that’s how i would describe the objections to the presidential Christmas card by the war on Christmas crowd. i’m not arguing the premise of that group, which is that some groups have an exaggerated idea of how many people are offended by “Merry Christmas”, nativity scenes, and calling Christmas songs and Christmas trees what they are. it is political correctness run amok to even restrict songs that have no religious overtones whatsoever simply because a loud minority might have an objection to it. the argument is that the words indicate some type of exclusivity that leaves out those who don’t believe in a religion and who are deeply offended by any hint of religion in our culture. i don’t see Christmas that way. this holiday doesn’t force religion on anybody. it has become so highly commercialized that its religious significance has become severely compromised. what kind of stupid country sees something deeply offensive about “frosty the snowman”, for heaven’s sake? well…i guess the fact that he melts might be disturbing to small children, but other than that, i just don’t see it.

here’s what the card that has surrendered to PCness said(the corner/NRO):

Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
In him my heart trusts;
So I am helped, and my heart exults,
And with my song I give thanks to him

(and THIS controversial line) “With best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness. 2005”. it is then signed by the president and first lady.

yep. that sounds like political correctness to me. if you want to criticize excessive concessions to the pc crowd, i’m all for that. but in this case, president bush isn’t guilty of making any of those concessions with this Christmas card. are there groups with an agenda opposing Christmas? i guess. i’m just not sure that their attempts to push this POV are as pervasive as the war on Christmas crowd would have us believe. it’s a red-meat issue for conservatives, so they gladly hop on this bandwagon and go along for this ride, because it’s the cool thing to do. we just have to step back and decide for ourselves where the real injustices are taking place, and make sure that we don’t overstate the isolated incidents where the PC crowd wins.

for more thoughts on Christmas, read the previous post. 🙂 there are nice presents already under the mets fan’s Christmas tree. what’s this about free agent pitcher barry zito possibly coming to NY? i think that this was suggested before…and it’s still a good idea. keep it up omar. 🙂

i’ll give the (almost) last word to the handsome bow-tied guy, tucker carlson:

All of which is to say, I welcome the controversies this season over Christmas. Every time a school district bans Christmas carols, every time the ACLU dispatches a busload of lawyers to fight a nativity scene, every time the ADL declares the Christian Right “dangerous,” it’s a reaffirmation that the faith is not dead. Dead religions don’t give people the creeps. They don’t make atheists mad. They don’t keep Alan Dershowitz up at night. But Christianity still does. What a relief. It’s nice to see that our faith still scares people.

i agree with that.

related:
christmas musings (previous post)
bah humbug…and other christmas musings
my christmas itunes imix –the edited version
(email/comment for my complete musical vision–requires itunes)
can santa claus save the democrats? –from conservative cat