Whining by the "defenders" of Christmas

The annual whine about how the liberals and atheists and Jews are out to sabotage Christmas has become as predictable an event as the anti-fur protesters showing up in the main shopping district of San Francisco the day after Thanksgiving.

Now, I appreciate seasonal traditions, up to a point. My problems with this one are (1) it's silly and (2) it's dishonest.

The caustic and funny James Wolcott (Christmas Kvetchers 12/18/04) points out both:

This "fear of Christmas" is a phantom menace conjured every year so that certain crybaby Christians can adopt victim status and model a pained expression over the sad fact that not everyone around them isn't carrying on like the Cratchits. This thin-skinned grievance-collecting gives birth to all sorts of urban legends and rumors about big institutions being hostile to Christ's birthday, such as the one that swirled on WOR radio last week about how Macy's employees had been instructed not to say "Merry Christmas!" to shoppers. A fiction that was put to rest when the host hit Macy's website and saw its "Merry Christmas" greeting, and Macy's employees chimed in over the phones to say there was no such policy. To read conservative pundits, you'd think everybody was wishing each other Happy Kwanzaa! and averting their eyes from oh so gauche Nativity scenes. I've got news: Even here on the godless, liberal Upper West Side [of New York City], people wish each other Merry Christmas without staggering three steps backward, thunderstruck and covered with chagrin.

As does CJR Campaign Desk: It's Christmas, and the Echo Chamber Is in Full Chorus by Paul McLeary 12/22/04:

Stories about banned Christmas carols and employers forbidding the use of "Merry Christmas" in favor of "Happy Holidays" seem to pop up each December. Over the past few days, however, the issue has been moved front and center by a hungry press, with stories popping up in the national media almost daily, and conservative television host Bill O'Reilly running a daily segment titled "Christmas Under Siege."

But wade through the wall-to-wall coverage of the story, and it becomes apparent that there are only a handful of examples -- three, to be exact -- being recycled in article after article. Many ofthese pieces use the same incidents in almost the same way. Some even hit for the cycle, as USA Today did today, referencing all three stories in one shot.

That was via Kevin Drum (Siege Warfare 12/23/04), who also comments on the "silly" part:

I'm accustomed to the annual fights over nativity scenes and giant menorahs on public property, but can we please knock off the "Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays" foolishness? Does absolutely everything have to be a political statement these days? In the past, I used these phrases pretty much interchangeably, but this year I suddenly feel self conscious about it. Don't we have bigger and better things to worry about?

Tags: anti-semitism, bill o'reilly, war on christmas