In the spirit of the season

[eisely]

The following piece by Bill O'Reilly summarizes recent attempts to abolish various aspects of Christmas across the United States. Whatever you may think of O'Reilly, these reports are worth noting. O'Reilly reports on on the USA here. I hear things are worse in Manitoba. Just thought I'd share.

 

Oh, and by the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you, whether you want it or not.

______________

 

Santa is appalled

 

2001 WorldNetDaily.com

 

'Tis the season to be dopey. I was hoping the annual assault on Christmas would be shelved this year because the national mood was more sober after 9-11, but no such luck. Grinches are running wild and it's my job to chase them down and put snow down their backs.

 

In Seattle, a King County executive named Ron Sims sent out a memo to county employees asking them not to say "Merry Christmas" and to be "religion neutral." Sims was mocked and scorned even in that permissive city. The memo was filed under "stunningly foolish."

 

The Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association ordered religious ornaments banned for the state "holiday" tree.

 

A Frederick County, Pa., school employee was prohibited from handing out Christmas cards on a public-school campus.

 

Santa Claus was banned by the Kensington, Md., town council because of two complaints that ol' Saint Nick would offend some citizens at a tree-lighting ceremony. Santa showed up anyway, presumably with his lawyer an elf named "Swifty."

 

Red poinsettas were banned from the Ramsey Court House in St. Paul, Minn., because they offended one person who believes the flowers to be a symbol of Christianity.

 

Elementary school principal Sandy Niemiera announced to startled Plainfield, Ill., students that all holiday celebrations would be banned because of "diversity" concerns.

 

And in Maine, one school district has banned Christmas trees because some cultures don't believe in them.

Of course, all of these things are completely insane but they are definitely symptomatic of what America is facing: A well-organized campaign to destroy tradition and replace it with the bland philosophy that nothing is any good unless it includes everybody.

 

Let's walk through this. Christmas is a federal holiday. That means that the word Christmas is legal in every way and can be used as a greeting or a description or whatever you want. Christmas exists because of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a man who changed the course of Western civilization. A man who's philosophy became the cornerstone of democratic thinking. All men were created equal in the eyes of Jesus and in the eyes of America's founding fathers.

 

You don't have to be a Christian to understand the importance of the central theme of Jesus' philosophy that a person love God and love his or her neighbor as himself. Now, this might offend some atheists out there, but so what? The arrogance of a person who dismisses the thought of a higher power offends me. But in our free society, thought is protected.

 

And so is Christmas. The secularists who would destroy this joyous tradition are destructive fascists who seek to control the free flow of expression. Hey, if I work for King County, Wash., you're telling me I can't say Merry Christmas? What is this, Berlin in the '30s? Beijing in 1949? A Stalin fan club convention?

 

What amazes me is that many Americans ignore this intrusion on our civil rights. The thought police are allowed to issue their memos and orders and they are getting away with it. Where's the ACLU in all this? They are real busy telling school boards they can't post God Bless America signs, but the ACLU is Missing In Action when it comes to some pinhead bureaucrat ordering someone not to distribute Christmas cards. Excuse me, but I believe it is in my right to give any greeting I want as long as it isn't obscene.

 

And that's what this anti-Christmas campaign is obscene. It is a blight upon our country. It is un-American, and offensive to those of us who cherish liberty. It also mightily tees off Santa Claus. Right now, Kris Kringle really is making his list and checking it twice. And he's gonna find out who's naughty and nice.

 

Don't mess with Santa, people. He may be a jovial fellow with the "ho, ho, ho" and all. But underneath the white beard and red suit, he's getting real impatient with Americans who would deny him the right to bring happiness to the children of the world. There is a point where political correctness becomes an acid that erodes freedom. We have reached that point with these assaults on Christmas.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

DITTO

[sctmom]

To let you know that all hope is not lost, let me describe my community and the local public schools.

 

We do still refer to Christmas holidays for the kids. There is a big wreath on the outside of the school building. There is a Christmas tree in the lobby of the school building, with handmade ornaments by the kids. A lot of the rooms have Christmas trees, some classes take field trips to the local tree farm/pumpkin patch to get their tree. There will be a party on the last day of school for each class. The kids sang Christmas carols at the December PTO meeting. The spelling words include Christmas, Santa Claus, dreidel, and Kwanzaa.

