Two Things I'm Fuming About Today

Working at Barnes & Noble again puts me back on the front line of the culture war again!

First of all: Happy Holidays! That's the first thing that I'm aggravated about. When I'm at the store (or in general to people I don't know) instead of saying "Merry Christmas!" because it's "religious neutral." I like saying "Happy Holidays" because, I think, it is respectful of the possibility that the person that I am speaking with might not necessarily share my religious beliefs but this year though I'm being met with this amazing backlash. It's the norm this year for my telling someone "Happy Holidays!" to typically be met with "No! Merry Christmas!" and, frankly, its pissing me off.

Now, here's the thing. When I'm Johnny-at-the-Counter at Barnes & Noble, I've just finished ringing out your order and the line is twenty-five or thirty people deep, let's be clear here, my goal in wishing you a "Happy Holidays" is to respectfully wish you a "Happy Holidays" in such a way that won't offend you. That's all. It's not a call to arms against Christmas despite what your pastor, priest or FoxNews may be telling you. Furthermore, I don't really NEED or even CARE if you're Christian, so your insisting that "Merry Christmas!" is the way to go is virtually meaningless to me. I repect your privacy and I respect your relgious beliefs and all I ask in return is that you a) do the same for me in return and b) don't get angry at me because I am catering to a wider group of people than you are willing to acknowledge.

What I simply fail to realize is why, in a country DOMINATED by Christianity, Christians feel the need to pretend that they are being persecuted still. No one is burning you here and I don't see anyone being fed to the lions and this point dovetails with the SECOND thing that is annoying me.

Phillip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS. Specifically, THE GOLDEN COMPASS movie and book.

The sheer volume of these books that I've been seeing returned is actually pretty high. Adults who've been buying them for kids for Christmas and are now returning them on account of their perceived Atheist slant. I've read the books and I'm here to tell you that they are probably worse than you think they are but JUST BECAUSE A BOOK CHALLENGES YOUR FAITH DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS EVIL!

Where are the days gone to when people could look at and understand other peoples' points of view and reject or assimilate those views into their own beliefs after some bit of rational consideration. Where's the critical thinking, the empathy, tolerance, and willingness to be openminded? I just don't get it. THE GOLDEN COMPASS was an okay book (the sequels were a little better) but yes, they are at LEAST agnostic, and I'd probably argue that by the time the protagonists accidentally kill God and the Metatron has gone on a rampage and murdered people, the book has probably crossed over into some level of atheism.

But that having been said, some of the things that Pullman pulls out of his hat in those books are more creative than you're going to find anywhere else and to simply label them as atheist is both inaccurate and overly dismissive. I'm not saying that 8-year-olds should be reading them and I would say that if your kids are reading them, you should probably be reading them too because they are definitely books that need some guidance to get through, but screw all the Bluetool soccer-moms out there and their overblown, FoxNews inspired moral indignation. Get down off of your high-horse / SUV and put on your thinking caps before you inspire a flock of mindless Christian clones that can follow real good, but can't think their way out of a bag.

Happy holidays,
Jason