Rita finds that the vicious polarisation of American politics infects even the season of goodwill…
Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, sated with turkey and family togetherness, Americans abandon their homes to participate in an ancient ritual known as Black Friday. It is a bit like Pamplona’s running of the bulls, but without the bulls. As in Pamplona, the event has its victims, trampled, bloody, and bruised. Those of us who decline to participate are treated to raw video of the most egregious violence. For some reason Walmart always features in the worst incidents.
The occasion for all this madness and mayhem is Christmas, a multi-billion dollar industry that holds the fate of the national economy in its chubby, mittened fist. For Black Friday is the official start of the holiday shopping season, when merchants lure shoppers into their stores with promises of low, low prices on popular products like TVs and computers. Of course there are only a very limited number of the promotional items, so shoppers line up for hours and surge through the doors at opening time in a mad scramble to grab the loot. In the resultant stampede weaker shoppers are trampled underfoot, while others fall victim to the tougher contenders who throw punches and shove their way to the victory line by any means necessary. This year one enterprising woman used pepper spray to eliminate the rivals in her path. As shoppers choked and gagged she calmly made her way to the check out line and was able to purchase her winnings unhindered by store security. At several malls gunfire erupted as impatient people waited in line overnight. Elsewhere shoppers stepped over a man who had collapsed with a heart attack, no one stopping to offer assistance. The callous scene was caught on camera. Ah yes, ‘tis the season of peace, joy, and Christian charity. And of the “war on Christmas” according to some very vocal right wing pundits who claim that Christmas and Christianity itself are under attack.
It is very hard to take this claim seriously when evidence of the vigorous celebration of Christmas is all around. Entering a shopping mall between Thanksgiving and Christmas is like being trapped in a giant snow cone with a thousand ho-ho-ho-ing Santas. Christmas is everywhere. Christmas trees, Christmas music, Christmas light displays, Christmas parades, Christmas TV specials, Christmas concerts, and on and on. Culture high and low is in on it. Ugly shopping incidents are balanced by church services; tacky Santa displays by classical concerts; corny TV specials by Dickens plays. In the Washington D.C. area alone we have a choice of multiple concerts every night, from medieval carols to a Celtic Christmas, from Handel’s Messiah to the Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas special. An alien landing from Mars could be forgiven for reaching the logical conclusion that every single person in the United States celebrates Christmas.
So where oh where is this purported war? Well it all started with that little matter of the separation of Church and State in the U.S. Constitution. Arguably it is this very guarantee of religious freedom that has made America such a religious nation. Fully 78.4% of the population belongs to one of the Christian denominations according to a 2007 Pew Forum survey. The same survey found only 4.7% belonging to all other religions combined with the remaining 16.9% non-believers or “nothing in particular.” The poor maligned atheists amount to only 1.6% of that group. So if there is a war over religion in America Christians far outnumber any possible opposition.
But this is a reality-based argument and, as we have come to learn over the last decade, the American right wing does not deal in reality, or facts, or science, but in a mythical world of their own creation. In this warped world the fact that separation of Church and State forbids religious displays on government property amounts to a “war on Christmas.” Never mind that there are no restrictions whatsoever on private property. Every few blocks all across America Christian churches display nativity scenes and other reminders of the religious meaning of the holiday. There are lighted nativity displays in the front yards of private homes, three alone in my immediate neighborhood, along with the usual twinkling trees, Santas, reindeer, and snowmen. There is absolutely no attempt from any quarter to infringe on the right of these organizations and individuals to display their faith. And where the line is blurred between public and private it always seems to err on the side of allowing some Christmas displays to creep into the public space. Witness the National Christmas Tree on the Mall, lighted each year in a televised ceremony with one of the President’s family throwing the switch. The tree is part of a Pageant of Peace display including a nativity scene, Santa’s workshop, and, in a nod to the other major religions, a Jewish Menorah and an Islamic Star and Crescent. Aha, finally we have some evidence of the “war on Christmas,” simple acknowledgement that other religions exist!
