December 22, 2005

A Sincere Wish For a Silent Night

An Alert Reader asks, "Is it just me, or has the rhetoric level really increased this year. Here's an E-mail I just got. One of many."

Here's a sample of what Alert sent me:

Merry Christmas. The other day, there was an article on AOL talking about "calming down" this debate about being able to say those most Christian of words. Why? Because finally, in the Yuletide of 2005, Christian spokesmen and spokeswomen stood and said a different word: "Enough."

However, many of these spokespersons have called these attacks "Secularist." That is simply incorrect. These vehement Anti-Americans certainly stand up for the rights and sensibilities of Satanists, Pagans, Secular Humanists, and yes, even Frisbeetarians at the drop of a hat. But they absolutely stand against Christians. Why? Because they're simply hypocrites and political opportunists. ...

Do these same people say, "Hey relax on that Gay-Pride propaganda on Nickelodeon!" "Take it easy on that Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony!"

And it continues in that vein for several hundred additional words.

This year's phony-baloney campaign (whipped up primarily by John Gibson and Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, aided and abetted by the chattering classes on talk radio) against the so-called "War on Christmas" has long outlasted the 15 minutes of fame it deserved.

"War on Christmas" my Aunt Fannie. You can't swing a dead reindeer in my neighborhood without hitting a light-up Nativity scene. (And the dueling animated light-up choo-choo trains I wrote about last year are back, and have been joined by a third choo-choo at another house, but that's another story.) The Hallmark stores at Olympia and Oak Park shopping centers are selling enough Christmas cards every day to give your mailman (or mail woman) a rupture, and there's an ample selection of ones decorated with religious themes. (Heck, even The House of Rancid Lunchmeat has religious cards, I noticed the other day.)

Yes, we have (and always will have) a few cement-heads who, in their misguided efforts at "not offending anyone," wind up offending everyone. That's why we get some public school vice principal in East Overshoe, Maine, telling the third-graders they can't sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," or the nitwit mayor in Bumblebee Creek, Idaho, renaming the Christmas tree a "holiday tree."

But as a Christian (admittedly, hardly a poster child for religion) the idea that Christians are some how being persecuted is laughable. You want persecution? My grandmother grew up Catholic in southern Indiana in the 1920s, when prominent citizens boasted of belonging to the Ku Klux Klan and railed against the "papists" and "the whore of Rome." Or ask some of your Jewish neighbors about restricted country clubs in western Pennsylvania. (Fun fact: The recently-closed Lincoln Hills Country Club in North Huntingdon Township was founded because Jews couldn't join the other clubs around the Mon-Yough area. You could, as they say, look it up.) Or ask your African-American friends about being followed around certain stores.

Persecuted Christians? The mind reels.

So, why do businesses say "happy holidays" to customers instead of "Merry Christmas"? Because they don't know who's approaching the counter, that's why. About 83 percent of Pennsylvanians consider themselves "Christian." That means if you're running a store, one of every five customers may or may not be celebrating Christmas, because they may or may not believe in Christ.

Now, I have no problem telling people who I know are Christian "Merry Christmas," and I do, but only a real clod would insist on telling, say Jews, Moslems or atheists "Merry Christmas," and I have friends in all three groups. (No Hindus or Buddhists that I'm aware of, yet.)

That's why we say "Happy Holidays." It isn't anti-Christian bias. It's called common decency. It's called being polite. My mama raised me to have manners. Whatever happened to just being courteous?

What's the real motivation behind this trumped-up fight against "The War on Christmas"? In the case of Fox News, I'm sure it's to pump up ratings and flog the sales of John Gibson's screed of the same name, copies of which are still in abundant supply at the bookstores I frequent. (No doubt the ACLU and roving groups of secular humanists are suppressing sales. Alert Rush Limbaugh.)

And the Fox News campaign taps into a strong and vocal movement to try to interject Christianity into as many public venues as possible. Now, I seem to remember Jesus saying, in Matthew Chapter 6, "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." How does that square with forcing prayer upon people who may or may not want to pray?

(Then again, we used Revised Standard bibles in high school. Maybe the ones sold on Channel 40 are different. Maybe they're the same model that Don Imus, as the Rev. Billy Sol Hargis, used to sell on the radio: "It's the one with the blank pages in the back, so you can write your own verses, but He won't mind, 'cause He knows you're only foolin'.")

