Holiday greetings debate is silly

Are you confused about the appropriate salutation this time of year?

The catch-all “holiday season” is under fire from conservatives and liberals alike. Conservatives are organizing boycotts of stores that won’t wish shoppers a “Merry Christmas.” Liberals and the PC police long ago struck the phrase from our collective lexicon in favor of the more accepting — and generic — “Happy Holidays.”

Our question is simple. Who in their right mind was ever offended by either?

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas — they’re both wishing someone well! To take either as an insult means you’re just looking to be insulted. These professionally outraged citizens on both sides of the political spectrum are holding the rest of us hostage.

If in newspapers we write “Christmas” in a headline, there’s a letter to the editor damning our lack of sensitivity to other religions and atheists. If we write “holidays” in a headline, there’s a letter to the editor reminding us that a majority of our readership celebrates Christmas — and we’re out-of-touch Scrooges for not acknowledging it.

We say bah-humbug to the whole debate.

Say Happy Holidays. Say Merry Christmas. Say Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year, too. Say anything you want — except that your sensibilities are offended by a well-intentioned greeting.

If you have another solution to this ludicrous argument, please do tell.