The War On Christmas
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Partisan Hacks, WarWow…
Just watched a clip from John Gibson’s “The BIG Show” on Fox and they’re certainly having a “spirited” debate. No doubt you can already assume that the word “liar” was bandied about quite a bit.
And I will say it again, because it bears repeating…I can not believe that these guys are actually calling this a WAR on Christmas. To do so is to completely demean what war really is, and is insulting to our men and women abroad who are fighting and dying in our country’s service.
Shame on you John Gibson. There are many other ways you could have marketed this, but you decided to go with the sexy word that would sell the most books.
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December 30th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
By and large, I don’t mind Fox’s actual news coverage. It’s their talk shows, especially Gibson’s and Bill O’Reilly’s, that grate on my nerves (and, not to mention, are actually stridently right-wing). I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t catch this particular debate – it just sounds like a few minutes out of my life that I wouldn’t get back.
That said, it may be just me, and the fact that the “war” metaphor has already been invoked in any number of other contexts (“the culture wars,” “the War on Drugs,” the all-too-frequent war analogies invoked in sports – heck, football alone is replete with war terminology), but I guess I just can’t get as worked up about calling it a “War on Christmas” as you do. Been there, done that.
Besides, even the actual wars in which our soldiers fight and die have plenty of non-military components to them. (This is especially true of the Long War we’re in now.) Persuasion by means other than the barrel of a gun – which is what the “War on Christmas” amounts to on both sides – is one of the biggest ones.
Perhaps the real question here is the larger one: Should we call something a war if there’s no actual, physical fighting involved?
December 30th, 2005 at 10:52 pm
Justin, I couldn’t agree more.
December 30th, 2005 at 11:27 pm
“To do so is to completely demean what war really is, and is insulting to our men and women abroad who are fighting and dying in our country’s service.”
Justin, agreed. There may be a better word for it, but there does seem to be an increasingly vocal anti-Christian element in this country. In a culture where you can slowly loose your identity through one small concession after another, I’m glad people are bringing attention to it.
Recall the issue with Target, etc. and a bit of activism bringing the word Christmas back into their advertising. Is it a world victory, heck no, but it is something. It seems to be an unfortunate state of affairs in with our media that you’ve got to be over the top to get noticed.
On your point – to wit, are you just as angry over “The War of the Sexes”?
Thanks for the site, its really great!
Andrew Milo
blog.miloco.com
December 30th, 2005 at 11:33 pm
But, but, but … you’re robbing the BDS crowd of its most potent image:
Bush’s War on the Press
by Eric Alterman in the Nation
Bush’s War On Cops
in Washington Monthly
Bush’s “War on Women”
from Planned Parenthood
George Bush’s war on nature
in Salon
Bush’s War on Science
courtesy of Howard Dean
Bush’s War on Our Civil Liberties
at Pacific Views
Bush’s war on information
courtesy of “a liberal alternative to the Drudge report.”
Bush’s War on Children
courtesy of Alternet
Bush’s War on Veterans
in Democratic Underground
and last but not least,
Bush’s war on America
December 30th, 2005 at 11:33 pm
Shame on them, too, eh?
January 2nd, 2006 at 12:02 pm
I could not agree with you more. To call it a ‘war’ is a total farce.
January 3rd, 2006 at 9:34 am
“So this is Christmas…and what have we learned…”
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:31 am
Sorry Cal. Just got around to approving that comment since it had so many links in it. Our spam catcher…well…catches those sorts of comments.
And to that, point well taken. Yes, shame on them too.
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:32 am
Oh, but by the way, most of your links don’t work. Might want to go back and fix them if you can.