And Merry Xmas To You All (Mark Steyn: Christmas And The Tyranny Of Multicultural Mush Alert)

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 12/15/2006 | Mark Steyn

[goldstategop]

I passed through Shannon Airport in Ireland the other day. They've got a "holiday" display in the terminal, but guess what? It says "Merry Christmas." The Emerald Isle has a few Jews, and these days rather a lot of Muslims, and presumably even a militant atheist or two, but they don't seem inclined to sue the bejasus out of every event in the Yuletide season. By contrast, the Associated Press reports the following from Riverside, Calif.:

"A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen out of concern the skater would be offended . . . "

I hasten to add this Sasha Cohen is not the Sacha Baron Cohen of the hit movie ''Borat.'' The Olympic S. Cohen is a young lady; the Borat S. Cohen is a man, though his singlet would not be out of place in a louche Slav entry to the ice-dancing pairs. Likewise, the skater-puts-carols-on-ice incident seems as sharply satirical of contemporary America as anything in ''Borat,'' at least in its distillation of the coerciveness of "tolerance":

"A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' and requested that the troupe stop singing . . . "

The cop and the staffer -- "special-events employee Michelle Baldwin" -- were not acting on a complaint from the celebrity skater. They were just taking offense on her behalf, no doubt deriving a kinky vicarious thrill at preventing a hypothetical "hate crime." The young miss is Jewish, and so they assumed that the strains of "Merry Gentlemen" wafting across the air must be an abomination to her. In fact, if you go to sashacohen.com, you'll see the headline: "Join Sasha On Her Christmas Tree Lighting Tour." That's right, she's going round the country skating at Christmas tree lighting ceremonies. Christmas tree lighting ceremonies accompanied by singers singing Christmas music that uses the C word itself -- just like Sasha does on her Web site.

Nonetheless, the Special Events Commissar and her Carol Cop swung into action and decided to act in loco Cohenis and go loco. Many of my fellow pundits find themselves fighting vainly the old ennui when it comes to the whole John Gibson "War On Christmas" shtick, but I think they're missing something: The idea of calling a cop to break up the singing of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" would strike most of the planet as insane. The Rubidoux High School Madrigals should have riposted by serenading the officer with the beloved Neal Sedaka classic, "Oh, Fool, I Am But A Carol" (I quote from memory).

Now it's true there are Jews who don't dig Christmas. There was some story out of Seattle the other day about a rabbi who objected to the "holiday trees" at the airport and threatened a lawsuit unless they also put up an eight-foot menorah. So the airport goes, "Oh, dear, you're threatening a lawsuit? OK, we'll take down the trees." And in an instant the trees were history. Not "history" in the sense of a time-honored tradition legitimized by its very antiquity. But "history" in the sense of the contemporary American formulation of something you toss in the landfill in the interests of "diversity."

So then the rabbi and his lawyer are reeling under a barrage of negative publicity and suddenly it's their chestnuts being roasted on the open fire. "Whoa," they say. "Why are we the bad guys? We love Christmas trees. What made you think we had anything against Christmas trees? Just cuz we threatened to launch a gazillion-dollar lawsuit? What could be more American than that?" In Newsweek, Rabbi Marc Gellman managed to miss the point and deplored the "cowardly response" of the airport. But what "cowardly response"? Instead of going to court and almost certainly losing, they raised the stakes, put the plaintiffs on the defensive and forced them to call off the dogs. The "holiday trees" are now back.

Everyone who knows Rabbi Bogomilsky says he's an affable fellow, he doesn't want to Scrooge up anybody's Christmas, he's an all-around swell guy. No doubt. But in the week when the president of Iran hosts an international (and well-attended) Holocaust Denial Convention (which simultaneously denies the last Holocaust while gleefully anticipating the next one), this rabbi thinks it's in the interests of the Jewish people to take legal action against "holiday" decorations at Seattle Airport? Sorry, it's not the airport but the plaintiff who's out of his tree. An ability to prioritize is an indispensable quality of adulthood, and a sense of proportion is a crucial ingredient of a mature society.