 

The local community had it's annual Christmas tree lighting on the first Saturday of December, with Christmas carols sung by the public school chorus. The county seat had it's big Christmas parade the first Saturday of December, complete with Scouts and Santa ( our Tigers scouts even got to TALK to Santa afterwards). The county seat has the town square (yes an old town) decorated for the holidays, right in front of the courthouse.

 

The bulletin board in the school lobby has a dove made out of paper cutouts of children's hands (hard to explain, but it makes it look like feathers, really cool). Oh, and the mechanical Mr. & Mrs. Claus are working away in the School office for everyone's amusement.

 

I know people who are not Christian, they worship by Native American beliefs. Yet they still have a Christmas tree, exchange gifts, give thanks on December 25th and respect everyone's right to celebrate the holiday.

 

I personally believe these folks who think banning everything is the answer to diversity and understanding other cultures are way off base. I do try to explain to my son that not everyone celebrates Christmas and why, including some Christians do not do the Christmas tree & lights. That we should respect their rights, and not force them to participate.

 

I will NOT tell my location for fear of the DOPEYS will appear!!!

[OldGreyEagle]

Sctmom, Thanks

 

A well needed postive post, seems the key to appreciating diversity is Inclusion, not Exclusion

[Weekender]

eisely,

 

Thanks for the post. I'll be passing it around my GOVERNMENT office )

[Glenn]

Sctmom,

 

That is wonderful. It sounds like your community is even more conservative than mine. I was commenting to my wife at the beginning of the school year at how restrictive the rules were (and I was glad). This is a public school. Skirts had to be below the hands (when the arms are extended downward, thank you). No body piercings other than the ear LOBE. No underwear showing (i.e. no baggy pants). Etc. If the ACLU ever got a hold of these rules, there goes the neighberhood.

 

As far as the Christmas season, almost all correspondence from the teachers to parents have used the word Christmas (i.e. Christmas gift exchange, Christmas party, etc). Since I work for a company where all middle level managers and above were told a few years ago to use Happy Holidays, it is refreshing to hear Merry Christmas from public employees.

[Dedicated Dad]

I love Bill OReilly, is that a shock to anyone?

 

There is a point where political correctness becomes an acid that erodes freedom. We have reached that point with these assaults on Christmas.

This is so right on both counts. Political Correctness is specious and deleterious; it festers in the rationalization of emotion trough indoctrination and propaganda. With noble intent to right the wrongs of our society, it takes away the good with the bad leaving a sterile environment for the basest existence. Oops, sorry, I dont mean to be so grim.

 

Merry Christmas to all.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 

 

 

 

 

[sctmom]

A little humor (got this in an email)

 

A modern-day, politically-correct holiday greeting:

 

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all; and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2002, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishees.

 

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

 

 

[sctmom]

May I also add that I rode past the local small town city hall last night and loved the lighted "Holiday" decorations. No manger scene (the banks and churches have put those out). But city hall has a wonderful lighted rocking horse that really moves, as well as various lighted decorations that are trees, holly leaves and carolers. And, Yes, the city still puts the Christmas decorations up on the utility poles down the main streets in town.

 

 

[Glenn]

Here is a joke that I seem to get every year. But it always makes me smile.

 

The Christmas Party

 

 

 

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 1

RE: Christmas Party

 

I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23, starting at noon in the banquet room at Luigi's Open Pit Barbecue. No-host bar, but plenty of eggnog! We'll have a small band playing traditional carols...feel free to sing along. And don't be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus!

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 2

RE: Christmas Party

 

In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Chanukah is an important holiday which often coincides with Christmas, though unfortunately not this year. However, from now on we're calling it our "Holiday Party." The same policy applies to employees who are celebrating Kwanzaa at this time. Happy now?

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 3

RE: Holiday Party

 

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table ... you didn't sign your name. I'm happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that reads "AA Only" you wouldn't be anonymous anymore. How am I supposed to handle this? Somebody?

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 7

RE: Holiday Party

 

What a diverse company we are! I had no idea that December 20 begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating, drinking and sex during daylight hours. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees' beliefs. Perhaps Luigi's can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party -- the days are so short this time of year -- or else package everything for take-home in little foil swans. Will that work? Meanwhile, I've arranged for members of Overeaters Anonymous to sit farthest from the dessert buffet and pregnant women will get the table closest to the restrooms. Did I miss anything?

