all holidays are exclusive
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I've seen it all my life and I never thought twice about it, but in recent years I've heard people explain why we should say "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". I've also seen Catholics bothered by the proliferation of this greeting (though I can only assume the sentiment is also common among other Christians).
As I understand it, the argument is that "holiday" is more inclusive than "Christmas", but this is an example of ideology overriding common sense, perhaps what Gad Saad calls an “idea pathogen”, an intellectual construct that spreads easily, despite being contrary to rational judgment and is harmful.
I would say that this idea is notparticularly harmful, but I do posit that it defies logic. How is Christmas exclusive? Because not everyone is Christian or celebrates Christmas, goes the argument. But exclusive would be precisely not to wish them a merry Christmas and to reserve that sentiment to Christians.
Another way of thinking about it is, if “merry Christmas “ is exclusive, what isn't? No more mother's day, for fear of leaving out anyone who is not a mother. And forget about birthdays. Nothing is more exclusive than celebrating one single person based on their date of birth.