Reasonable compromise ou blind submission?

Locke, if your property is commercial property you have to abide by certain laws. I may hate Blacks but I still must give blacks service. Port authorities are also governmental or quasi-governmental. My point here is that it is not private property in the same sense that a home is. I am not sure to what extent the Sea-Tac airport is governmental but that would influence how it deals with religious symbols.

Christmas trees are interesting symbols. They represent a religious holiday while not being classified as a religious symbol like a cross or menorah would. To say it isn't a religious symbol is completely wrong. It may not have the same theological meaning as a cross but it still does represent a religious tradition.

As for saying merry Christmas, what annoys me is when people say "it's a Christian country we should be saying merry Christmas. I think that is stupid. Isn't it polite that unless you know what the person is to just use something neutral like "happy holidays"? If the person has a Christmas sweater, a visible cross, has said merry Christmas to you or anything else that reveals them to be a Christian you say merry Christmas. Most of my Muslim and atheist/apathetic friends will say merry Christmas if they know the person is a Christian. Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity have tried to make it seem like an attack on our identity. I personally see it as common courtesy. There are lots of things with high correlation: Americans and Christianity; Arabs/Desis and Islam; etc. but, I don't just say Eid Mubarak to the first desi I see. It annoys me because I don't say "happy holidays" because I feel forced. I don't think people are offended by hearing Merry Christmas... but, it's just wrong to assume that everyone you say Merry Christmas to will be a Christian. The reason it became an issue was because some stores wouldn't allow employees to say Merry Christmas. That seems stupid also. It should be if they are obviously Christian through their saying Merry Christmas or large crosses, Christian symbols then say Merry Christmas. If not, don't. This seems like it should be common sense to me. And Locke, the tradition isn't saying "Merry Christmas" to anyone. It's saying it to Christians. Muslims don't just go around saying Eid Mubarak to non-Muslims.

This may not be as much common sense. I don't know if I can say that immigrants need to adapt to 'our societies'. Obviously they must in some ways; you can't have them acting under Roman law. What is the big deal if people don't speak English? If they go to an primarily English speaking store and can't be understood--so be it. I don't mind when I go to the Chinese grocer in my town and the lady behind the desk can't understand me. And if in some far off day we our government does its work in Spanish would that be a big deal? And what's the deal with "If you're offended - then get the fuck out." I am white. I was born here. I speak English. I was born in the bosom of Western tradition as much as anyone else. I don't find Merry Christmas offensive but I do think it's offensive when it's used for the purposes of confrontation. You can be a jackass if you want and say Merry Christmas to everyone regardless of their religion and I'm sure there are people in other countries who do similar things with their traditions. *shrugs*

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well, yeah, my Muslim friends say Happy Eid to me... but, I mean, that's because it's a closer relationship. I meant strangers.

I seem to agree with your first reply to me, more or less. I do worry about complaining about political correctness because the people I see doing that so ardently (Robert Spencer) have no concept about religious tradition and how it changes. I also don't think people are terrorized into saying Happy Holidays. I would also say I have no problem with Merry Christmas billboards or TV commercials -- since they are passive media. I think when you see happy Holidays it's an effort to include as many people as you can so that more will buy from you. You just seem to portray it as some war on Christmas when I think of it as stores thought they'd make more money changing things to happy holidays and with this backlash they may reconsider it.

As for the airport: the trees do represent Christmas. Having a cross in the airport wouldn't say "Christmas is the only proper holiday" but it's not likely they would put that up. Personally, I couldn't care less if they put up crosses or menorahs in airports but this was more of an issue of one person who did care trying to take advantage of the law. It's not really a societal trend vis-a-vis Christmas.

There's nowhere I can't reach.