I've created this blog just to have a place to post this one thought. I may never post again, so enjoy!
Today, CNN's top-headlines section had a piece on the current "Merry Christmas"-"Happy Holidays" (manufactured) wars. It's a decent story, though IMO it understates the role that Fox broadcasters have played in creating the whole so-called controversy.
But it made me think of a new perspective on the whole issue. Bill O'Reilly seems to want us all to think that saying "Happy Holidays" started practically at gunpoint: the ACLU and bands of militant Christian-haters tackled people and pointed lawsuits at their heads, and only out of fear and intimidation did the dreadful new greeting emerge.
Well, thanks for giving so much credit to the American people, guys. Didn't "happy holidays" actually begin out of kindness and brotherly love? Didn't Americans--ordinary, sensitive, caring, and even Christmas-loving Americans--realize that not everyone around them celebrated Christmas, per se, at this time of year? And didn't these Americans, full of the joy of their own holiday season, buoyed by the thought of giving and the happy music playing in all the stores, earnest in their desire to live up to the Christmas messages of peace on earth and goodwill to men (and women)--didn't they want to give a greeting that allowed them to share their sense of joy and childlike wonder with everyone else, not just those who shared their own religion? Didn't Americans who aren't Christian want to acknowledge the common bond running through different religions and creeds, all of whom find something special in the darks of December?
In fact, isn't the genesis of "Happy Holidays" to be found in our kindness and shared reverence? I think Americans are hungry for reminders of our better natures. Who needs to think that every kind thing we do was borne of someone else's pettiness and oppression? Sounds like the Fox guys are doing just what they accuse the dreaded liberals of doing--such a focus on the negative! Such a lack of faith in the ordinary American!
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