This isn't about religion. Jesus is doing just fine in the United States. Forty years of ACLU efforts to eliminate God from the public square have led to a resurgent, evangelical and politicized American Christianity unique in the Western world. What the rabbi in Seattle and the cops in Riverside are doing is colluding in an assault on something more basic: They're denying the possibility of any common culture. America is not a stamp collection with one of each. It's an overwhelmingly Christian country with freedom of religion for those who aren't. But it's quite an expansion of "freedom of religion" to argue that "those who aren't" are entitled to forbid any public expression of America's Christian inheritance except as part of an all-U-can-eat interfaith salad bar. In their initial reaction, Seattle Airport got it right: To be forced to have one of everything is, ultimately, the same as having nothing. So you might as well cut to the chase.

What, after all, is the rabbi objecting to? There were no bauble-dripping conifers in the stable in Bethlehem. They didn't sing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," either. That's, in effect, an ancient pop song that alludes to the birth of the Savior as a call to communal merry-making: No wonder it falls afoul of an overpoliced overlitigated "diversity" regime. Speaking of communal songs, they didn't sing "White Christmas" round the manger. A Jew wrote that. It's part of the vast Jewish contribution to America's common culture.

Seattle Airport could certainly put up a menorah. And maybe a commemoration of Eid, and Kwanzaa, and something for solstice worshippers, and perhaps something for litigious atheists. But to do that is to turn society into a kind of greater airport departure lounge -- to say it's no more than an assemblage of whoever happens to be in it at any particular time. Successful societies (unlike plastic trees) have deep roots: Nobody should be obliged to believe Jesus is the son of God, but likewise nobody should take such umbrage at trees and tinsel and instrumental versions of "Silent Night" that he would deny the reality of the land he lives in to the vast majority of his fellow citizens. Because the logic of that leads not to a diverse secular society but to an atomized ersatz non-society. And, as those other touchy types the Islamists well understand, once you put reality up for grabs, all kinds of pathologies suddenly become viable.

[goldstategop]

The multicultural mush that forces the predominantly American Christian culture to deny the existence of Christmas is a form of tyranny: reduced to its lowest level of abstraction, it forbids the expression of genuine religious faith on the grounds it might offend someone somewhere. And as ice skater Sasha Cohen learned, when the tyranny of multicultural mush is enforced no one winds up being happy and friendly relatuonships between different religions end up being compromised. In any event, Merry Xmas to all.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[derllak]

You meant "Merry Christmas", right? ;)

[Nextrush]

The secret agenda behind all of this "diversity training" that tells us to be "sensitive" to other people's cultures and to "recognize differnces."

[goldstategop]

Yes. :) Many American Jews don't know "White Christmas" was written by an American Jew, the incomparable Irving Berlin. Multiculturalism among its other sins, forbids honoring minority contributions to the vitality of the majority culture's deepest beliefs.

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I fail to see how even the most jaded touchy feely multiculturalist, Jew, atheist or Muslim could be offended by such beautiful words. And yet every Christmas season, they are routinely banned because someone somewhere might be affected adversely to them. Thus a few people's feelings are given priority over millions who want to enjoy all that Christmas means for them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Darkwolf377]

They've got a "holiday" display in the terminal, but guess what? It says "Merry Christmas."

So I guess Israel is populated by "self-hating Jews". /sarc.

[Lurker]

Because the logic of that leads not to a diverse secular society but to an atomized ersatz non-society.

Dear Mr. Steyn,

More and more I'm convinced this is the goal of most on the left.

The teachings of Gramsci are alive and well there.

L

[goldstategop]

Mandated diversity has nothing to do with real diversity. It forbids acceptance of the fact that people have real differences and the only way to avoid those differences being expressed in the life of society, is to ban their expression altogether. Multiculturalism then, is a form of soft totalitarianism. Its ultimate denominator is agreement on nothing. Which is precisely what the assemblage display every Christmas conveys. A society with no true sense of self is more susceptible to various cultural pathologies than a society that is proud of its most venerable traditions.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Darkwolf377]

Forty years of ACLU efforts to eliminate God from the public square have led to a resurgent, evangelical and politicized American Christianity unique in the Western world.

THIS atheist finds this news delightful. I don't know about you, but the BIGGEST laughs I get are when I see the ACLU and their snide, self-loving selves foiled in their efforts to impose secularist values on the nation. Some people don't seem to understand that the government doesn't have to verify everything that happens in the public arena.

