Christmas

This is the only time I will post about the laughable idea that secularists are trying to take over Christmas, because I refuse to allow delusional pot-stirrers like Bill O'Reilly (who, for me, has about as much credibility as a homeless guy muttering on the el) to control the narrative of the day. O'Reilly may think he is on a mighty crusade, but he is in fact but a pawn in a classic propaganda campaign. The party in power is losing their ability to control the political agenda. This is their attempt to seize it back. It really doesn't matter what the particular subject under discussion is, just that the party in power begins again to control the public narrative. Once their control over the loudest "debate" in the public square is established, it's much easier to shift the focus of that discussion while maintaining the rhetorical upper hand. At first it's a distraction. It could be about something as politically inconsequential as, say, Christmas. There's an emotional appeal made. Christmas isn't what it used to be. The country isn't what it used to be. People are trying to destroy Christmas, then liberals are trying to destroy Christmas, then liberals are trying to destroy the country, then we conservatives are going to save the country from them, and then Let Me Tell You How. I don't think it will work in this case, but I'm not going to pretend that the ludicrous idea that there is a "war" on Christmas is anything other than an attempt to transfer blame for the sorry state of the country. "See, it's not the fault of the GOP, who've controlled all of government for the last 6 years, its because of those Godless liberals who want to destroy Christmas! If we only could say Merry Christmas, if only they allowed prayer in school, we'd be A-O-K." I know there are some who won't believe me, but I don't mean to suggest that it is somehow in the nature of conservatives to behave like this. Rather, this behavior is in the nature of those trying to preserve their power. And if this effort falls flat on its face, which I believe it will, fully expect another similar effort. Like a "war" on the 4th of July or something.

OK, that said, this post on Musing's musings is just too good to pass up. Apparently the "war" on Christmas has suffered its first casualty: church services on Christmas Day. I guess the shock troops are too busy setting up nativity scenes on public land to actually go to church and observe the flipping holiday. But then again, for the fundamentalist wackos, its never been about celebrating your own holidays. It's about getting other people to celebrate your holidays. Sort of tough to do that when you're stuck all day in boring old church.