Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24
US House Prices Trend Forecast 2024 to 2026 - 11th Oct 24
US Housing Market Analysis - Immigration Drives House Prices Higher - 30th Sep 24
Stock Market October Correction - 30th Sep 24
The Folly of Tariffs and Trade Wars - 30th Sep 24
Gold: 5 principles to help you stay ahead of price turns - 30th Sep 24
The Everything Rally will Spark multi year Bull Market - 30th Sep 24
US FIXED MORTGAGES LIMITING SUPPLY - 23rd Sep 24
US Housing Market Free Equity - 23rd Sep 24
US Rate Cut FOMO In Stock Market Correction Window - 22nd Sep 24
US State Demographics - 22nd Sep 24
Gold and Silver Shine as the Fed Cuts Rates: What’s Next? - 22nd Sep 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks:Nothing Can Topple This Market - 22nd Sep 24
US Population Growth Rate - 17th Sep 24
Are Stocks Overheating? - 17th Sep 24
Sentiment Speaks: Silver Is At A Major Turning Point - 17th Sep 24
If The Stock Market Turn Quickly, How Bad Can Things Get? - 17th Sep 24
IMMIGRATION DRIVES HOUSE PRICES HIGHER - 12th Sep 24
Global Debt Bubble - 12th Sep 24
Gold’s Outlook CPI Data - 12th Sep 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

War on Christmas

Politics / Religion Dec 28, 2016 - 06:26 AM GMT

By: Walter_Brasch

Politics

The annual War on Christmas, which began Black Friday, will finally end at New Year’s Day.

There are three main reasons it ends on New Year’s Day.

First, there are football games that displace the energy the easily-distracted ultra-right wing needs to get through the end of the year.


Second, Donald Trump needs the time to prepare for the presidency. He has continuously declared that people should say “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holiday.” He says when he becomes president, “We’re going to start saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” How he was going to enforce his edict without violating the Constitution or trampling the rights of private enterprise is not clear, but it does appeal to the core of his supporters. He did suggest boycotting stores that didn’t greet customers with a “Merry Christmas” salute.

This year, the religious right focused their anger at coffee, protesting the decision by Star Bucks to place its green and white logo on red coffee cups instead of cups that featured traditional symbols. The corporation just wanted a change in its seasonal cups and had no malice to any religion. Also changing the “Christmas Cup” is Dunkin’ Donuts, which placed the red script “Joy” set inside green leafs against a white background. Among department store chains that have instructed their employees to wish customers a “Happy Holiday” are Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, and Wal-Mart. They, and thousands of other stores, respect their customers who are Jews, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, and numerous other religions that do not worship a man named Jesus who Christians believe is a deity. However, most American non-Christians aren’t offended by being wished a “Merry Christmas”; they accept the spirit of the season and usually respond with an equally festive “Merry Christmas.”

Third, it’s impossible to wage fight something that doesn’t exist. The War on Christianity has been made up by the ultra-right to rally supporters to its own point of view, and its interpretation that Santa Claus is an overweight white male with white hair and beard, dressed in a red suit, and goes “ho-ho-ho” every Christmas season. But that man at various times in history has been an elf or a midget, and the name hasn’t always been Santa Claus.

Nevertheless, the American Family Association (AFA) says it’s liberals who have waged the War because they “want to eradicate anything that reminds Americans of Christianity.” The AFA and the politically right-wing blame the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for the manufactured religious-neutral salutation. They have called the ACLU and others the anti-Christ, anti-Christian, and god-less communists. However, almost all who prefer to address others and prefer to be greeted with a “Happy Holiday” wish are not anti-Christian.

Conservative radio hosts Bill O’Reilly and John Gibson co-created the War a decade ago in response to corporations and individuals wishing people a “Happy Holiday” instead of a “Merry Christmas.” This year O’Reilly said it was terrorism to cancel a school play because of religious references. Fox News, hundreds of right-wing web sites, the online conservative news site Brieitbart.com, and thousands of parents protested a southeast Pennsylvania school for cancelling a Christmas play after a Jewish student complained. That was enough for the conservative crowd to go to Facebook and other social media sites to again blame liberals. However, the student merely asked to be excused from attending the play, and the school board agreed the student had that First Amendment right. The principal cancelled the play not because it had a Christian religious theme but because he said it took 20 hours to prepare; both he and the district board agreed the time to prepare the play was excessive; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires at least 180 days of instruction every year.

Wishing others a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday, a Happy Hanukkah—which began on Christmas Eve this year—or not wishing anyone anything is a fundamental right.

[Dr. Brasch’s current book is Fracking Pennsylvania, which looks at the impact of fracking upon public health, worker safety, the environment, and agriculture. The book--available at local bookstores and amazon. com--also looks at the financial collusion between politicians and Big Energy.]

By Walter M Brasch PhD

http://www.walterbrasch.com

Copyright 2016 Walter M Brasch

Walter Brasch is a university journalism professor, syndicated columnist, and author of 17 books. His current books are America's Unpatriotic Acts , The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina , and Sex and the Single Beer Can: Probing the Media and American Culture . All are available through amazon.com, bn.com, or other bookstores. You may contact Dr. Brasch at walterbrasch@gmail.com

Walter Brasch Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in