the war on Christmas

[jwgh]

As some of you know, a telemarketer for a P.O.W. organization asked me this morning if I had a problem with my freedom. I didn't really appreciate this.

I would generalize this tactic as follows: pick an impulse that most people would have (a desire not to be called by telemarketers at 9 am for instance), recast it as an attack on some basic value, and use it to put people on the defensive (or, depending on your cast of mind, annoy them).

I see the talk of a war on Christmas as being another example of the same sort of tactic. A basic question is: why do people use 'holiday' or 'holidays' or some other nonspecific term instead of 'Christmas'?

I don't think most organizations are worried about offending non-Christians. (There are no doubt some people who are offended at being wished a merry Christmas, but their numbers are probably pretty few.) At the same time, they want to create a welcoming environment for everyone, and by saying 'Happy Holidays' they hope to seem more inclusive -- they recognize that people who aren't Christian actually exist!

This results in some pretty silly stuff -- is anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas going to buy a Holiday Tree? Is anyone who's going to be offended by a Christmas Tree not going to be offended by its generic holiday variant? -- but getting angry about such things doesn't seem intrinsically less dumb than getting angry about being wished a merry Christmas when you don't observe the holiday. In both cases, the basic intention is good, even if the implementation is somewhat lacking. (Also, 'holidays' encompasses Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year's Day, making it a handy catchall and allowing retailers to hope that you have a happy bunch of them starting in late November. In which connection I should note that this year I started seeing Christmas-related stuff in my local corner store just after Halloween, so maybe that's included now too. Grumble.)

This basic impulse is very common, so much so that you see organizations (Fox News in particular) who claim to be fighting in the War Against Christmas themselves reflexively selling 'Holiday Ornaments' (which are quickly renamed Christmas Ornaments when the contradiction is pointed out).

Since the impulse is so common, those choosing to fight the war will never run out of targets, some of whom will end up being pretty strange -- Fox News itself (as noted), and now George W. Bush himself is being accused of being anti-Christmas. Here's an article about it that I think is interesting.

I find this a little confusing:

One of the generals on the pro-Christmas side is Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss. "Sometimes it's hard to tell whether this is sinister -- it's the purging of Christ from Christmas -- or whether it's just political correctness run amok," he said. "I think in the case of the White House, it's just political correctness."

I don't really understand that dichotomy -- isn't political correctedness run amok itself sinister?

Here is some math:

"Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas," Donohue said. "Spare me the diversity lecture."

Wow, that makes, uh, one in 25 people in America who don't celebrate Christmas, or I guess ten million Americans or so. 4% isn't really a negligible percentage; surely it's reasonable for retailers to want to take some care to make their stores welcome to that portion of their potential customer base. Isn't it? (Although also I am guessing that the 96% figure is made up, but I might be wrong about that.)

Then there's this:

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Yes, the worst elements in our culture -- Jewish people. Well done, sir.

"It bothers me that the White House card leaves off any reference to Jesus, while we've got Ramadan celebrations in the White House," Wildmon said. "What's going on there?"

Indeed, those perfidious Muslims. How dare their faith be recognized! Sure, there was also a Christmas tree lighting at the White House recently, but that just shows ... that ... uh, hey, what is going on here?

Am I getting a bit wacky by raising the specter of anti-Semitism? I might be; certainly I wouldn't expect these men to view themselves as anti-Semitic. (I also have noticed a strange tendency for some commentators to describe the use of 'Happy Holidays' in place of 'Merry Christmas' as being threatening to Christians and Jews, which seems very weird to me, but perhaps someone can explain it in a way that makes sense.) Still, when Bill O'Reilly made a reference to 'Secular -- I mean, Comedy Central' and wished Jon Stewart a Merry Christmas (Jon being Jewish), it makes me cringe a bit.

The 'Secular Central' remark also seemed a bit weird. Does Bill O'Reilly think that Comedy Central should be overtly Christian, or at least overtly religious? Is MTV secular? ESPN? C-SPAN? It seems like a strange filter through which to view cable TV, but perhaps that is because I am myself pretty damn secular (and I do appreciate my freedom to be so).

[How was that for a nice little wrap-up to disguise the fact that this was starting to ramble all over the place? Well, anyway, as always, your comments are welcomed.]

I should note that some other Livejournal folks have made posts recently about some of these topics. Here are a few:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mmcirvin/283234.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tongodeon/366378.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tongodeon/368693.html

Also, I thought Jon Stewart's response to Bill O'Reilly was entertaining. Right now it's linked to at http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/headlines/index.jhtml .

Comments

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

As a jew (one who shamelessly celebrates christmas, so maybe I should shut up) I wish people would stop using jews as an excuse for this "Christmas War" or whatever. I can't speak for all or even most jews, but certainly a lot of jews understand that judaism is a minority religion representing a tiny fraction (if demographic stats are to be believed) of the American populace.