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 8

RE: Holiday Party

 

So December 22 marks the Winter Solstice...what do you expect me to do, a tap-dance on your heads? Fire regulations at Luigi's prohibit the burning of sage by our "earth-based Goddess-worshipping" employees, but we'll try to Accommodate your shamanic drumming circle during the band's breaks. Okay?

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 9

RE: Holiday Party

 

People, people, nothing sinister was intended by having our CEO dress up like Santa Claus! Even if the anagram of "Santa" does happen to be "Satan," there is no evil connotation to our own "little man in a red suit." It's a tradition, folks, like sugar shock at Halloween or family feuds over the Thanksgiving turkey or broken hearts on Valentine's Day. Could we lighten up?

 

FROM: Pat Lewis, Human Resources Director

DATE: December 10

RE: Holiday Party

 

Vegetarians!?!?!? I've had it with you people! We're going to keep this party at Luigi's Open Pit Barbecue whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the "grill of death," as you so quaintly put it, and you'll get your damn salad bar, including hydroponics tomatoes. But you know, they have feelings, too. Tomatoes scream when you slice them. I've heard them scream. I'm hearing them scream right now!

 

FROM: Teri Bishops, Acting Human Resources Director

DATE: December 14

RE: Pat Lewis and Holiday Party

 

I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Pat Lewis a speedy recovery from her stress-related illness and I'll continue to forward your cards to her at the sanitarium. In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off with full pay.

 

[evmori]

eisley,

Great post!

 

sctmom,

My community is similar to yours. It has always been like that.

 

A blessed Christmas to all! If it wasn't for Jesus, we wouldn't be doin' this!

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

[shemgren]

I wish to extend all my fellow and lady Scouters a blessed holiday season!

 

May 2002 find your troops growing, Scout Spirit running rampart, and the ideals strong.

 

Scouting at it's best is for the boys.

[eisely]

While we're on the subject of political correctness, the following article by Mark Steyn, a Canadian commentator, also deserves note.

_______________________

 

Imagine -- it may be you who's wrong

 

 

Mark Steyn

National Post

 

At my daughter's school this year, the holiday concert concluded with John Lennon's Imagine. The school had thoughtfully printed the lyric on the program, and the teacher, inviting the parents to sing along, declared the number summed up what we were all "praying" for. Indeed. The droning vamp began, and John's anthem for cotton-candy nihilists rent the air:

 

"Imagine there's no heaven

 

It's easy if you try

 

No hell below us

 

Above us only sky

 

Imagine all the people

 

Living for today ..."

 

Ah, that's the message of the season, isn't it? Back in the Sixties, John opined that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ, which was a wee bit controversial in those unenlightened times but which appears to be no more than a prosaic statement of fact as far as the music department's priorities are concerned. These days, Imagine has achieved the status of secular hymn, no doubt because of its inclusive message:

 

"Imagine there's no countries

 

It isn't hard to do

 

Nothing to kill or die for

 

And no religion, too ... "

 

Hey, happy holidays!

 

You may say he's a dreamer, but he's not. A couple of years ago, it emerged that Lennon was a very generous contributor not just to organizations that support and fund the IRA, but to the IRA itself. He could imagine there's no countries, nothing to kill or die for and no religion, too, but until that blessed day he was quite happy to support a religiously discriminatory organization that blows up grannies at shopping centres. How heartening to know that, though he grew rich peddling illusory pap to the masses, he didn't fall for it himself.

 

Imagine didn't go over wild with the parents, who mumbled along unenthusiastically. To be honest, I'd prefer John and Yoko's peacenik dirge, (Happy Xmas) War Is Over, though that might be a little premature and anyway that song suffers from the disadvantage of mentioning Xmas. On the radio you can hear Frosty and Rudolph and James Taylor's new post-9/11 version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, but anyone with young children finds themselves exposed to a strange alternative repertoire of unseasonal favourites. My friend Tammy emerged from her daughter's kindergarten concert in a rage: not just no Christmas carols, but no Jingle Bells. The only song she recognized was Lionel Bart's spectacular melisma pile-up from Oliver!, Whe-e-e-e-ere Is Love?, which is not designed to be sung en masse. "They sounded like they were dying," she fumed, before going off to beard the school board, who explained that Jingle Bells had been given the heave-ho on the grounds that it might be insensitive to those of a non-jingly persuasion.

