Waging the Annual War

About 20 years ago I worked for a small company in St. Louis that was operated by the two men who had founded the enterprise. They were the original odd couple: One was an Italian Catholic and the other was a Jew.

By apparent coincidence, the staff of just under a hundred people was roughly split evenly between Jews and gentiles.

It was an eye-opener for someone who had never spent a lot of time with Jewish people. I got to ask all sorts of questions about Jewish traditions, beliefs and holidays. In fact, this company was the first place I ever worked where we had an annual Holiday Party to make sure everyone felt included.

We had our party after New Years to make scheduling easier. Look at the calendar sometime and figure out when you can schedule a celebration for a hundred people without bumping into some December religious observance, Christian or Jewish.

What got me thinking about that experience is the fact that, once again, the usual suspects are bleating about the war that the liberals and their misguided ideas about political correctness are waging against Christmas. The outrage of these people has become more predictable than the sunrise, making it pretty easy to ignore.

The usual target is the retailers who have instructed employees to wish customers Happy Holidays instead of a Merry Christmas. Those weak retailers bending to the will of the liberals. Predictable.

So the thing that really captured my attention was hearing people I know, people who don’t have talk shows and ratings to worry about, talking about the war on Christmas. Specifically, they’re railing against those who wish everyone Happy Holidays. So I decided it’s time to sound off.

Look, there’s one thing retailers care about, and it is not political correctness. It’s sales. Retailers like selling things to customers. Several years ago, they caught onto the fact that Jewish people like to buy things toward the end of the year and give them as Hanukkah gifts. With a strong desire to avoid alienating any potential customer, retailers started telling employees to wish customers Happy Holidays. That’s a greeting that covers everybody.

Trust me on this: Liberals have no influence over the retail industry. Unless they can drive down sales. If you think liberals have the power to dampen sales during Christmas and Hanukkah, you just don’t pay attention.

So have yourself a merry little Christmas. Or a happy Hanukkah. And if you don’t like hearing “Happy Holidays” from employees at particular store, shop at another store.