The so-called War On Christmas, being hyped by Bill O'Reilly and his ilk has taken a new turn. Now, The Heritage Foundation (a right wing think-tank and conservative bank account), through their blog Townhall, has weighed in blaming it entirely on the Jews. Others in the blogosphere had suspected that there was an anti-Semitic angle to this whole affair and then Burt Prelutsky, a member of The Heritage Foundation, came right out and said it.
"When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian, agenda, you
find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists, and the ACLU, at the forefront."
And
"I am getting the idea that too many Jews won't be happy until they pull off
their own version of the Spanish Inquisition, forcing Christians to either deny
their faith and convert to agnosticism or suffer the consequences."
Don't rush to the calendar. It's still 2005, although you could be excused for believing you had just been rushed back to 1933.
O'Reilly has had more than 24 hours to pick up on Prelutsky's racist attack, but so far... silence. I would condemn him for being in league with Prelutsky, but I don't believe that to be the case. I think what Prelutsky wrote is just beyond O'Reilly's comprehension. If O'Reilly is anti-Semitic, it's because his "over-the-edge" right wing buddies have told him it's the right way to be; not because he understands the implications or their reasons.
O'Reilly has been railing consistently over the past couple of weeks about the secular/liberal/left attempt to destroy Christmas. The fact that no such attempt exists hasn't stopped Fox TV from allowing this ridiculous clown to perpetrate and promote a string of lies and hatred, all intended to advance the cause of a religious movement which, if reduced to its true fundamental values, he would neither understand nor be able to accommodate. Here is what O'Reilly, in his own words, is supposedly defending:
"There's a lot of emotion tied into Christmas. You know why? You know, I have a memory of me sitting on my stairs in my Levittown
house, four rooms, and looking at this Christmas tree about 5:30 in the morning,
my parents were still asleep, my sister was still asleep. And I just stood -- I
just sat on the stairs and stared at that Christmas tree with all the gifts
underneath. That is one of my earliest memories; maybe I was three, maybe four.
OK? And I -- it was such a magical time for me as a child. It was just magic.
The whole thing was magical. I never felt better as a kid than I did at
Christmas time. I loved everything about Christmas. And I submit to you that 80
percent of Americans feel the way that I do. All right? That they just remember
as a child the joy the season brought."
That's it?!! Where, in any of that, is there a defence of the Christian, Mass of Christ? It was a magical time to him? Why? Because of the presents under the tree? This is the vision of Christmas that a huge number of Christians were fighting against less than a decade ago. Where once the Christian-right was decrying the commercialization of Christmas, they are now embracing it as a battle to be won in the good fight. A fight they have created in an attempt to proselytize a nation.
I have never thought O'Reilly was too bright, but when he took a shot at Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, I knew Bill was dumber than a sack of hammers. The first analogy that came to mind was showing up to a gunfight with a spitball. Stewart couldn't contain his mirth. He didn't even blush, which cannot be said for O'Reilly who regularly shows purple through the layers of pancake when he loses his composure.
I have always maintained that the War on Christmas is a canard. A creation of the Dobson/Robertson/Falwell cabal and their out of out of control pit-bull talking heads squawking bile and spreading hatred. The war they have created is that of exclusion. Their religious beliefs, converted into their commercial gain and then demonstrated by the trappings and observations they approve. All others must either convert or be excluded.
Of course, the capitalist retail world doesn't share that view at all. Why would they exclude anyone from the best sales season of the year? An enterprising enterpreneur would have to be an idiot to do that. O'Reilly and his crowd face a dichotomy in beating on the retail world for their attempt to include all faiths in the season and at the same time show support for the principles of free enterprise. In the end, business will win. They don't care what the season is called, as long as they clear their shelves by December 24th.
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