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I haven’t been on until now. I posted on CMV, of course I’m not expecting people to agree with me
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Honestly, I don't notice people being that much nicer over the holidays. Part of it might be that you see people for the first time in a while, and act overly polite because of that. Some people just feel expected to be more charitable around the holidays, because that's become a social norm in America, and act accordingly. 
For a lot of people, it's also a reminder that they feel lonely most of the year, since so much media revolves around family and togetherness around Christmas. Maybe these "anti-social assholes" you speak of feel lonely around this time, and try to act nicer to compensate. Whatever the reason, I'd prefer people be nice 14 days out of the year than 0. >

I work as a delivery driver and the amount of people that don’t tip for 11 months of the year but tip like crazy during December is crazy. >

The big thing is that very few people are actually "good" or "bad" by any measure because there isn't actually a coherent way to measure that. We all maybe try to do good things when we can, but we also participate in pretty horrific systems all the time 
Being a little nicer or a little more generous at the holidays doesn't make you a good person because we still all do some terrible things, by proxy if nothing else. It does make your annual score a bit better though >

I think Christmas tends to bring out more of whatever kind of person someone already is to begin with. If you're basically a cynical and stingy "Scrooge" it's going to get under your skin and you'll probably see it as disingenuous. That was the whole point of that story. 
That the spirit of Christmas wasn't something you could just acknowledge one day a year and be jerk the rest of the time but rather something you must carry with you all year long or it means nothing at all. 
Being a "good person" or not is a separate matter but I will say that it seems that people who genuinely enjoy giving and celebrating and spending time with their loved ones are in a better mood around this time of year despite the stress of the holidays, whereas folks who perceive this time of year as a chore and a corporate money grab are less pleasant to be around than during the rest of the year.
Which is why I make it a goal to have my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving and mostly only go out for groceries, etc because people can be ridiculously rude in the stores during December. >


That the spirit of Christmas wasn't something you could just acknowledge one day a year and be jerk the rest of the time but rather something you must carry with you all year long or it means nothing at all.

This is my argument for Valentine's Day. I personally love it and go all out, am often met with "I don't need a day to tell my SO I love them!" Well duh neither do I but it's fun to be extra festive right now so why wouldn't I want to take advantage of another chance to celebrate with them? >

Absolutely! 
It's no different than saying "I don't need Mother's Day to show my mom I love her". No, you don't but people set aside days of the year to honor people, relationships, and even ideals because there's a human longing to celebrate things that are important to us. 
People like to do things collectively for one thing and for another the thing time slips by so easily. 
Making permanent days of celebration allows us to take a step back and focus on different things we care about each year as a ritual, so that we don't go two or three years and think, "I can remember the last time I did something special for my SO or my parents just for the hell of it."
Life is short and it moves fast! >

In terms of giving, it's a lot easier to give when you just got your holiday bonus and/or a raise. 
As for being friendly, it's hard to do non-stop. It's kind of like being romantic: you can go all out for Valentine's Day, but it's hard to keep that up year-round. >

I don’t understand why being friendly all year is a challenge. I try to be friendly to everyone all year round. Maybe not everyone all the time but in general. If I’m in a good mood, I’ll be nice and friendly to everyone. If I’m in a shitty mood, I won’t be overly nice or go out of my way but I’ll still be polite and treat people like people, and I’m not even a social person. I don’t think it’s hard to do this if you have empathy for people >

You said you were talking about being overly nice and acting "this kind to each other." I'm saying it's hard to keep up that level. >

I guess my phrasing in the title was bad so that’s my fault. When I say “overly nice” I just mean nicer than general every day. I don’t mean like going out and complimenting everyone you see and giving gifts, just being more empathetic, forgiving and helpful >

If you're talking about being more empathetic, forgiving, helpful etc., then you have to consider what you're comparing it to. The obvious answer is the rest of the year, and if that's the case, there's no way to be that empathetic, etc. for the entire year.
In other words, you can't be at an elevated level all the time or that just becomes the norm. >

