THERE IS A grave concern, on news shows and Op-Ed pages, that we are about to lose Christmas. Though no one outside the media is at all interested, I figure jumping in will make my editors think I'm smart.
The debate began with the printing of Fox News anchor John Gibson's book, "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought," which is ranked 285th on Amazon.com Although I did not actually read the book, I can gather from the pithy title that it must be quite a read. Seriously, the guy couldn't even afford an editor for the title?
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday December 08, 2005 Home Edition California Part B Page 13 Editorial Pages Desk 1 inches; 64 words Type of Material: Correction
Christmas: A Dec. 6 column by Joel Stein said that Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson had "organized a boycott" of stores that used the phrase "Happy Holidays" rather than the phrase "Merry Christmas." While it is true that the two have criticized these stores, and O'Reilly has posted a list of them on his website, they have not called for a boycott.
Gibson is upset that people are afraid to express true Christmas spirit because of unrelenting liberal pressure to take religion out of government, politics and public places. In fact, Gibson and fellow Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly are so upset that they have organized a boycott of Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Sears and Costco for using the phrase "Happy Holidays" in their ads instead of "Merry Christmas." I'm guessing those places also stopped selling Brylcreem.
Jerry Falwell is supporting the catchy-named "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign" that has lawyers ready to sue anyone who won't let them do Christmas wherever they want. The Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign newspaper ads tell you to call "if you are facing persecution for celebrating Christmas." I'm thinking too much time spent studying Jesus can give you a persecution complex.
As a Jew, I don't care that much about Christmas. It's hard to celebrate someone's birth when you supposedly killed the guy. It would be like Arnold Schwarzenegger giving gifts for Tookie Day.
We Jews find it a little embarrassing that adults can still make such a big fuss over Christmas. To us, Jesus was just a cool guy everyone liked because he died young. And even 16-year-old girls eventually take down their James Dean posters.
Still, I agree with Gibson to this extent: Christmas is a Christian holiday, and trying to eliminate the religious aspect is insulting. There's nothing more annoying than people telling me I should get a tree and string lights in front of my house because these aren't religious symbols. Or telling me that kids get off school for "winter break," presumably so they can worship winter. It's an infuriating inability to see through the eyes of the other.
TELLING ME to enjoy "season's greetings" is a condescending way of trying to pressure me into something I'm not part of. It's one thing to be subjected to someone's metaphysics. It's another to be wordy about it.
