coercion

[Carol]

Susan:
> I don't think that someone wishing ME individually Merry Christmas
is being coercive.

Carol:
Good.
> 
Susan:
> I assume (for the most part) that they haven't thought the whole
thing through, and are wishing me well.

Carol:
Hm. If you wished me "Happy Yule," I'd be glad for the good wishes.
Nothing to think over, and who cares that I don't celebrate Yule
except to the extent that it's become merged with Christmas ("yuletide
carols, fa la la la la la la la la"). Nothing to think through that I
can see.
> 
Susan:
> The coercive part is when you try to force employees in a store
through policy to say "Merry Christmas."

Carol:
And it's not coercive to force employees to say "Happy holidays"
against their will even to customers who would prefer that greeting? I
think employers should let the employee use the greeting of the
employee's choice, with due regard to the preferences of customers who
obviously don't celebrate a particular holiday (for example, not
wishing people wearing a Star of David a Merry Christmas).

It's just sad, IMO, that people have become so sensitive that they
take offense at a Christmas greeting and that employers have fallen
into the trap of thinking that customers prefer it. I wonder, BTW, if
part of the problem in the U.S. is that people start celebrating
Christmas prematurely, putting up their Christmas trees at
Thanksgiving, so that "the holidays" has come to mean the period from
Thanksgiving to New Year's Day (in a few regions, possibly, clear till
Epiphany or Three Kings' Day). That Hanukkah comes at around the same
time is also a factor. If it were celebrated in September, we might
not be having this discussion. Might as well wish each other "Happy
December" and be done with it.

Carol, who still does not like to be wished "happy holidays" and
thinks that political correctness is fast becoming the "dominant
culture" to which we're all supposed to submit meekly