There is no major Muslim holy day in December 2020, so this is pure intimidation. Imagine how those who are showerinh Dr. Candrawinata with abuse would feel if Christians insisted that Muslims say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Eid Mubarak” when Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha roll around.
“Doctor is bombarded with abuse for ‘excluding Muslims’ by wishing his followers Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays,” by Bryant Hevesi, Daily Mail Australia, December 21, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A doctor has come under fire for wishing social media followers a Merry Christmas instead of sharing a message more inclusive of other religions and non-believers.
Dr Vincent Candrawinata from Sydney uploaded a video to his Facebook page captioned with the two words but was shocked to discover the vitriol it generated.
The doctor, known as Dr Vincent, was told he should have stuck with Happy Holidays because it was more reflective of religious diversity in Australia.
He told Daily Mail Australia one commentator said he was being discriminatory by saying Merry Christmas.
‘(They) mentioned some statistics that Australia is not all Christian (and that) if you’re saying Merry Christmas it is inherently discriminatory to other people who are not Christian and do not celebrate Christmas,’ Dr Vincent said.
A war of words broke out in the comments with one person pointing out ‘more than 28 religions celebrate a festival in December’.
‘Saying Happy Holidays is one little inclusive gesture to throw out into this muddled world,’ they said.
Another accused Dr Vincent of excluding non-Christians, saying: ‘I’m not Christian so I’m excluded from your best wishes. That’s discrimination at its worst’.
Some people were more blunt, telling Dr Vincent ‘you should say Happy holidays not Merry Christmas FFS’.
But others said saying Merry Christmas was the way to go.
‘Perhaps one of the strongest comments that we got was… Australia is predominately a Christian country with a Christian culture so we should say Merry Christmas and we should not bow down to a political correct message,’ he said.
The video was intended as a thank-you to customers for supporting Dr Vincent’s Renovatio business throughout the coronavirus pandemic and to spread joy after a difficult year.
Dr Vincent said he did not think the two words would be problematic and he ‘didn’t think there was anything wrong with wishing people a Merry Christmas’.
‘I feel that Christmas is no longer just the religious holiday or religious celebration, it has a lot more meaning to it,’ he said.
Dr Vincent, who was born in Indonesia and arrived in Australia in 2008, was also on the receiving end of racist remarks….
owensgate says
I dunno… isn’t saying “Merry Christmas” to an offended non-Christian a bit like a 3rd Party hearing “You won the Lottery”, and being offended because he didn’t? Isn’t that “Diversity”? That’s not what they want, they want “Inclusion”? Isn’t it obvious “diversity” and “inclusion” are mutually exclusive? In WHAT universe do they get to have it both ways?
Lion heart says
That’s the bastard of the far leftists and Muslim allies who attack Merry Christmas while in Islam It’s taught that wishing Merry Christmas to Christians amounts to wishing them on adultery , fornication !! plus it’s an insult to Allah to attribute a son to God !! and many Muslim scholars said it publicly and shamelessly but we didn’t see the leftists say anything about it ! because they are COWARD when it comes to confront Islam !!and I am a Canadian Christian guy originally from Iraq.
Brando says
I was intrigued by the end of the article that said the Indonesian doctor had received RACIST remarks for saying MERRY CHRISTMAS. Here are 2 reasons:
1.Some were from MUSLIMS.
2.Others were LEFTISTS. As I said before, Leftists (with exceptions) do NOT care about NON-whites. A Classical Liberal, Libertarian,Conservative would Not have the REFLEX
reaction of making a Racial Slur against somebody who said Merry Christmas.
Leftists hate the religious aspect of Christmas and are CLOSET RACISTS,thus the comments given.
A BOOK TO READ
It is DOMINION: HOW THE CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION REMADE THE WORLD (2018) by TOM HOLLAND ( atheist )
He says the West remains saturated by Christian ASSUMPTIONS:
1.The Golden Rule( ethical rule of Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus), and its fruit: concept of HUMAN RIGHTS
2.That all are CREATED EQUAL and its fruit: concept of HUMAN RIGHTS
He says WESTERN morals and ethics are Not UNIVERSAL ( by this he means NOT the ASSUMPTIONS of OTHER cultures)
but are instead the fruits of a VERY distinctive civilization.
ONE EXAMPLE
It is the case of BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS(1484-1566), a Dominican priest from SPAIN who was AGAINST the enslavement of AMERINDIANS and also BLACKS.
He had great influence on the Spanish king and the result was the NEW LAWS of the INDIES(1542) which,among other things, prohibited Amerindian slavery.
He even had as an OFFICIAL title,that of PROTECTOR OF THE INDIANS.
