Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and we're deciding what to do with all those leftovers, it is once again time for the religious right's Save Christmas campaign. Once again proving H.L. Mencken's wry observation that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, this annual exercise in fear and loathing tries to convince millions of people that they are being persecuted for being Christian.
And they're pulling out all the stops. Following the standard technique of treating isolated and extreme incidents as the norm, Fox News (motto: "We Distort, You Deride") echoes with uber-pundits Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson bloviating about how the ACLU or some other bugaboo is trying to destroy Christmas. Indeed, Gibson uses his TV show ad nauseam to plug his book The War on Christmas. Meanwhile, having already defended America from the insidious menace of gay Teletubbies, Jerry Falwell has also gotten into the act, announcing his "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign" to sue the bejeezus out of anyone who spreads "misinformation" on Christmas (translation: doesn't share his view of what Christmas should be).
All like to talk about how America is a "Christian nation" and should publicly worship as such, regardless of that little thing called separation of church and state. In their world, it is imperative that December 25 be an officially revered holy day, strictly regulated to ensure the proper Christmas spirit. And anyone who is grinchy enough to believe that religious worship is best done at home and church instead of being splashed all over our civic life is a terrible, anti-Christian evildoer.
Once again, we see how no issue is too tiny, manufactured or just plain silly for the right wing to blow up to insane proportions. All you have to do is turn on the TV or radio to be deluged with Christmas music, Christmas specials, Christmas carols, et cetera, et cetera. Christmas trees and Nativity scenes are everywhere. Yes, Virginia, Christmas is alive and well in America, despite all this "Save Christmas" nonsense.
But I sincerely doubt that O'Reilly, Gibson, Falwell and company really give a rat's patoot as to whether the greeters at Wal-Mart say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." What they're really after is publicity and money. O'Reilly wants more people to watch his show, which is suffering from declining ratings as more and more people get turned off by his ranting and bullying. Gibson wants to sell a lot of copies of his book. And Falwell wants all those tax-free donations sent in by people who are easily frightened. The common denominator of all this is money. You've got it. They want it. And if they have to scare you with a fake "crisis" to get you to part with it, so much the better.
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