The EU Wants to Cancel Christmas!!

Leo said:
But isn't that the issue here, to you and a majority it is Christmas, but to those who are not Christian, it is not the correct name.
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As per the Organisation of Working Time Act, Sehedule 2, Christmas Day is the correct name. The Act is not limited to Christians.

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

The electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) comprises the Acts of the Oireachtas (Parliament), Statutory Instruments, Legislation Directory, Constitution and a limited number of pre-1922 Acts.
www.irishstatutebook.ie

SECOND SCHEDULE
Public Holidays
Section 2 .
1. Each of the following days shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this Schedule, be a public holiday for the purposes of this Act:
(a) Christmas Day,
(b) St. Stephen's Day,
(c) St. Patrick's Day,
(d) Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in June and the first Monday in August,
(e) the last Monday in October,
(f) the 1st day of January,
(g) any other day or days prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph
 
Baby boomer said:
Again, for the umpteenth time, EU staff were forbidden from using phrases like "Christmas time can be stressful." And were told to replace it with an inanity like "Holiday times can be stressful"
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Why do you keep leaving out the reference to Christmas in the proposed text, which was 'Holiday times can be stressful.....for those celebrating Christmas, Hannukah'. References to Christmas are not 'forbidden'. They are explicitly encouraged. Context is everything. References to Christmas in the context that assumes that Christmas is relevant for everyone is advised against.
Baby boomer said:
"The Holidays" is an American usage that is meaningless in European English. Me, I take my holidays in the summer. Americans go on vacation, thus freeing up the word "holiday" for a different usage.
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Seeing as there is no mention of 'the holidays' in the publication, I'm not sure why you're going on about this. It mentions 'holiday times'.
Baby boomer said:
It's also an issue that Christmas is the only religious festival treated in this way. We all know well that the EU wouldn't dare to tell staff not to use the word Ramadan or Eid when referring to Muslim festivals! Either ban all references to religious nomenclature or none. The double standard stinks.
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Christmas is the only religious festival treated in this way because it is the only religious festival that is often spoken about in Europe in terms that assumes it is relevant for everyone, when in fact, it is not relevant for everyone. That's the problem here. If you can find many examples of EU publications referring to Ramadan or Eid in a context that assumes they apply to everyone, you might have a point here - but I suspect you won't find such examples.

There is no problem with references to Ramadan to Eid in EU documents, so the guidance document doesn't mention them. That's not a targeted attack on Christianity - just finding a more inclusive way to communicate with a wide community.
 
Baby boomer said:
It's also an issue that Christmas is the only religious festival treated in this way. We all know well that the EU wouldn't dare to tell staff not to use the word Ramadan or Eid when referring to Muslim festivals! Either ban all references to religious nomenclature or none. The double standard stinks.
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The dominant majority usually has to be a bit more aware of the sensitivities of the minority. This all just looks like good manners to me.
 
Purple said:
The dominant majority usually has to be a bit more aware of the sensitivities of the minority. This all just looks like good manners to me.
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I disagree fundamentally. Majorities and minorities are equally entitled to respect.
 
Baby boomer said:
I disagree fundamentally. Majorities and minorities are equally entitled to respect.
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But you haven't mentioned trans people or travellers in any of your posts - are they not entitled to this respect too?

If every comment or suggestion has to mention every possible grouping, just for the sake of it, do you not think that the important communications are going to get a bit lost?
 
Baby boomer said:
As per the Organisation of Working Time Act, Sehedule 2, Christmas Day is the correct name. The Act is not limited to Christians.

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997

The electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) comprises the Acts of the Oireachtas (Parliament), Statutory Instruments, Legislation Directory, Constitution and a limited number of pre-1922 Acts.
www.irishstatutebook.ie

SECOND SCHEDULE
Public Holidays
Section 2 .
1. Each of the following days shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this Schedule, be a public holiday for the purposes of this Act:
(a) Christmas Day,
(b) St. Stephen's Day,
(c) St. Patrick's Day,
(d) Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in June and the first Monday in August,
(e) the last Monday in October,
(f) the 1st day of January,
(g) any other day or days prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph
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Can you explain how that piece of legislation applies to the whole of the EU, or how it defines greetings that should be used in the days surrounding that one day?
 
Firefly said:
"Driving home for the Holidays" or "Driving home for Hanukkah" just doesn't have the same ring to it!
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Terrible song, no matter how you change it.

'The Night Santa Went Crazy', by Weird Al Yankovic. Now there's a song.
 
Purple said:
Terrible song, no matter how you change it.

'The Night Santa Went Crazy', by Weird Al Yankovic. Now there's a song.
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I was in Dublin last weekend and had the pleasure of visiting CEX as the small one is mad for a phone. Anyway, they were playing some sort of heavy metal Christmas music all day. It was just so bizarre and my head was wrecked (from the music!)
 