Check Burry says
I am keen to see what happens to the blm members when (if ever) they go to talk to bokoharam, or any other group who take folk to be slaves or similar, see if they get back in one piece, when compared to bravely tearing old statues down in western places, which is a walk in the park compared to tackling any real present day slavers.
gravenimage says
Good questions, Check.
Keith O says
Poor bastard can’t win.
Try’s doing/saying the right thing and gets shat on, get’s shat on for being an Indonesian.
When are these petty minded wankers going to grow up. They don’t have lives of their own so they try to bitch and whinge to make others change theirs to some twisted version of their reality.
I’m Pagan, so no Christmas. Do I get my balls in a twist because someone says Merry Christmas? NO, I simply say “so mate, not a Christian” and 99% of people are cool about. Some as what I am so I tell them and o lot are cool with it.
These dickheads need to get a life of their own and stop trying to change everyone elses.
Infidel says
I’m not Christian either, but I don’t mind wishing – and being wished – Merry Christmas. Doesn’t change which deities I really believe in.
But even aside from that, his message was really to his clientele – the people who were his customers and other associates. He was not greeting all of Australia, so whether Australia is a Christian country or not is immaterial. The story didn’t mention whether the whiny cretins who objected were among his clientele or not, but it being Facebook, anybody could have seen that message and then decided that it was his/her business what he said, regardless of whether or not they were his clientele.
The original purposes of most social media platforms are lost. Facebook started out as a way of re-discovering people you once knew but lost touch w/. Twitter was more of a bulletin board announcement. These days, everybody has made it into something where everything is everybody’s business. Even LinkedIn, which once upon a time was a place where you laid out your professional interests, has morphed into a platform where people discuss their woke desires, like open borders and so on
gravenimage says
Good posts, Keith and Infidel. Besides, Christmas is also celebrated by many, Christian and non-Christian, as a secular holiday.
Keith O says
Hmm, just had a look at the feedback and realised my spelling mistakes.
Lesson, don’t post anything when your off your face on pain killers!!
Hahaha, these things happen!
gravenimage says
No problem, Keith. And hope you are feeling better.
Phil Copson says
“As a firm believer in Free Speech, I’m not offended by anything, and I’m very offended by those who are…” No – wait……
Aussie Infidel says
GI, I’m an atheist too, but that didn’t stop me celebrating Christmas with some of my other Christian and non-Christian friends. Some people are just born whingers.
gravenimage says
🙂
Guy Macher says
Not only do I say Merry Christmas but I invite all Muslims to a pork bbq on July the 4th! Tired of these barbarians.
tim gallagher says
This is all about this strange and pretty sickening world we live in these days where people are offended by every bloody thing. I suppose it is mainly due to social media and every whinger constantly having his or her say on everything and being offended by everything. I have heard that it is very hard to be a comedian these days because whatever joke you come up with someone will be bound to be mightily offended. I always try to say “Merry Christmas” as a Christian believer. Christmas is a Christian celebration, although, of course, it is also a time for pleasantness and getting together and giving in general. “Happy Holidays” seems to me like a meaningless saying and it is not something I would ever use. With Islam, Muslims treat non-Muslims appallingly where ever they gain power, so this call for inclusiveness is complete bullshit when it comes to the constantly whingeing Muslim brigade. Good on this doctor, but no-one should have got their knickers in a knot about his greeting anyway. I was just listening to famous sports administrator on the radio here in Australia, a man who set up some new idea for a horse race, which has been very successful, and he said that he simply ignores the whingeing nay sayers, mostly on social media, because they are always there and just gets on with doing things.
Savvy Kafir says
There are two classes of people who are offended by every little thing, and who react with a ludicrous degree of outrage to the slightest “offenses” — Muslims and the politically-correct snowflakes of the Regressive Left — the very same people who are doing their utmost to put an end to free speech, the bedrock of civilized societies.
gravenimage says
Largely true, Savvy Kafir.
Wellington says
A sad world in many ways we do live in today, tim gallagher. I attribute this first and foremost to the Western Left which continues to this day trying to commit civilizational suicide in the name of such idiocies as political correctness and multiculturalism (N.B., outside of the West, no other society or civilization is politically correct or multicultural—pc/mc is a recent phenomenon developed only by a portion of the West, and the most sorry-ass portion at that, with the purpose, sometimes intended, sometimes unintended, of eradicating Western Civilization, easily the most successful civilization in all of history).
Ah, ignorance combined with self-hate, the modus operandi of the Western Left, is more terrible than Islam, wretched and stupid creed that it is. No wonder the two are temporarily allies. Both are stupid and both are highly injurious to the best that mankind can aspire to.
