Issue:
A good example of the Twisted Right - National Review Book Service: The War on Christmas by John Gibson:
Specific:"Happy holidays!' Every time a supermarket checker or store clerk greets you with those words instead of 'Merry Christmas,' you have met another soldier in the war against Christmas. Secularists are bent on imposing upon us a neutered, secular winter holiday that throws out every trace of Christianity from the public observance of Christmas. It's all necessary, they tell us, to avoid offending non-Christians and, above all, to keep from violating the all-important separation of church and state. Meanwhile, Christians in America are increasingly marginalized and shunted aside."
Comment:This is a non-problem. But this kind of hyperbole needs to be examinined to expose the gaps in it's logic. Once the gaps are revealed then it can be acknowledged and discredited just as the debate on intelligent design. This kind of rhetoric or flawed logic is the kind the controlling cabal of the Republican party uses to defend America and the war in Iraq.
The "Supermarket checker" is not a securalist warrior when he greets with "Happy Holiday's". He or she is a teenager. Working as a clerk is probably one their first jobs. They are under stress because they have finals coming up or a big important event - in addition to Christmas. The cash the make is of greater value to them in the moment than it will later in life. They have a great many more things on their minds than many adults. Teenagers are aware that we live in an age of many different cultures, customs and traditions. They are probably more intent on being non-offensive to the customer than they are of making the sale. The clerk's manager is is probably too busy to give his staff direction on this fine a point. Beyond asking them to be polite and smile, the likely hood of managerial pressure to use one form of greeting over another is minimal. So when the "store clerk" makes this greeting, it is because the logic of choosing a greeting that is least likely to offend is clear.
There is no separation of "church and state" involved in the interpersonal transaction or the financial transaction. Politics are not a part of it. Perhaps politics can be a part of the transaction in the context of taxes or if both parties have some prior personal history. But the average supermarket check out sequence does not involve politics or religion.
It almost sound like a conspiracy against Christmas? It can't be people being caring and polite.
As to the "Meanwhile, Christians in America are increasingly marginalized and shunted aside." comment - this makes me do a double take. The President is evangelical born again Christian. The Republican Party is his party. The Republicans control both houses of Congress and is responsible for seating most of the Supreme Court. When I surf my local cable channels, there are at least a half dozen CBN (Christian Broadcast Network) channels. The leader of a major Christian group - Pat Robertson advocated the assassination of a foreign leader - without penalty from either God or the state department. And we are to accept the statement that Christians are MARGINALIZED and SHUNTED?!?!?!? - it hurts my head.
So when Bill O'Reilly takes on this cause I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised in his use of flawed logic. His motto is the "no-spin zone" yet acknowledges and defends his far right show of opinions. He does not recognize that Opinion is spin. President Bush, the neo-cons, the Fox network will be recalled by historians as having flawed logic.
Even if the Iraq adventure succeeds in bringing a peace to the middle east, it will not be attributed to this regime's impeccable use of logic and reasoning. They may have facts, a sense of conviction, a dedication and loyalty to their cause. Their cause may take the day, but historians cannot look back on this time and have a consensus that reasoned logic was what made it happen. Logic has a timeless nature and quality. Missing WMD, opinionated "no-spin zones" are not examples of logic and reason. Perhaps they are of intelligent design.
Future historians cannot avoid it any more than Bill Clinton's biographer can ignore his impeachment. Not even revisionists.
ISBN#: 1595230165
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