 

On balance, I prefer the approach of the London Borough of Brent, one of Britain's sternest loony-left councils but far more sporting than the Scrooge-packed school boards across the Atlantic. Back in the Eighties, Brent decreed that it would permit municipal performances of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus as long as they were accompanied by a couple of non-heterosexist choruses of I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus. That's a lot less vicious than replacing the entire seasonal repertoire with obscurantist dirges for solstice-worshippers. Anyone can St-Nix Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, the hard part is finding something to put in its place.

 

There are very few good Hannukah songs, never mind Kwanza or the Islamic festivals of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The reason for the dearth of Hanukkah songs is that for most of the last century the Jews were too busy cranking out Christmas songs -- Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas, Mel Torme wrote The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire), Jerry Herman We Need A Little Christmas, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! and The Christmas Waltz, Johnny Marks Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Have A Holly Jolly Christmas, Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree and a zillion others. As far as I know, the only Christian to offer to return the compliment was stiff-necked Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah (whose Come To The Manger has been recorded by Donny Osmond). Senator Hatch confirmed to me during his short-lived presidential campaign in 1999 that he was working on a Hanukkah song. I don't know whether he's finished it, but I would have to say on balance that, musically speaking, the Christians got the better end of this deal.

 

The Jews -- the Ellis Island/Lower East Side generation -- were merely the latest contributors to the American Christmas. For their first two centuries on this continent, the Anglo-Celtic settlers attached no significance to Christmas: it was another working day, unless it fell on a Sunday, in which case one went to church. It was later waves of immigrants -- the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians -- who introduced most of the standard features we know today -- trees, cards, Santa. Nothing embodies the American idea -- e pluribus unum -- better than the American Christmas. This is genuine multiculturalism: If the worry is separation of church and state, the North American Christmas is surely the most successful separation you could devise -- Jesus, Mary and Joseph are for home and church; the great secular trinity of Santa, Rudolph and Frosty are for school and mall.

 

But the new "multiculturalism" prefers to celebrate our differences, no matter the effort required to manufacture them, and so somehow Santa, despite a Taliban-sized beard, and Frosty, the ultimate white male, have become suspect, too. It's no longer about the separation of church and state so much as the separation of neighbour from neighbour, the denial of the very possibility of a shared culture, except, of course for the traditional Santa suit filed by the ACLU over the entirely theoretical offence the holly wreath on the town offices gives to Buddhists or Wiccans.

 

I see in Ramsey County, Minnesota that red poinsettias have been banned from the courthouse in St. Paul because they're symbolic of ... well, something or other. The flower itself is Mexican and named for James Poinsett, an American diplomat south of the border who discovered it in 1828 and popularized it back home. Nonetheless, it's now apparently the thin wedge of a WASP theocracy, so it has to go. Not poinsettias as a whole, you understand, just the red ones. The flowers were replaced by ribbons, representing "flags from around the world." The ribbons in turn have now been replaced by white poinsettias, representing, er, a flower similar to the traditional poinsettia but in a less insensitive and provocative hue. Discrimination on grounds of creed has now moved on to discrimination on grounds of colour: two Minnesotan middle-schoolers were disciplined because they appeared on stage in their holiday show wearing red and green scarves. And that's the point: in the age of what John O'Sullivan calls "counter-tribalism," you can celebrate anything as long as it's counter to tradition. Jingle Bells' only sin is that it's old and American and popular.

 

We don't have popular popular culture any more but those old-time seasonal songs crossed all boundaries. The Mariah Carey, Placido Domingo, Phil Spector, Reba McEntire, Motown, Bruce Springsteen, and Jessye Norman Christmas CDs all draw from the same limited repertoire -- from Winter Wonderland to Silver Bells. In a time when radio stations are ever more narrowly programmed, these are the last songs we all share, and so they naturally run afoul of the hyphen-crazed segregationalists who insist that the only thing we have in common is our lack of anything in common. Even the PC schoolmarms understand that's insufficient -- hence the need to elevate Imagine to anthemic status in the communal songbook. I don't want to live in John Lennon's world without countries and religions -- neither did he, in his more honest moments. But this Christmas especially is a time to think about what binds us: If you feel "offended" by songs about snowmen and sleighs and donning one's gay apparel, then maybe you're the one with the problem. Imagine that.