As such, I don't see any reason why Tha Joos need to be included in every single celebration of every deity everywhere. I mean, I guess it's nice that people want to sell us loads of dumb crap, but if it's going to make everyone resent the jews for stealing christ from the goyim... Sheesh! Keep your Jesus, we still have blood on our hands for the last time we killed Christ. (joking!)

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I wish people would stop using jews as an excuse for this "Christmas War" or whatever.

I agree. They should be concentrating on their real target—unabashed heathens such as myself, who for the most part can't even claim to have been born to it.

After all, I can see how our celebrations can be threatening, what with the big warm fire in the hearth, and lots of booze, and food, and giving each other stuff, and wishing people a good Yuletide, and stringing lights...all over...things...HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!

Actually, I'm just amused as hell at anyone referring to Dubya as anti-Christian. (Which I think he is, kinda, but not in the way THEY mean.)

[jwgh]

I didn't mean to use Jews in this way.

I do think that the rise of 'Happy Holidays' comes from a desire to be more inclusive, but I agree that most people who aren't Christians aren't offended to be wished a merry one, and moreover those that are offended by it are unlikely to be less offended by being wished 'Happy Holidays' (or dumb euphamistic things like 'Holiday Trees').

But just as I think that 'Happy Holidays' and the like was inspired by a desire to be more inclusive of religious minorities, I have started to wonder if people who are violently offended by that sort of thing aren't really offended by the idea that religious minorities exist. This attempt to guess at people's deep dark motives probably isn't productive either though.

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I know what you meant. I just always get reflexively worried when people start talking about Jews in the public sphere. I hate the idea of people saying, "you know, we could have Christmas back if we got rid of the jews." I'd rather just lie low. :)

[kattullus.livejournal.com]

Publius of Legal Fiction has a very good post about this matter. Making many of the same points as you.

[paperclippy.livejournal.com]

OMG, that Daily Show clip is hilarious!

You know, I think the people who they are really annoyed at about the whole Christmas thing is the Christians who celebrate it as a commercial rather than a religious holiday. Because really, my mom is Christian and my dad is Jewish, and we've always celebrated Christmas at home because my mom wanted to, but it never had anything to do with baby Jesus. It had a lot more to do with decorations, nice music, and presents. And Santa Claus and cookies and stuff.

I do think it's kind of dumb how Hannukah is put forward as like the Jewish alternative to Christmas, because Hannukah really isn't a very important holiday in Judaism. It's just to make us seem more "normal" around here.

That had very little to do with what you were talking about, but oh well. I don't get annoyed if someone tells me Merry Christmas even though I don't believe Jesus was our savior or whatever, but I do like to be able to send "Happy Holidays" cards to my friends, because most of them are atheists anyway.

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

I do think it's kind of dumb how Hannukah is put forward as like the Jewish alternative to Christmas, because Hannukah really isn't a very important holiday in Judaism. It's just to make us seem more "normal" around here.


Agreed 100%.

Despite being entirely jewish, my family has always (for generations) celebrated Christmas, on the theory that hey! Christmas is a lot of fun. That's why I'm totally fine with Christmas cards and Christmas trees and Christmas ornaments (as opposed to Holiday): we all know what we're celebrating here, why try to pretend it's something else?

I mean, I don't really care one way or the other if people say Holiday, it means nothing to me. I just don't want people complaining "we have to say Holiday because of those damn jews."

[jwgh]

There's sort of a strange dichotomy that goes on: on the one hand, people want Christmas to be publicly celebrated by one and all, but on the other they don't want it to be secularized (or commercialized, which is a related but not identical complaint). But how else is someone like me (or, for that matter, a giant faceless corporation) going to celebrate Christmas?

This gives folks something to complain about regardless of what anyone does.

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

yeah, and I guess that's what everyone really wants - something to complain about. Merry Christmas!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I think the people who they are really annoyed at about the whole Christmas thing is the Christians who celebrate it as a commercial rather than a religious holiday.

Except, if that's so, why are they targeting retail stores that say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"?

[penelope-arcade.livejournal.com]

i really like that article you linked to above, especially this:
"There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."

[penelope-arcade.livejournal.com]

maybe we should just start saying "happy winter solstice"? although that would leave out those in the southern hemisphere..

[omarius.livejournal.com]

I think political correctness in general proves that Americans just need something to be pissed off about all the time. "Boy it is sure offensive that these people are trying to be inoffensive!"

Ramadan celebrations in the White House

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

I suppose the fast is a "celebration" in the strictest and oldest sense of the word, but I still can't help picturing all the non-Muslims in the White House circling around their hapless colleagues' desks gnawing on hambones and chanting, "Celebrate good times, come on!"

I was surprised the other day not to hear Jon Stewart celebrate the closing of Willow Creek and other megachurches as a victory in his own personal War on Christmas, but I guess that story was a sleeper until the NYT picked it up today. Maybe he'll hit it next week.