[goldstategop]

The Left wants a diverse secular society but secularism is not a real philosophy. By its very nature, it excludes people from participating in society who happen to have a non-secular outlook on life. Where we end up then is with a society that can neither agree God doesn't exist or that God has a place in the world. To get around the contradiction, out of necessity we have a society that just rules everything out of bounds.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[derllak]

I agree. And I think most people are waking up an realizing how ridiculous "political correctness" has gotten.
Merry Christmas to all you wonderful FReepers! :)

[goldstategop]

More to the point, a society has a common culture. Until recently, it was understood America had a Christian culture. I see no reason why the vast majority of Americans shouldn't be allowed to express their pride in all the positive aspects of their Christian faith. If we're going ward off the Islamofascist menace, in the long run, every one will be better off if America stands for something than if America stands for nothing. The former must be America's reply to the vapid nullity posed by multicultural tyranny run amok.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[goldstategop]

I the choir in Riverside had responded with these words in riposte; as Mark Steyn says, Neil Sedaka is a perfect way to show up the ridiculousness of the Left's obssession with the "offensive" nature of Christmas carols:

Oh, Carol I Am But A Fool

Oh, Carol, I am but a fool
Darling, I love you tho' you treat me cruel
You hurt me and you made me cry
But if you leave me I will surely die

Darling, there will never be another
'Cause I love you so
Don't ever leave me
Say you'll never go
I will always want you for my sweetheart
No matter what you do
Oh, Carol, I'm so in love with you

[Instrumental Interlude]

Oh, Carol, I am but a fool
Darling I love you tho' you treat me cruel
You hurt me and you made me cry
But if you leave me I will surely die

Darling, there will never be another
'Cause I love you so
Don't ever leave me
Say you'll never go
I will always want you for my sweetheart
No matter what you do
Oh, Carol, I'm so in love with you

I'm sure Sasha Cohen would have enjoyed the Carol Cops getting their comeuppance with that Neil Sedaka classic.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[familyop]

Wow. Mark brought a little of old Europe with him that time. I used to think he was pretty good. I take it that he would like to revise our First Amendment. Maybe he can get Queen Henrietta Maria to pawn the jewels and get an army together. With a few edicts and exterminations, we can all be Catholic.

Do any writers study American history (including holidays) before spewing hogwash?

And BTW, the Rabbi wanted to put up a menorah at the government facility--not to take down the trees.

[familyop]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

[goldstategop]

The point is putting up a menorah alongside the trees is creating an interfaith salad bar. It denies the unique connotation that each faith has for its believers. Multiculturalism denies the meaning of genuine spirituality. In that sense, it deadens both Hanukkah and Christmas when they are turned into primarily commercial festivities.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[GOPJ]

So then the rabbi and his lawyer are reeling under a barrage of negative publicity and suddenly it's their chestnuts being roasted on the open fire.

The rabbi and his lawyer are probably both members of the liberal elite - and "card carrying" members of the ACLU -- as the ACLU says in their recruitment brochures. The rabbi should be under a "barrage of negative publicity". How dare people of other faiths come to this country and enjoy the benefits of our freedom of religion and then turn on us to deny our right to celebrate Christmas? And yes, I would feel exactly the same way if Muslims decided to sue us for putting Christmas trees up in American Airports. The rabbi is being awful. And petty. And intolerant. He needs to find a new hobby.

[goldstategop]

The form of tolerance multiculturalism seeks is coercive. It assumes people are bigoted by nature and need to be clubbed into behaving sensitively towards others. In the end it breeds not tolerance but conflict, anger and resentment over its its using brute force to enforce a politically correct approach to observing Christmas - now renamed the holiday season to all and sundry.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[familyop]

It would be interesting to see what the law of the government entity administering/funding the airport has to say about the matter. The airport took down the trees in reaction to the Rabbi wanting (and threatening to sue) to put up a menorah there. The media said that the Rabbi wanted the trees taken down.

As for people like me, you could put together another "stab in the back theory" campaign (see German history).

[BuffaloJack]

I was wished a "Merry Christmas" by a clerk at Circuit City today. I hope the young lady doesn't get in trouble for it.
It was refreshing to hear.

[garylmoore]

A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols

I went to a Christmas show at my nieces school the other day in Phx. Az and did not recognize one song that they sang, they were very careful to keep Jesus out of the program. I don't even think that I heard the word Christmas in any of the songs, makes you sick, don't it? Where have all the Christians gone?