Some of these self-appointed religion police, and their instigators, like Bill O'Reilly, note that Christians are a clear majority in the United States. And I'll accept that. But in Pennsylvania, Catholics are the largest Christian denomination, so if we put prayer back into public schools, surely these fundamentalists won't care if there's a statue of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix on the wall. Nor will they mind if the kids say a few decades of the rosary in the morning, right?

I didn't think so. One of the great things about the United States is that, traditionally, our Constitution has protected minorities from the tyranny of the majority. (True, the great-grandchildren of slaves, native Americans, and those Japanese interned in camps during World War II might beg to differ, but it's a principle that is more often than not honored in the breach.)

The most complete story of the birth of Christ comes from the first two chapters of Luke, in which Zechariah, father of John the Baptist (and Jesus' mortal uncle), talks of God bringing "light to those who sit in darkness" and guiding "our feet into the way of peace." The angel that appears to the shepherds in chapter 2, verses 8 to 16, talks of the savior bringing "great joy" and "peace to His people on Earth."

It's not too much to ask in this Christmas season for all of the hot-headed TV and radio talkers to bring a little light to their discussions, and not just heat and noise.

It's also not too much to ask fundamentalist right-wing Christians to leave those who don't share their beliefs in peace.

And if they'd grant me those Christmas wishes, it would certainly bring me great joy.

True, I might just as well sit on the lawn Saturday night and watch the skies for eight tiny reindeer and a man in a sled, but a guy can dream, can't he?

By the way: Merry Christmas.

Update: Want to see John Gibson, Christmas defender par excellence, as he puts his message of Christian peace, love and brotherhood into action? Just watch. I should be lectured about Christmas spirit by this guy? Please.

Posted at 07:11 am by jt3y
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December 21, 2005

Thank You, And Other Stuff

I checked on the Tube City Online store the other day and noticed that a good number of people bought things during November and December ... presumably as Christmas presents for ex-patriate McKeesporters.

My first thought was: Gee, aren't they going to be disappointed Christmas morning, or during Hanukkah, when they open up a box to find something from Tube City Online under the tree?

But my second thought was to be very flattered and happy that readers find the stuff amusing, useful and/or interesting. There are some expenses to running the site --- thankfully, no webhosting costs, since I've been very fortunate to have server space donated for all of these years --- so the couple of extra bucks is most welcome.

(Incidentally, I'd like to know if the items are good quality. Is the printing legible? Is it blurred at all? Do the colors seem OK? I've tried to make the images that they print as high resolution as possible, and size them properly, but I don't have any control over what gets sent out. If you've bought something, let me know if you're happy or not.)

Admittedly, CafePress's overhead is fairly pricey (you are, after all, getting them to print one or two T-shirts at a time), so I've tried to keep the retail prices as low as possible. That means I only make a dollar or so per item, so the sales over November and December netted me enough for, perhaps, a pizza.

But more likely, in the spirit of the season, I'll give the money to people who are truly needy and unfortunate ... like my creditors.

That includes the poor blighters at Equitable Gas (motto: "Blowing it up your pipe since 1888"), who, despite their usual feelings of generosity, peace, love, and understanding during the holidays, were recently forced to hike the budget payments at Tube City Omnimedia World Headquarters by about $35 a month.

From what I hear from other people around the Mon-Yough area, I got off fairly easily, so I'm not complaining. And I'm sure that the decision to yank up the prices was made only with great reluctance on behalf of Equitable's executives. I can envision them sitting in their wood-paneled offices on the 33rd floor of One Oxford Center, weeping into their $15 linen Brooks Brothers handkerchiefs, thinking, "Oh, Lord, what have we done?" I'm sure the extra 10 cents a share they made last quarter is being used for raises for their employees and to buy crutches for crippled children.

Naturally, coping with this budgetary pressure has required some adaptation at Tube City Omnimedia headquarters. So if there's been a lack of Almanacs the last few days, it's because I've got the thermostat set very low, and it's very difficult to type with mittens on. And when I say my computer has "frozen up," I mean frozen up. (I keep a little ice scraper on my desk to take the frost off of the monitor. I also may have the only disk drive in the world with studded tires.)

Seriously: Thank yinz from the bottom of my heart. I do appreciate your kind emails, your comments, your putting up with this drivel, and now, your support of my tiny, little e-commerce effort. A merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and happy new year to you and yours.

Posted at 8:40 pm by jt3y
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