More on the bah-humbug war against the (nonexistent) "war on Christmas"

I just saw a stage version of A Christmas Carol in San Francisco last night. It's a new production and it works very well.

I was thinking afterward that it's ironic in a way that "Scrooge" has come to be synonymous with "stingy person". Because the story of Scrooge in the end is that he becomes a benevolent, generous, happy guy.

But anyone who tries too hard to apply rational explanations to language runs the risk of stripping their mental gears.

How could you rationally explain rightwingers for the last 15 years or so using the phrase "politically correct" to mean things they think are politically incorrect? Or the fact that Bush fans are more obsessed with using the correct Party-line words than anyone, even when they change week-to-week or day-to-day?

Which brings me to their latest burst of ideological madness, which is to try to turn "Merry Christmas" into a partisan slogan meaning "Merry Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas then go [Cheney] yourself."

Here's another take on the disgusting scam that Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson and other FOXists have been running the last couple of years, reaching into the anti-Semitic bag of bunkum: 'War' on Christmas an excess of rhetoric in a time of real war by Thomas Raleigh San Francisco Chronicle 12/23/05. Raleigh writes:

Count me among those who find nothing troubling about having a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza or at the White House; who believe that such displays are not unconstitutional; who feel that mayors and city councils can best make decisions regarding holiday displays in their communities; who are dismayed by the frivolous lawsuits filed by the ACLU on behalf of atheists who object to such displays; and who are not offended should they be greeted this time of year with "Happy Holidays." Heck, I'd be happy with "Hi."

What is nevertheless troubling is the increasingly gratuitous politicization of Christmas by those who maintain that ominous forces seek to secularize this nation. It has become a holiday tradition for the punditry-political complex to perpetuate this semi-contrived controversy, along with the circular debating it engenders, to boost both ratings and political fundraising. They tell us that the war on Christmas is yet another critical battle in the "culture wars."

But the thrust of Raleigh's piece is also a reflection on the power of language, a more serious one than anything one is likely to encounter in typical Republican comma-dancing. He's specifically looking at the overuse of the word "war".

Raleigh, himself a retired infantry lieutenant colonel, reminds us of something the FOXists and various and sundry armchair warriors and the 101st Fighting Keyboarders often forget, if it ever enters their fevered consciousness at all. Calling the Christian Right's beloved "culture wars" the "mother of all rhetorical wars", he writes:

But to suggest a war on Christmas is to scale the Himalayas of hyperbole. To put the words "war" and "Christmas" together for rhetorical effect, for the sake of a sound bite, is more than just trite, it is at once absurd and inappropriate. To do so - particularly during a time of war - demeans the gravity of war itself. War is nothing less than a scourge, best undertaken only as a last and unavoidable resort; and regardless how necessary or noble, war is death and destruction, maiming and suffering; and it leaves physical, mental and emotional scars, even among those who emerge victorious. Because of this, war as an endeavor - or as a word - should never be taken lightly. (my emphasis)

This brings to mind Helen Cobban's observation that the phrase "humanitarian war" is a truly Orwellian notion, even applied to situations like Bosnia or Kosovo where genuine human-rights crises are occurring. Because even when undertaken for the highest and most just of motives, there's nothing humanitarian about war.

Everyone but outright pacifists agrees that war is sometimes a necessary evil. It's also critical to remember than even when it is necessary, it is still an evil thing in the life of humanity.

To paraphrase the reformed Scrooge: what Bill O'Reilly and Joe Gibson and their like say about the "war on Christmas", now that is a humbug!

Tags: anti-semitism, thomas raleigh, war on christmas