“Happy Holidays” isn’t hurting anyone

By Ali Kochik
Social Media Editor

It’s no real secret that oppression still exists in today’s world. Races can be oppressed, genders can be oppressed, and religions can be oppressed as well. So is it fair to say that the Christian religion is being oppressed around the holiday season? 

The entire idea of this perception of oppression, or “War on Christmas”, is a little absurd. People all over are outraged by what they deem to be “fired shots” at Christianity and, more specifically, Christmas itself.  
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One of the largest examples of the collective backlash surrounding this came from simply trying to acknowledge other holidays throughout the season. In December of 2015, Starbucks released a simple red cup instead of their traditionally Christmas themed cups.

“We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it. It’s a more open way to usher in the holiday,” vice president of Design and Content, Jeffery Fields said on the Starbucks website.

Coffee drinkers across the world lost their minds. People accused Starbucks of being anti-Christian as well as anti-Christmas. 

Even people such as social media personality, Joshua Feuerstein, went as far as to encourage people to say their name was “Merry Christmas” instead of their real name when ordering a drink, so that employees would write that on the cup,  according to a CNN report. 

I don’t understand how people can react so angrily to something that was created with the good intention of spreading joy to all instead of only some. Not only does this seem absurd to me, but in my mind it that attitude borders on bratty. 

Similar to the coffee cup controversy, people are even quarrelling about the phrase “Happy Holidays,” expressing the notion that they feel it is suppressing Christians by not recognizing Christmas directly. 

But it needs to be realized that not everyone celebrates Christmas.

Some believe that this shift in acceptance is the fault of liberals just trying to make the world a more politically correct place so much so that it’s infringing on the Christian religion. But I don’t understand where this is happening.  

Why shouldn’t we wish well to people of other religions around the holiday time? Yes, the major portion of the world does identify as Christian, but what about the other 67% of the world that does not? We cannot just accept that the majority dominating the minority. 

So maybe you say a phrase to acknowledge all religions and their holidays instead of just one. I don’t see where the harm is. It’s not as if people are walking around saying “Happy Holidays to all except Christmas.” Christmas is still a part of those aforementioned “holidays” and the fact that this is bothering people is bothering me. 
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All in all, I wish the world wasn’t so deadset in their ways about wanting their holiday to be considered more important than others. After all, it is the holiday time. We should want everyone to feel accepted and we should want to bring cheer and joy to our fellow man.