The War on Christmas
On my way home from work, I'll frequently tune in 590 AM. The afternoon drive hosts are Kevin Slaten and Bob Ramsay. Checking out their pages will give you an idea of how the show works. Kevin is the star of the show and Bob is his Ed McMahon. At his best, Kevin is insightful and asks probing questions of his interview subjects. At his worst, he is an opinionated blowhard who verbally abuses his callers. And every evening as I drive home, he gets an opportunity to be at his worst. Kevin and I would probably disagree on everything except sports. He likes Bush, views white men as persecuted, and is dogmatically conservative. Given that it is obstensibly a sports call-in show, you'd think that I would not have a problem his Kevin's views. You'd be wrong.
One of Kevin's latest pet peeves is the custom of saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." As Sarahlynn pointed out, the custom of saying Happy Holidays is partially meant to convey "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." Yes, part of it is also meant to convey "Happy Chanukah/Happy Kwanzaa/Happy Festivus and Happy New Year." And I don't have a problem with either. In an increasingly diverse ethinic culture, there is no reason to offer offense to someone who is definitively celebrating one holiday or another or none of the above. That said, if you do guess and miss the holiday I don't think that anyone should be offended. Likewise if I choose the more succinct greeting, I don't think you should be offended. Let's save our offense and indignation for important things like being lied to about intelligence to convince us to support an unnecessary war.
But the issue of the day is never really about what the loudest are complaining about. They are complaining about the exclusive secularity of the government and the secularization of society as a whole. Christmas is just a convenient stepping off point. It's a cute adorable puppy of an issue meant to erode support for the secularization of government and society. After all who doesn't like Christmas. It's warm and fuzzy, makes cute songs, and is generally loved by most people. The people who don't love Christmas are as small a minority as people who are allergic to dogs. It is certainly a much warmer and fuzzier issue than the 300 lb gorilla of abortion who is sitting in the corner.
Bottom line: The freedom of religion also means the freedom from religion at least in terms of government. It's fine if you want to have prayer in schools as long as you would be equally accepting of mandatory circumcision for males, garbing of women in burkas, five daily prayers to Allah, and the ritual sacrifice of doves in our schools as well. As I can picture the majority of the prayer in school types have a problem with one or more of these activities, I wonder why it is okay to use one particular form and style of worship over another. Does the answer have anything to do with what your god told you or what you practice?
One of Kevin's latest pet peeves is the custom of saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." As Sarahlynn pointed out, the custom of saying Happy Holidays is partially meant to convey "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." Yes, part of it is also meant to convey "Happy Chanukah/Happy Kwanzaa/Happy Festivus and Happy New Year." And I don't have a problem with either. In an increasingly diverse ethinic culture, there is no reason to offer offense to someone who is definitively celebrating one holiday or another or none of the above. That said, if you do guess and miss the holiday I don't think that anyone should be offended. Likewise if I choose the more succinct greeting, I don't think you should be offended. Let's save our offense and indignation for important things like being lied to about intelligence to convince us to support an unnecessary war.
But the issue of the day is never really about what the loudest are complaining about. They are complaining about the exclusive secularity of the government and the secularization of society as a whole. Christmas is just a convenient stepping off point. It's a cute adorable puppy of an issue meant to erode support for the secularization of government and society. After all who doesn't like Christmas. It's warm and fuzzy, makes cute songs, and is generally loved by most people. The people who don't love Christmas are as small a minority as people who are allergic to dogs. It is certainly a much warmer and fuzzier issue than the 300 lb gorilla of abortion who is sitting in the corner.
Bottom line: The freedom of religion also means the freedom from religion at least in terms of government. It's fine if you want to have prayer in schools as long as you would be equally accepting of mandatory circumcision for males, garbing of women in burkas, five daily prayers to Allah, and the ritual sacrifice of doves in our schools as well. As I can picture the majority of the prayer in school types have a problem with one or more of these activities, I wonder why it is okay to use one particular form and style of worship over another. Does the answer have anything to do with what your god told you or what you practice?
posted by mypetrock at 4:13 PM
1 Comments:
I'm mortally insulted that you neglected to include the Winter Solstice in your list of Happy Holidays. I urge pagans around the world to boycott!
Post a Comment
<< Home