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The War on Christmas 89

The War on Christmas

“It was the Yuletide, that men call
Christmas though they know in their
hearts it is older than Bethlehem and
Babylon, older than Memphis and
mankind.”
- H. P. Lovecraft

The so-called "War on Christmas" (or, less
sensationally, the Christmas controversy) is a
right-wing demagogic neologism referring to
alleged secular attempts to keep the December
solstice holiday shopping season culturally
inclusive. It sets the standard by which all other
manufactroversies may be judged, and is most
famously fought every year by none other than
now-former Fox News Channel contributor Bill
O'Reilly.

Origins

Few people, even among those who promote
this idea, know that its modern-day form started
out as a conspiracy theory promulgated by
idea that Christmas itself was first made by loved ones rather than emphasising the
groups affiliated with the John Birch Society.[2]
blatantly ripping off a pagan holiday (let's hear it Christmas message, and largely secular
In 1959, they released a pamphlet called "There
for the War on Yule!) or that puritanical types Victorian traditions like roast dinners (also
Goes Christmas", in which they claimed that
have made a few wars against Christmas popularised in A Christmas Carol), trees, and
there was a new communist plot to "take the
themselves. So, the Religious Right keeps cards show the lack of religious significance.
Christ out of Christmas" by replacing Christmas
yammering about it and secularists keep making
decorations with United Nations iconography.
jokes about going along with it. As the years go So what's a war without war profiteers?
The Society claimed this formed part of a larger
by, the semi-ironic "Merry Christmas" greeting
push to stamp out religion altogether and to cede
is gaining ground, used by some as a kind of The American Family Association (AFA) issues
US sovereignty to the UN. They urged members
meta-statement on the ongoing controversy. a yearly list of nationwide retail outlets often
to boycott any stores with "inappropriate
Despite the best efforts of the sinister owned by huge, multinational corporations
decorations".
anti-Christmas warriors, the proportion of companies that they say are "for," "marginal
The JBS itself had developed the idea of
American Christians who feel a religious on," or "against" Christmas. Supposedly the "for
a War on Christmas from inter-war anti-Semitic
meaning in Christmas is increasing, though Christmas" companies use the word "Christmas"
publications, particularly from Henry Ford's The
religious belief is generally declining in the US. instead of "Xmas" (which is highly amusing,
International Jew. Detecting a part of a supposed
This suggests the unstated premise that the since the "X" in "Xmas" is not a placeholder to
move to take over the world, the JBS claimed
meaning of Christmas rests upon people using "cross out" Christ, but the Greek letter chi (χ),
that Jews were launching a "war on
the word to sell merchandise is not correct. which is the first letter of "Christ" in Greek; it's
Christianity", with one paper lamenting, "Last
In 2016, President-elect Donald Trump an abbreviation invented by Christians and used
Christmas most people had a hard time finding
declared an end to the War on Christmas, for centuries) or "Holiday" in their advertising,
Christmas cards that indicated in any way that
basically by declaring war on everyone who while the "against Christmas" companies do not.
Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth."
didn't say "Merry Christmas".Trump himself, Of course, the AFA doesn't seem to notice that
This was (of course) seen as a plot by Jewish
conspirators who "consider any public oddly enough, had previously waged war on many of the companies on the "for Christmas"
Christmas when his management company list often substitute "Holiday" for "Christmas" in
expression of Christian character as being
banned Christmas trees from the lobby of one of their ads, or minimize the number of references
derogatory to [their] religion." Sound familiar?
his apartment houses in 1981. to the holidays altogether. This has led to
speculation by godless, gay, pinko-commies
More recently
Not like it used to be? critics that maybe the AFA receives
compensation for inclusion on the "for
The "War on Christmas" meme was revived in
Many right-wingers misrepresent the history of Christmas" list, a claim that the AFA denies.
the 1990s by paleoconservative, VDARE
Christian celebrations, in an attempt to claim
founder, white nationalist, anti-Semite, and all-
around wingnut Peter Brimelow, as part of a that Christmas in the past was all about religion They've messed our economy
but now it's purely secular and no mention of
larger battle against multiculturalism.
Jesus — for example in 2017 there were claims In 2008, the ante was raised as a columnist
But no individual is more responsible for
that Australian schools were "trying to take blamed the year's economic crisis on the War on
dragging the concept from the right-wing fringe
pictures of Jesus out of Christmas cards". As Christmas. In true Wall Street Journal op-ed
into "mainstream" media culture, and making it
well as being completely made up, this ignores style, Daniel Henninger said that the push
an annual tradition as reliable and inevitable as
the fact that the first Christmas card ever made against Christmas is leading us to a "Mad Max"
the holiday season itself, than Bill O'Reilly, who
had no mention of Christ, the nativity, God, type environment.
is apparently horrified - yes, horrified! - that
angels or anything religious. Designed by John
Wal-Mart greeters might wish that shoppers
enjoy "Happy Holidays" - despite the fact that Callcott Horsley in 1843, it featured a scene of The War in politics
people drinking wine, including a mother
his own website sold "holiday ornaments" rather
feeding it to her young child, with generic In 2007, even some of the Presidential
than X-Mas ornaments. Did anyone mention
scenes of charity at either side. Most of candidates took up the war, with Mike Huckabee
hypocrisy?
Christmas tradition was invented in the 19th claiming that it might be "controversial," but he
The fact that "Happy Holidays" refers to
century, by people such as Charles Dickens; his was going to wish the gathered Iowa
over a dozen holidays never seems to have any
novella A Christmas Carol focuses on Christmas Republicans a "Merry Christmas". This was
real effect on the demagoguery; neither does the
as a time for charity and spending time with intensified in 2015-16 under Donald Trump. []