For the key loophole in the constitutional ban on religious displays on government property is that if one religion is allowed then all must be given equal opportunity. This leads to some very muddled unintended consequences. Local officials in Loudoun, Virginia, justified a nativity scene at the County Courthouse by inviting other groups to apply for nine display sites on a first-come first-serve basis. Well if you ask them they will come. Not just members of other established religions as the legislators probably expected, but atheists, oddballs, and every kook with an idea to promote. So now a skeleton in a Santa suit is hanging on a cross in front of the Courthouse. Outraged citizens tore it down, but embarrassed officials had to replace it because the artist had “followed all proper application procedures.” Ironically the message of the atheist artist is one with which many Christians would agree: “it is an art piece reflecting on the death of the true spirit of the holiday by greed and commercialism.” Take that man to Walmart immediately and teach him the true meaning of an American Christmas! Loudoun officials are scrambling to rewrite their legislation to avoid future embarrassments. But they’ve already provided more than enough material for the hype-meisters of the “war on Christmas” to froth over on their nightly TV shows.
Ground zero for “war on Christmas” hype is the Fox News channel, otherwise known as Faux News. A recent survey found that Americans who get most of their news from Fox are less well informed about world events than people who don’t follow the news at all. Rupert Murdoch’s contribution to American culture. A recent Fox “report” featured a crudely lettered sign “Obama’s war on Christmas” illustrated with a cartoon drawing of a gun. They are so subtle! And the evidence? Well it seems that more and more people are using the greeting Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, while workplaces hold holiday parties instead of Christmas parties. I have a simple explanation for the trend, which has nothing to do with hostility to Christmas. It is all about good manners. Americans are profligate greeters urging everyone, including complete strangers, to “have a nice day.” When it comes to offering greetings at this time of year, you don’t know what religion any random stranger might be so you use a generic cover-all-the-bases phrase. Hence the ubiquity of the Happy Holidays greeting in stores as clerks conclude their transactions with customers, and in workplaces between people who don’t know each other very well. It is also a matter of politeness when you do know the person and know they follow a different religion. But when it comes to friends, family, and fellow churchgoers there is nothing to stop you saying Merry Christmas! Are there any Taliban-like enforcers out there punishing anyone who says Merry Christmas? Of course not. Free speech guarantees every American the right to say Merry Christmas whenever they want. But that is too simple and sensible for the right wing purveyors of misinformation. They prefer to stoke the anxieties of people who fear that their world is changing.
“The war on Christmas” has even invaded the traveling vaudeville show that is the Republican primary debates. Rick Perry, plummeting in the polls, is clinging desperately to the cliff edge with a TV ad warning of the double menace of gays and non-Christians. Gays can serve openly in the military but our children can’t celebrate Christmas openly in their schools he laments. Yet in a recent interview he made grandiose claims of fidelity to the Constitution, promising to appoint only strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. This is the fundamental hypocrisy of the American right, strict constructionist believers in the Constitution except for the bits they don’t like.
As the madness continues I’m counting down the days in my Advent calendar until the politicians and their media mouthpieces move on to some new abomination like the persecution of the Easter Bunny. In the meantime I have a suggestion. Next time you are offended by someone wishing you Happy Holidays just respond with that traditional Christmas greeting “Bah, Humbug.”
Another terrific read rita! I wonder if Fox news or similar would ever gain traction over here – could the Daily Mail online continue it’s morphing into this strange parody of itself and turn into something really nasty?
Great piece Rita thanks. We at Chez Banished have taken to celebrating December 25th as Shane MacGowans birthday it saves much religious upset.
I doubt Sky is as bad as Fox yet Worm, but when I left it was already well on the way. Rupert is Rupert which ever rock hes currently living under.
And lets not forget the radio here in the USA which is just as bad. It was the so called ‘collegue’ at work listening to Bill OReilly and the rest of Murdock’s merry crew that pushed me into playing late Cardew songs around the office.