Ah, that Amanda. She’s such a silly prog. You know the Amanda I’m referring to. Yes, that Amanda. The one who always seems so miserable because conservatives ruin everything.
On Monday, Amanda wrote a column for Salon in which she said that right-wing nuts in America are wrecking Christmas. Her starting point on this was the story about the man in Sycamore Township, Ohio, who the local government fined for zoning violations because the nativity scene on his front lawn was too high. It was supposed to be no taller than five feet but his was about 15 feet in height. They informed him he would be fined $500 for each day the structure remained as is. But because the characters depicted in the nativity scene were zombies, the man thought the township was picking on him because they took righteous offense of the display. Never mind that one of the township’s trustees said the scene had “nothing to do with what he’s got underneath the accessory structure. He can put a hundred zombies in his front yard if he wants.”
The zombie nativity story went viral and has received nationwide attention. CNN’s headline for the story yesterday was, “Amid threats, zombie nativity scene lives to see another day.”
“Amid threats.” So a fine is a threat. Or maybe the threat was in the flyer someone left that read “God frowns on this manger scene.” CNN doesn’t specify the threat. I get that CNN was trying to be cheeky with the reference to something zombie-related living “to see another day.” It’s still a dumb and grossly sensational headline.
CNN also saved the most relevant part for the end of the article. The man has complied with the township’s order by taking down the roof of the nativity, and the local government has said he will no longer be fined. “It’s a non-story,” an administrator for the township told CNN.
And really, it is a non-story. Yet it’s a non-story that the national media–including Amanda–wanted the country to discuss. I suppose there is some little nugget about zoning laws prohibiting the free speech of homeowners that could be worthy of conversation. Maybe another time. Or maybe not.
Amanda used the zombie nativity non-story and a couple of other examples (including one of some goofus who according to her was angrily screaming “Merry Christmas” at passersby as she walked through a park in Brooklyn recently) to describe how Christian conservatives suck the joy out of the holiday season. She dismissed concerns that liberals have been trying to destroy the religious meaning of Christmas for years, calling it a “mythical” accusation. She wrote that it’s gotten to where conservatives have “weaponized” terms like “God bless” and “Merry Christmas” as the way to say “f*** you” to everyone.
All right, maybe on some level, it is. Many of us still remember a time when Christmas wasn’t so watered down in its significance by being lumped together with every other holiday (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Diwali, winter solstice, etc.). The political correctness associated with this time of year has gotten absurd over the last decade or two. For a while, the insistence to avoid using the word “Christmas” was out of control. Only because people started taking the issue to task, the instances of using “Christmas” in place of the generic “holiday” to signify the holiday that most Americans observe are returning to prominence. It wouldn’t be the case today if everyone had shut up and let the vanguards of political correctness have their way.
Contrary to what Amanda thinks, we still have examples where liberals are bothered by Christmas references. Amanda cited one of those instances herself. She writes about the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion–a goofy “necessity” to begin with–which had a post on its website telling students to “ensure your holiday party is not a Christmas party in disguise.” It suggested that students refrain from activities like Secret Santa and spinning the dreidel. “Holiday parties and celebrations should celebrate and build upon workplace relationships and team morale with no emphasis on religion or culture,” the post said, according to the Tennessean. A couple of Tennessee lawmakers demanded that whoever was responsible for the website post resign. That may have been a bit over the top, but the message was received. The university has apologized and rewritten the post.
One new example of “mythical” liberal intolerance of Christmas that Amanda didn’t note took place in Roselle Park, New Jersey, where one councilwoman quit because the borough decided to rename its holiday tree the Christmas tree. “At this time in our country and in our world, it’s important to be inclusive,” she told the media. After some discussion, she decided not to resign, but she said she wouldn’t attend the tree lighting ceremony.
Each year, there are always controversies that pit religious or traditional references of Christmas against the attempts to secularize or genericize it in order to appear all-inclusive and all-encompassing of every type of observance, those which some people think demand an equal amount of attention as Christmas. There have been other instances this year where local governments have tried to take down personal Christmas displays. None of them have gotten the same attention as the zombie display, and that one was found to be a matter of zoning law, not of the personal views of local officials.
The Starbucks coffee cup controversy has been blown out of proportion, as well. If Starbucks wants to risk losing some customers over ignoring what they want, that’s their business. It won’t be enough to make much of a dent in their business. Starbucks is too popular for the Red Cup Furor to affect their bottom line all that much. That also is a non-story, in my opinion.
Yet here I am, bringing all this up because Amanda says the Right is wrecking Christmas. She wrote all sorts of things that I could mention, but nah. In summary, she’s a very bitter and unfunny individual. But she was the one who suggests her liberal readers replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Christmas” because, emphasis hers, “when it comes to taking offense…it’s conservatives who are the real champs, losing their minds at the whiff of a silly joke or an attempt to have a holiday party for everyone who works at a place.”
God bless, Amanda. So what if a company party is called a Christmas party? Everyone knows–or they should know–that typically, no one is excluded from a company party because of their religious beliefs. It’s been called a company Christmas party for years and years and years because the vast majority of Americans celebrate, yes, Christmas. If you feel left out because people call it Christmas, oh well. Lonely single people are left out of Valentine’s Day every year. Oh well. Most get over it and move on. There shouldn’t be a requirement to satisfy everyone all of the time.
This wasn’t the column of Amanda’s that I planned to write about when I started this post. I was only going to write a few words about it and focus on the newer piece she wrote. I got a little sidetracked, as usual. I could dismiss her views about Christmas and everything else as irrelevant, but unfortunately she does have an audience, and many Americans share the same thoughts that she has. Sometimes somebody needs to offer a counterpoint. Christmas controversies are a fairly common topic of discussion during this most wonderful time of the year. One side shouldn’t be able to dominate the discussion. That wouldn’t be…inclusive now, would it?
As for the topic I originally intended to address here, it’ll have to wait for a bit. Consider this yet another open thread until I can get my proper rant on.
