Merry Christmas everyone!Yes, you heard me right, Merry Christmas, I said, and no happy Diwali, joyful Ramadan or gracious Winnie-the-Pooh day but Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!
I hope I said it many times, because one day, if we keep prostrating our intellect to the Politically Correct brigade, the C-word will be banned and we will be doomed.
It all probably started in America I guess, like Coca-Cola, Rock n’ roll and take-away pizza, but political correctness is now a disease spreading all over the Western world, to the point that, sadly, it is already corroding our way of living.
Political correctness is such a big subject that I cannot describe it in one post, so I will instead focus my attention on two things: the battle for Christmas and the unwillingness of the British to rebel.
Christmas had been suffering a few setbacks in the last few years. Christmas lights in Oxford Street had been renamed Winter lights, for example, and in some schools Christmas is not celebrated anymore. However, it was not until this nonsense reached me directly that I really understood the gravity of the phenomenon.
Now, my company held every year a Christmas Party, in which I have always participated, and this year I was going to participate too, until I received the invitation from the Human Resources Department where, with my anger and disbelief, the Christmas Party had been renamed Festive Winter Party.
Festive Winter Party? I never knew that people celebrated winter since the times the druids were constructing Stonehenge, or was it some kind of typing error? Some of us in the company made the point of asking if, by any chance, there was some kind of mistake and this is the reply we got from the HR department:
Further to the recent disappointing comments concerning the ‘Company Festive Winter Party’, I would like to clarify any confusion.
As I expect you are aware, we have a team made up of many faiths, and in recognising our diversity we have referred to the party as our Festive Winter Event. As the event is not themed as a Christmas party this is thought to be more appropriate.
Criticisms which have been made in this regard have upset and offended other employees and all staff are asked to use email in an appropriate way which does not or could not cause such offence.
Please feel free to approach HR further if needed in regards to this.
Thank you for your cooperation, understanding and appreciation of others.
I decided not to reply to the statement, considering that, although I had the right to do so, it would have done me no good and, who knows, maybe put me into trouble. So, I have decided to do it here and HR is welcome to comment on my post:
Dear Human Resources Department,
Further to your recent communication, let me clarify the following points:
I am aware that we have a team of many faiths, as a Catholic I myself belong to a minority in this country, and as an Italian I belong to an ethnic minority, so I can play the race-faith card too.
Christmas is a tradition of this country as much as the Queen and therefore it is ridiculous to abolish it in the name of political correctness. Diversity is a wonderful thing, but in Rome do as the Romans do, as the saying goes, or otherwise, shouldn’t the Muslims rename the Ramadan and the Hindu Diwali?
If the criticism made has upset and offended some people, could I please have a word with them? I am sure I will be able to explain my action, although I guess this is out of the question, considering that probably nobody was upset and offended…
Lastly, don’t thank me for what I am not doing: cooperating and understanding, and the appreciation of others does not mean that I have to renege on the 2,000 years of history and tradition.
I was going to talk about the unwillingness of the British to rebel, but I will write it in my next post, in the meantime, Merry Christmas and if you are offended, I couldn’t care less.
2 comments:
On the one hand, I have to agree that as we are now a multi-faith society it is only right and just that we should expect to be able to exercise the right to celebrate it in the way we choose. It therefore follows that those people who are not at least nominally Christian or Pagan should no longer be required by their employers to take time off work during the Winter Festive Season and they should expect to report to work as usual, without the expectation of double-time pay. After all, none of us get paid double-time for working during Ramadan, during the Jewish holidays or during Diwali. Not only would this save business millions of pounds in lost revenue it would also mean an end to all the usual Christmas time annoyances - the buses, tubes and trains could run a normal timetable; the streets would be swept, the corner shops and supermarkets would be stocked, Tescos could stay open, and the John Lewis and Tottenham Court Road sales could run all Christmas.
On the other hand, as regards your workplace, it is truly appalling that you should now be forcibly required to celebrate the Pagan Festival, which of course the early Christians stole away in the same way that Kapitalism in turn is now stealing your Christmas away from you. Now, it is not the fault of the Muslims, the Hindus, the Jews or anyone else that this is happening, they didn’t ask for it, so you can't blame them. It is simply your organisation gaining power over the hearts and minds of the larger part of its workforce, by putting workers in your organisation against each other, scapegoating the minority members of society all the time knowing that the loyal hard working Kapitalist worker will not directly blame their company, but forces “outside of it”.
Scapegoating - the oldest trick in the book to divert attention away from the real issues – and one might wonder what they are!! It’s always worth bearing in mind that the Kapitalist organisation will only ever act in its own interests – it does not belong to the workers who create and maintain its wealth nor does it exist to employ them.
In short, your rights as an individual, and your collective rights as a workforce, are being subordinated by the Kapitalist system, which desires only the compliance and acquiescence of its workforce through whatever means are at its disposal. Peoples’ human rights are being subverted to the point where they are fearful of “speaking out” for fear of retribution and potential loss of livelihood. No wonder Britain doesn’t sign up to the European Human Rights Agreement. In other words, in Britain they have got you by the balls. But have they?
[Part II, follows]
[Part II]
The individual has two choices in this situation. The neo-liberal Kapitalist will regard this as an issue of loyalty to the company. One must either agree with whatever course of action one’s employer has decided to adopt in the best interests of the company, or else one disagrees with their position and exercise one’s right to leave, freeing the company up to recruit someone more compliant than oneself. Which would be in the best interests of the company, as the company would see it.
The socialist however, will argue that this is yet another manifestation of the on-going Kapitalist struggle for domination and will urge you to resist and stand up for your rights by expressing solidarity with other workers who have similar Christian sympathies. One might take action collectively, perhaps by withdrawing labour to cause disruption or by taking blanket strike action to encourage the company to reconsider the unwise position it has adopted. Form a union. They would soon change their minds.
Is there an unwillingness for the British to rebel? As individuals many might adopt the first course of action. Most will not adopt the second.
What has happened in British society is that people have been persuaded that it is the individual, and not the collective, that is important. You don’t have to look far to see how this thinking is reinforced by the popular media… subtle propaganda and indoctrination.
But there is a Third Way, and this is perhaps the hardest choice. The individual-minded worker non-unionised worker, who feels strongly about their organisation’s conduct over the Christmas issue, yet who still wishes to demonstrate their loyalty to the company and thereby keep their job, should consider withdrawing their labour for the Yuletide Festive period and giving their holiday wages back in protest. This selfless act is guaranteed to impress the boss as those who choose to take this difficult decision will be demonstrating individualism and opportunism within the corporate environment. It will also have the most desirable effect, that of saving the company money during these hard times.
Failing that, having written to them in an attempt to come to the table and negotiate, if they refuse to prominently display the traditional Pagan-Christo symbols of fir tree, St. Nicolas in green and gift-giving, one should consider the alternative “Name and Shame” strategy so beloved by our public services and publicly accuse your organisation of pursuing un-European Activities, which might persuade people to take their business elsewhere, perhaps by supporting a unionised organisation like British Airways – or perhaps by not travelling at all, thereby reducing their individual carbon footprint.
A Merry Yuletide, Goodwill to All Men (and Women) and a Happy Christmas to All!
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