Friday, December 9, 2011

Cultural Sensitivity

A company, who shall remain nameless, sent the following in a Holiday Newsletter:
HANUKKAH BEGINS 12/21/11
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday celebrated for
eight days and nights. It begins on the 25th of
the Jewish month of Kislev, which coincides with
late November-late December on the secular*
calendar. This holiday commemorates the rededication
of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following
the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.
“Hanukkah” is a Hebrew words[sic] that actually means
“dedication” or “consecration.”
Immediately under that was this quote:
The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not
Christmas in his heart. - Helen Keller
OK then. As this followed an e-mail from a manager noting that he's bringing "ham for sanatwiches[sic]" to the Holiday Pot Luck, I think we can draw some conclusions. Oy vey!

* - The "secular" calendar was named after a pope, and uses "Before Christ" and "Anno Domini (The Year Of Our Lord)" to mark dates. Can you feel the secularity?

2 comments:

  1. What does coinside mean?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dude, that Helen Keller quote is wildly inappropriate for a corporate holiday newsletter. You'd think they'd know better than to send such a religiously intolerant message to a bunch of lawyers.

    ReplyDelete