I can’t think of anyone who is actually like this? I think nice people might be nicer but I don’t know anyone who is a bad person the rest of the year and suddenly a good person in December. Maybe the contradiction is coming from the fact that we live in a pretty cruel and punitive culture but the messaging gets different around Xmas. 
But just in general, this is the darkest  time of the year. Seasonal depression is real. Christmas is the most likely time of the year to experience depression. 
People are just more likely to be going through something right now, and therefor, we should be more sensitive to that and maybe act with more kindness to the people around us. >

Good is not something you are it is something you do. >

This is kind of interesting because well people do give more during the holidays, it can actually be kind of problematic for many charities because they get all their money at one point of the year and very little the rest of the year. >

I don’t think that people are nicer during the holidays I think they have more disposable income (peak season OT, Christmas savings clubs, & bonuses) and more free time (Most people have extra days off in back to back weeks for Xmas & NYE). This combination makes it seem like people are trying to do more for the holidays but it’s an illusion. They simply have more time and money to help out. >

Habits are built over time and need to be maintained.
A month or so of forcing yourself to be  (more) cheerful and friendly (than usual) is a month training yourself to be less of a selfish asshole, and that does bleed through to the rest of the year. 
Why not do it all year round? Who says they aren't? Imagine how awful people would be if they never made any effort to be nice at all! They'd just spiral down, getting worse and worse, chasing away friends and family and then complaining about their friends and family leaving and using that as justification to get worse and worse and oh god I'm just describing Qanon.
You heard it here first, folks. Christmas cures Qanon.
But yeah, you're still right that people ought to be nice year round, but that doesn't mean there's something wrong with making extra effort to be nice during the holiday season. >

This is generalizing not about a specific person. I 100% noticeably get a lot more nice acts, compliments, type social interactions around this time than others. It just all feels like an illusion when it’s only at one time of the year. I guess my point is that it’s not “bad” to do this once a year, it just feels completely faked and hard to reciprocate in a positive manner. It shows people are capable of being nice to each other but chose not to unless the social norm is telling you to >

I mean you already said that, for yourself, you tend to be more kind when you're in a good mood. A lot of people really love Christmas and it puts them in a good mood.
Money and time off work tends to put people in a better mood and people tend to have more disposable income and time off at Christmas.
Seeing far away friends and family tends to put people in a good mood and people make it a point to do that at Christmas more than any other time.
Your point is that people are being "fake" to act nice this time of year while you're seemingly disregarding all of the very real reasons that people are happier that take place at Christmas time. >

!delta I suppose it’s not “fake” if it’s coming from a genuine place, even if it is for only a couple weeks of the year. And I suppose it’s a bad thing to be nice to each other even if it is for only a short period of time >

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/formidable-opponent (1∆).
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Obviously being nicer than the norm all year round is the ideal option, but that’s not the alternative to being nice around the holidays. The realistic options here are that people are either nicer for a month or they just don’t change their behavior at all. Considering those options, we may as well take the month of them being nicer. >

I’m not saying this to sounds edgy or dramatic, but I would rather it just be consistent with the rest of the year. It feels so fake and forced when it’s only done for 2 weeks of the year. I find it hard to reciprocate positively when I know people are just doing it because it’s the thing to do at this time of year. Maybe I just have a skewed way of thinking. 
And I promise I’m not a Scrooge. I actually love the holidays and spending time with my family. Idk why this bugs me so much >

I agree in terms of fake niceness, but it’s usually correlated with charitable giving which seems worth it. >

Christmas is a time where many people are happy, but also many people are sad. Things are closing down, most of people are with their family. Many people feel alone. Lots of people are forced to be with family that is opressive or drug addict. Suicide rates on Christmas is high. 
You should be nice all year around, but extra nice on Christmas. >

OP hasnt responded to a single comment from everyone giving an opposite opinion. I think he might be surprised how his interpretation of Scrooge differs