Cool, so it's still worth eschewing /s

I would like to note though that xmas is a very sore time of year for a lot of people (mostly queer, but others too) who do not have a good relationship with their family

ghost is just GitHub's way of saying deleted user.

Jesus Christ what is wrong with people... Microsoft giving in to a clear troll, surprised they didn't just lock and ignore that shit and move on.

Wait, did I read that correctly and they replaced the hat with a snowflake?? Hahahaha

And yes, people often forget that generally offense is taken. When it's intentionally given, it's pretty clear.

Nice. Honestly, pretty well corralled, I would say.

Incidentally, I'm amused that one of the more popular responses includes the classic phrase

"Why can't we all just get along"

Which I tend to notice after having had it explained well to me once by someone with more empathy than my own.

I won't belabor it, but they pointed out to me that being tempted to say "Why can't we all just get along" is usually a sign that we haven't actually listened effectively.

So now when I hear or read "Why can't we all just get along", I see that [X] and hear the buzz from "Family Feud", and hear one of the Family Feud host kindly say "No points. Let's try again."

#santagate2019

Yea, Santa is the more secular icon. There are even Christians that take issue with the Santa character (which is a combination of "Pagan" and Christian mythos). I put Pagan in quotes, as that's a Christian term for certain non-Christian beliefs.

Santa is a stand-in for Jesus... for children. They're both magical beings that can perform miracles and have similar methods: Both Santa and Jesus have naughty lists and forms of punishment that come later; much later (both are equivalent lengths of time to a child though 🤣). Both bring "gifts". Both have traditional appearances. Both have followers that wear silly hats and strange clothes. But most importantly...

Both are imaginary.

If you believe in Santa as an adult you're ridiculed. If you believe in Jesus as an adult you're just labeled, "Christian". Yet the fact that nearly every child eventually finds out Santa isn't real is quite disturbing to a lot of Christians. After all, if they could stop believing in Santa--who is so similar to Jesus in every way--then they could stop believing in Jesus.

Santa is based on Saint Nicholas of Myra, so he definitely has something to do with Christianity.

Besides both being fairy tales, I would say it's even anti religious, since religious Christmas clashes with it, yet he doesn't bring gifts to baby Jesus. He brings commercial toys to all the other children.

That analogy seems a better fit for a lot of Jewish holidays then Christmas. Passover is about the mass death of innocent Egyptian children. Chanukah is about a revolt against Greek rule where:

The Maccabees destroyed Greek altars in the villages, forcibly circumcised boys, burnt villages, and drove Hellenized Jews off their land.

Christmas is just about some baby being born ( on probably a different day)

Back in the mid-80s, when I got an email from HR about the Christmas Party at the local office, I sent a reply to the district HR manager complaining that not everyone in the company celebrated Christmas. Later that day, another email came out announcing the Holiday Party. So glad I had a hand in educating HR.