coolio didn't give his OK for Amish Paradise.

Funny you mention that. Weird Al did produce one parody that he couldn't get the copyright--so he offered it free on his website which isn't against the law. B/c he couldn't get permission to use the music--he couldn't sell it, but parody is totally covered by law as a form of expression and thus he could have it on his website. So "Amish Paradise" most likely had some form of "permission" at least for the orchestration of the music.


As far as the shirts---my copyright limited experience is more in the writing/television realm. Not sure how it extends to images. But they are probably covered to some extent.

 

[Chuck S]

Maybe I'm dense, but I just don't see the difference between wishing someone Merry Christmas (a moderization of the old english literal Christ's Mass) and saying Happy Holidays (a modernization of the old english Holy Days). Especially given that the date is arbitrary, set by church leaders, as no one knows the true date, and given that most "Christmas" traditions (trees, gifts, wreaths, ets) have deep Pagan roots. Do you really think the Lord really appreciates the "fight" over whether the sales people for an overly commercialized sales period with Pagan traditions say "Christmas" or "Holiday?"