Firefly said:
I was in Dublin last weekend and had the pleasure of visiting CEX as the small one is mad for a phone. Anyway, they were playing some sort of heavy metal Christmas music all day. It was just so bizarre and my head was wrecked (from the music!)
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It must be a special kind of hell to have to work in a shop this time of year, churning out the same loop of Christmas Carols all day.
 
Purple said:
It must be a special kind of hell to have to work in a shop this time of year, churning out the same loop of Christmas Carols all day.
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Dealz are too stingy I think to pay for christmas tunes. They have some royalty free CD of songs they play all year round which seems to have been perfectly chosen to make for inoffensive, easy listening background kinda music. Well I'm assuming they have paid for it, or they just picked some virtual unknown Americans off youtube and figured they'll never be reported... but I digress... we probably should have a general christmas (+holidays) chat thread as I don't want to derail babyboomer's thread.
 
Leo said:
Can you explain how that piece of legislation applies to the whole of the EU, or how it defines greetings that should be used in the days surrounding that one day?
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Obviously it doesn't, and you are now resorting to strawman arguments because I never said it was.
In Ireland, where this discussion board is based, the official name for the 25th December is Christmas Day. For everyone. I find it hard to see how anyone has a problem with that. I equally find it hard to see any objection to the days surrounding it being called Christmas time, or the Christmas Season.

Now, if you yourself really want to call it something else, be my guest. Winterval, Sol Invictus, Diwala, whatever floats your boat. It's a free world. But please reciprocate. Just don't try to restrict me or anyone else from using the word Christmas. That's what the EU did to its staff and it's wrong and disrespectful.
 
RetirementPlan said:
But you haven't mentioned trans people or travellers in any of your posts - are they not entitled to this respect too?
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They are entitled to the same rights as everyone else, no more and no less.


RetirementPlan said:
If every comment or suggestion has to mention every possible grouping, just for the sake of it, do you not think that the important communications are going to get a bit lost?
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Agree entirely. Of course they will. That's why "Happy Christmas" is preferable to "Happy Christmas / Hannukah / Diwali / Kwanzaa / Saturnalia / Solstice / Sol Invictus / Winterval / and any other seasonal holiday that any person of either gender or both or none might wish to celebrate, in an inclusive and diverse manner, while having due regard to those who are emotionally or neurologically disinclined to participate in any communal celebration whatsoever."
 
Baby boomer said:
They are entitled to the same rights as everyone else, no more and no less.
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If everyone's entitled to the same rights then we'd have to include everyone's holiday name. That seems a bit cumbersome. Would it not be better to just call it "The Festive Season" or something like that?
Baby boomer said:
Agree entirely. Of course they will. That's why "Happy Christmas" is preferable to "Happy Christmas / Hannukah / Diwali / Kwanzaa / Saturnalia / Solstice / Sol Invictus / Winterval / and any other seasonal holiday that any person of either gender or both or none might wish to celebrate, in an inclusive and diverse manner, while having due regard to those who are emotionally or neurologically disinclined to participate in any communal celebration whatsoever."
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Or Happy Holidays or something like that, right?
 
Baby boomer said:
They are entitled to the same rights as everyone else, no more and no less.
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Hold on though, you were complaining about the EU not mentioning Ramadan in their 'how not to' section, that this was somehow disrespectful to Christians. But you haven't mentioned trans people or travelers at all in this discussion, so aren't you being disrespectful to them, by your own measure?

Baby boomer said:
Agree entirely. Of course they will. That's why "Happy Christmas" is preferable to "Happy Christmas / Hannukah / Diwali / Kwanzaa / Saturnalia / Solstice / Sol Invictus / Winterval / and any other seasonal holiday that any person of either gender or both or none might wish to celebrate, in an inclusive and diverse manner, while having due regard to those who are emotionally or neurologically disinclined to participate in any communal celebration whatsoever."
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Or maybe something like 'have a great holiday'? BTW, the EU guide doesn't ban saying 'Happy Christmas'. It suggests that when referring to holiday periods, there are more inclusive terms than Christmas. That's all.
 
Baby boomer said:
Obviously it doesn't, and you are now resorting to strawman arguments because I never said it was.
In Ireland, where this discussion board is based, the official name for the 25th December is Christmas Day. For everyone. I find it hard to see how anyone has a problem with that. I equally find it hard to see any objection to the days surrounding it being called Christmas time, or the Christmas Season.

Now, if you yourself really want to call it something else, be my guest. Winterval, Sol Invictus, Diwala, whatever floats your boat. It's a free world. But please reciprocate. Just don't try to restrict me or anyone else from using the word Christmas. That's what the EU did to its staff and it's wrong and disrespectful.
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Just to be clear, no-one tried to restrict you from using any word.

The EU issued guidance to their staff on inclusive language. That guidance doesn't say 'Don't say Happy Christmas'. It doesn't say 'refer to Christmas by some other name'. It gives one example of using 'holiday season' rather than Christmas in a sentence, noting that this is more inclusive and more relevant to a wider audience.
 
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