Posted on 12/06/2016 9:47:49 AM PST by EinNYC
The talk show host Mike Gallagher is currently discussing how outraged he was when a woman corrected his "Merry Christmas" greeting to her, telling him she "would prefer a 'Happy Holidays' greeting". I also prefer a "Happy Holidays" greeting because his original greeting would not be appropriate to me. I called the show to tell the call screener this (I NEVER call in to radio shows!). I was very respectful and told the call screener that I didn't even need to go on the air, but just wanted to get my opinion across. She took my name. As soon as I said I didn't even need to go on the air, I just wanted him to be aware of my opinion, I heard the phone on her end hung up without a single word. I couldn't believe it.
Meanwhile, Gallagher and a lot of his callers are saying that they feel they should say "Merry Christmas" to everyone and the heck with what the other party thinks. I think that is outrageously ethnocentric, sorry. This is a nation of nations and other peoples' peaceful beliefs should be respected. If you KNOW that the other person is a Jew, you should not wish them a happy [holiday that is not part of their religion]. Might as well tell a Buddhist or a Sikh "Merry Christmas". It would have as much meaning. I also feel that it is a subtle call to conform to the majority.
I'm sure that many years of blatant antisemitism toward me somewhat colors my attitude. In the public schools I attended as a child in the Midwest, I was publicly singled out by the teacher for not singing carols along with the other students in December music classes, and given a negative behavioral notation. I had other students scream at me in December and April that "you killed J.C.!" That was as predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano. There was a huge push to conform and observe the rituals of Christianity. Judaism or simply being different was not given any consideration.
I do not want to be lumped into one big group. I do not want to have to duck under "The Great Leveler" rather than stick out. Never have, never will.
I have even less respect for Mike Gallagher and his staff now than I even did before.
“I do not want to be lumped into one big group.”
You mean like FREEPERS? I suspect that problem is close to resolving itself for you.
Yeah.
This is a salt mine of butthurt.
Joyous Remembering the Jewish Messiah’s Incarnation!
LOL
Same here.
The OP is... Entertainment.
Yes, this is entertaining.
“As soon as I said I didn’t even need to go on the air, I just wanted him to be aware of my opinion, I heard the phone on her end hung up without a single word. I couldn’t believe it.”
The screener is paid to find callers which Mike wants on the air, not to just “take your opinion”. You want the experience of a million listeners to stall (however slightly) just because you want to vent an opinion, but don’t want to face that audience.
I’ve learned that it’s very liberating to discover that you _can_ hang up on people, without comment, and without socially-mandated agreements per protocols. If _you_ are taking _my_ time, with no apparent benefit to me, you don’t get any more of my time. Likewise, the “benefit” the screener is seeking is finding callers worth airing; if you say up front you don’t want to be on the air, you’re wasting his time.
Sorry kid, the screener had a job to do - and you were in her way. Next!
I attended a public elementary school that was around 85% to 90% Jewish (in the early '70s), and in 2nd and 3rd grades we all sang Christmas carols in our music classes in Dec.. ...and it was no big deal. Granted, the vast majority of Jews at our school weren't observant. We sang a couple Hanukkah songs too.
Happy Holidays....Merry Christmas.........both are fine by me. Maybe because I heard it all growing up. But if anyone starts with anything about Ramadan, they're going to get a dirty look, at minimum ;)
Well said, Don.
E, I am sorry that you are offended by “Merry Christmas” and I hope that you and yours enjoy a blessed Hanukkah.
Please understand that we Christians who are upset at the banishing of “Merry Christmas” are not upset with those like yourself who do not believe in Christmas. We see the attack on “Merry Christmas” as an attack on our Christian beliefs and traditions, an attempt to obliterate the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of Western Civilization. Christians and Jews are in that fight together.
They are looking for people who wish to express their opinions on the show.
Why is your opinion 'dominant'? Everyone has one. Yet you insist yours is the correct one. You sound like a prickly lib on this issue. Merry Christmas to you, whether you like it or not.
Mike Gallagher used to be on the radio out here, and I miss him. The “conservatives” who dominate talk radio in this area today are Glenn Beck and Mark Levin—Never Trumpers who continue to bash the president-elect.
Actually ‘Christmas’ is a celebration of HIS conception... The shortest day of sun light on this earth God was with us on this earth. His birth was near the fall equinox. Christians either believe what HE said or else they do not. It is HIS conception that tells us that ‘life’ begins at conception...
If were in a Jewish neighborhood and was wished a happy Chanukkah, I’d say thank you and consider it a positive interaction.
Happy Hanukkah to you.
It’s a Federal Holiday. I fail to see how, there is a violation of church and state or any other ridiculous claims when this is Nationally recognized day.
Our founding fathers were in majority Christian. So you are Jewish in what was formed a Christian nation... I think you live to be offended... Why would you demand of others what you yourself cannot live up to?
You seem upset. Would you like a safe space and a puppy?
It’s not? You mean you don’t get the day off?
I wish this was all I had to worry about. Me me me me me.
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