If one loves liberty and all the benefits it can bring (though it must be tempered by common sense and proper knowledge—guess this leaves out monumental doofuses like Madonna and Robert De Niro, who profited off of Western freedom without realizing why they did), it is imperative to reject the worst religion of all time, Islam, a mortal enemy of freedom, and Western Leftism, also a mortal enemy of freedom.
Hope you and yours, tg, are doing well. Good-bye for now.
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the comments, Savvy Kafir and Wellington. I agree with both of you that it seems to be the left and Muslims, both joined together as allies because they both hate and want to destroy western civilisation, who carry on with a lot of this whinging and whining. I believe our western civilisation has provided a very pleasant way of living life for most people in our western societies, so I value that way of life, and I’m not about to accept any of the crap the self loathing leftie mob in our western societies put forward and certainly not any of the garbage that Muslims, who are part of Islam, that hopelessly backward and barbaric creed, put forward. I come across many people in Australia who seem very apologetic for the supposed evil things our western countries have done, but I think, OK anything human is imperfect, but compared to other nations I think we have developed a very decent way of living life. The way we live in western societies is a thousand times better than Islam or the Marxist mob would provide if they ever do grab power.
Wellington says
I am not religious. But I love the Christmas season because it is a frame of mind, a very fine frame of mind.
And so at Christmastide I wish many people a “Merry Christmas” and anyone offended by this greeting is, one way or another—yet another Muslim posing as a victim, some militant atheist who has made a religion out of not having one, the idiotic and vile Democratic foursome known as “the Squad,” et al.— a deficient human being.
If you are offended by the greeting, “Merry Christmas,” then you need to get a real life but which you probably never will. Not my problem, minus of course Muslims getting upset over most anything and thereafter, per instructions from its warped Profit and its silly religious texts, killing and maiming being requisite for demonstrating how devout a Mohammedan you really are.
Put another way, I infinitely prefer the greeting of “Merry Christmas” and the expectation of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve over ALL Muslim, militant atheist and Leftist grievance assertions to the contrary.
In short, show me a person who is upset by the greeting of “Merry Christmas,” and I will show you a sorry-ass human being. No exceptions. None.
Savvy Kafir says
Agreed! I’m a godless heathen with no love for any religion (unless pantheism counts as a religion); but I also love Christmas and often wish people Merry Christmas — whether they are religious or not. Only an idiot or a Muslim would take offense at that.
Check Burry says
I support your position, I dont swallow any gods, but also believe those who do should be able to continue swallowing in safety. Anywhere.
gravenimage says
🙂
Crusades Were Right says
He was being “discriminatory” in that he was discriminating between the holiday he was CHOOSING to celebrate and other holidays he was NOT celebrating.
Imagine if the same “logic” were applied to vacation destination choices:
“What? You CHOSE to go to Spain for your vacation? What’s wrong with Cyprus, or Italy, or France, or EVERY other country?”
Better make your next vacation a WORLD TOUR, presumably, to stay on the safe side! lol
Infidel says
That way, only billionaires will ever get to have vacations ?
Check Burry says
But then they would be avoiding the moon, more discrimination (in their twisted brain)
somehistory says
This reminds of what Abraham Lincoln said about “fooling” the people. I seem to recall that he is the one who said it, but if not, then I have offended his memory and the memory of the other man who did say it, and possibly all those who think it was someone else.
If you can “fool some of the people all of the time, but only all of the people some of the time,” then is it possible to offend all of the people all of the time?
Seems so these days. moslims don’t want anyone to say Merry Christmas. They don’t want Christians to have any days…none whatsoever…that are celebrations of their faith. In moslim countries…the ones they successfully invaded and held onto…they don’t allow Christians any freedom, to speak, to worship, to live as they see the need. And in countries that successfully repelled…for a time…the moslim invasions, they have regained ground and don’t want Christians to speak, worship, live as they feel the need.
And, there is a large, and evidently growing, group that are encouraging the moslims to be the bullies in the school yard, bullying right along with them.
Had the doctor said, “Happy Holidays,” there would still have been offense…moslims don’t want any celebrations in which they are not the featured group. Those celebrations where they gorge until dawn, kill animals by the thousands, whip themselves bloody, etc., are the only ones they will tolerate.
The doctor should ask his “followers” on the sm if those who called him racist names, also called everyone else those names? After all, not doing so is not being “inclusive.”
The entire “inclusive” thing is a load of nonsense. It’s just another tactic, another weapon, to use against those who are not “with the in-crowd.” The current “in-crowd” is much different than the ones in the sixties. If one does not toe-the-line, does not allow that group to do the thinking, disapproves of their actions and what they want, then it’s like the injured chicken in the barnyard. The injured chick is pecked to death.
Those who believe they are special creatures, above the rest of us, are trying to peck us to death.
