The European Commission wants to erase all references to Christmas along with all gendered terms, according to a recent internal document obtained by Italian daily Il Giornale.
According to the document “Union Of Equality. European Commission Guidelines for Inclusive Communication,” in the future any references to gendered terms such as “workrmen or policemen” must be avoided. That means the use of a masculine pronoun as a predefined pronoun is forbidden along with any attempts to organize discussions with only one represented gender (only men or only women). It is also forbidden to use “Miss or Mrs” the person referred to requires it explicitly.
It doesn’t end there, either. The new rules mean the expression “Ladies and gentlemen,” to address the public is not permitted at a conference. Instead, only the term “dear colleagues,” will be allowed. A desire to cancel the male and female gender reaches paradoxical levels when the Commission writes that it is necessary to avoid using expressions such as “fire is the greatest invention of man” but the fair way to say it is “fire is the greatest invention of humanity.”
The European Commission is also keen to “avoid considering that everyone is Christian,” therefore “not everyone celebrates the Christmas holidays (…) we must be sensitive to the fact that people have different religious traditions.” However, there is a huge difference between respecting all religions and being ashamed or erasing the Christian roots that are the basis of Europe and our identity.
In the name of inclusiveness, the European Commission goes so far as to “cancel Christmas” by inviting us not to use the phrase “the Christmas period can be stressful” but to say “the holidays can be stressful.” A desire to eliminate Christianity that goes further with the recommendation to use “generic names” instead of “Christian names” therefore, instead of “Mary and John are an international couple,” one should say “Malika and Giulio are an international couple”.
In a statement released in response to the plan, Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the Forza Italia party, wrote that the European Commission should instead focus on respecting Europe’s Christian roots.
“Given the principle of inclusion, how are the sensitivities of the majority of the European Commission’s staff to be respected? Perhaps these directives should be amended to respect the Christian roots of the European Union,” Tajani wrote.