Jack Holan says
I am not Christian however at Christmas time I’m certainly not offended by People extending the wish, Merry Christmas. After all I live in a Christian Country founded on Judeo-Christian values. It’s Christmas time. Those who know me extend Happy Hanukkah at the proper time and they are Christian. Again, what is the problem. As Islam becomes more familiar to people and we have more acquaintances whom are Muslim I’m sure they will receive the proper greeting for Ramadan and other holidays. There are Hindus, Buddhists, Native Americans, Zoroastrians, Druze, Assyrians, Eastern Orthodox, and many other religions. Unless you have personal contact with someone of whose faith is linked you’re likely not going to have a familiarity. Enough already with PC. It’s PC to address the Person’s religion’s by it’s proper name. Happy Holidays is one step away from nothingness.
gravenimage says
+1
gravenimage says
Australia: Doctor bombarded with abuse for ‘excluding Muslims’ by saying ‘Merry Christmas’
…………….
Good lord, what crap. Do Christians feel excluded if someone wishes people a Happy Passover? Do Buddhists feel excluded over wishing people a Happy Diwali? This is just ludicrous.
And isn’t wishing anyone Happy Eid hence exclusionary? I never see Muslims complaining about *that*.
Just another attempt to Islamicize society.
john smith says
Spot on Gravenimage.
Raja says
Very true Graven. Thank you
gravenimage says
Thank you, John and Raja.
STJOHNOFGRAFTON says
If Islam is so wonderful why do its adherents behave so poorly as human beings?
gravenimage says
They think they are the “best of peoples”.
Check Burry says
They follow the book of standing orders and procedures.
Everard says
I am an atheist. I believe that all gods are man made. Having said that MERRY CHRISTMAS to all who are celebrating it.
Everard says
Oops l left the comma out after “that”. Humble apololgies to one and all.
Goofy says
Why not say Merry Christmas to a Muslim? The Muslims even believe that Jesus Christ who they call Issa as a child gave life to clay birds, which is as close as they will ever get to recognise that Jesus is God. Where is the problem?
Infidel says
Is it the same ‘Christmas’ though, or is Isa’s b’day another shifting day like Eid?
Phil Copson says
“Christmas” is the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
He was undoubtedly a real person, and therefore his birth was undoubtedly a real event.
Commemorating this event does not require that either the well-wisher or the “wishee” * subscribe to the tenets of Christianity, given that Christianity is supposed to be a universal expression of goodwill to all mankind.
People who have time and energy to devote to complaining about the greeting, are simply fools without hobbies.
(The idea that the Left have any interest in looking after the interests of racial or religious minorities, should have been thoroughly debunked (again)by the sight of white middle-class American Lefties eagerly smashing-up Mom-and-Pop businesses in black neighbourhoods, punching and racially abusing non-White Trump supporters, vandalising synagogues etc.
Basically, Left-wing politics simply attracts the violent, the fanatical, the stupid, the lazy, the greedy, and the talentless – the Corbyns, AOCs, Schumers, Pelosis, and Merkels of this world – all of whom dream of a world in which they never have to do any actual work, but can instead live on other people’s money and devote their days to shouting their silly mouths off and imposing their stupid ideas on other people)
“Merry Christmas”, Doctor Vincent.
* “wishee” – if such a useful word doesn’t already exist to describe the person receiving good wishes – may I claim authorship ?
Check Burry says
I like your post Phil, but I would leave wishee, as its to closely linked to washee.
Sand says
What if I am offended by them saying I offended them? Such hypocrisy.
Dave-E says
Blah, blah, blah. The leftist outrage machine only works one way. If some favored identity group feels slighted (do they ever not?) we’re all supposed to grovel in apology. The correct response to all these thin-skinned whiners is STFU.
ronyvo says
If the Muslims were to be forced to say ‘happy holidays’ instead of ‘eid mubarak; they will fight it and very possible they will get their wish. Why not? They are getting all what they want from the weak ignorant of the West.
Im4truth4all says
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” ― George Orwell
JMB says
(From Australia) I really feel sorry for that doctor. As for “Happy Holiday”, that sounds like some wishy-washy PC tripe from America. I am pleased to let our North American readers know that Christmas was alive and well here in Australia in this challenging year. People still say Happy Christmas to each other and shock-horror there are even hugs and handshakes! Even in deepest Bankstown (Muslim territory) there are Christmas trees, lights and decorations. It gets worse, there are billboards proclaiming that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”. And for most Australians there were parties, family get-togethers and a fortune spent on presents. As i said I feel sorry for that Dr and also the small minded bigots who gave him a hard time.
Geof says
i hope the doctor doubles down and says he was specifically wishing christians Merry Christmas