{"id":92,"date":"2005-12-05T00:42:10","date_gmt":"2005-12-05T07:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=92"},"modified":"2018-11-30T18:34:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T02:34:24","slug":"the-central-front-in-the-war-on-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=92","title":{"rendered":"The Central Front In The War On Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The War on Christmas is the latest fabrication from the theo-con hack factory. Its premise is that a cabal of secularists are conspiring to deprive America of its Christmas celebration. But despite the protestations that this is a matter of faith by Christian Ayatollahs like Jerry Falwell (who has initiated a Christmas Friend or Foe<\/a> campaign), it was Bill O’Reilly who revealed that this is really a matter of profit not Prophet.<\/p>\n

\"War<\/p>\n

On his TV program, O’Reilly said:<\/a><\/p>\n

“Every company in America should be on its knees thanking Jesus for being born. Without Christmas, most American businesses would be far less profitable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There you have it. Christ died on the cross for your net receipts and a favorable business environment. That’s a far cry from the guy who threw the moneychangers out of the temple.<\/p>\n

The fact is that demagogues like O’Reilly, Falwell, Sean Hannity, John Gibson (whose book The War on Christmas<\/a>, was released just in time for holiday shopping), and others, are using this manufactured controversy in much the same way that retailers use Christmas. It’s a way to exploit popular culture to increase exposure and profits. But what happened to trusting the market? If these hypocrites truly believed in the free market they purport to worship, then why don’t they let the market decide if campaigns extolling Happy Holidays<\/em> have appeal to consumers. Not only are they unable to practice the economic values they espouse, they take it much farther by actually integrating Christmas into the economy.<\/p>\n

The argument going around is that the economy would suffer devastating losses were there no Christmas. The moronically simplistic justification for that position is that, since people buy things during the Christmas season, if there were not one, they would not buy things. However, it seems unlikely that the money now spent on gifts would get sucked into some fiscal black hole absent this seasonal excuse to consume. Without Christmas, people would still spend their money on themselves and their families. They may put it into retirement or college funds, in which case it would still eventually be spent and circulate through the economy. And even if they just kept it in the bank, the increased personal savings rate would prime economic growth. Where’s the loss?<\/p>\n

It should be noted that the exploitation of Christmas as a political cudgel is nothing new. In 1959 the John Birch Society issued a pamphlet titled “There Goes Christmas?!”<\/em> that warned:<\/p>\n

“One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas — to denude the event of its religious meaning.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Henry Ford’s 1921 tract “The International Jew,”<\/em> stated:<\/p>\n

“The whole record of the Jewish opposition to Christmas, Easter and other Christian festivals, and their opposition to certain patriotic songs, shows the venom and directness of [their] attack…And it has become pretty general. Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone’s Birth…Now, all this begins with the designers of the cards.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here I must make a confession. I am the designer of the cards<\/strong>, and Jewish to boot. I am an artist with a small business wherein I market my artwork on cards, magnets coasters, etc. In fact, the image attached to this article is available at my website, Crass Commerce<\/a>, along with many more works of fine art, humor, and politics. And need I remind you that they make wonderful Christmas presents.<\/p>\n

I can’t say that I’m serving the interests of a secular cabal, but at least I’m contributing to the cornucopia of consumption that O’Reilly, et al, must certainly regard as sacrosanct. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The War on Christmas is the latest fabrication from the theo-con hack factory. Its premise is that a cabal of secularists are conspiring to deprive America of its Christmas celebration. But despite the protestations that this is a matter of faith by Christian Ayatollahs like Jerry Falwell (who has initiated a Christmas Friend or Foe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[26,98,100,99,470],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-graphix","tag-bill-oreilly","tag-christmas","tag-henry-ford","tag-jerry-falwell","tag-war-on-christmas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/FoxNews\/war-on-christmas.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-1u","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":726,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=726","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":0},"title":"John Bolton Blames America First","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/29\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a Society of Conservative Demagogues (SCD) who specialize in spewing a sort of Patriopathic\u2122 zeal that is really not much more than low grade sanctimony. They are descended from Crusaders and Witch Burners and the defective souls who have convinced themselves of their own infallibility. Their contemporary Cardinals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5999,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5999","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":1},"title":"Media Matters: Bill O’Reilly Covers The War On Christmas More Than Actual Wars","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/22\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Media Matters reviewed the content of Bill O'Reilly's December programming and discovered something that reveals the truth about his long-standing \"War on Christmas.\" \"Every year, 'Culture Warrior' Bill O'Reilly devotes considerable time on his Fox News show to the 'War on Christmas.' This December, O'Reilly has covered the imaginary 'War\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11114,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11114","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":2},"title":"Merry (War On) Christmas: Bill O’Reilly Declares Victory – Again","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/19\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fox News driven War On Christmas is a peculiar conflict that only seems to flare up every year after Thanksgiving. Apparently both sides go into retreat between New Year's Day and Halloween. But that isn't the only peculiarity about this war. Fox News' general in the battlefield is Wily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1158","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":3},"title":"Why Christmas Matters To Bill O’Reilly","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/21\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In his Talking Points Memo this week, Bill O'Reilly endeavored to describe a matter that must be very dear and personal for him: Why Christmas Matters. So with an earnestness that befit the occasion, he began by talking about his TV ratings and why his viewers, who are insufficiently alarmed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23021,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=23021","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":4},"title":"Christmas Warrior Bill O’Reilly Links Phony War To Climate Change Denial","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/3\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The war on Christmas began in earnest in October when Fox News went into a frenzy over new federal regulations aimed at reducing the number of injuries and deaths caused by faulty electric holiday decorations. After all, losing a few Christian soldiers in the name of festive light displays is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Republican ObamaCare Christmas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/FoxNews\/nrcc-obamacare-xmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":90,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=90","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":5},"title":"O’Reilly HOLIDAY Ornaments For Sale At Fox","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/30\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill O'Reilly has been making a lot of noise recently about Heathens who want to steal Christmas and kill Santa. The plot hinges on pressuring retailers to replace their commercial appeals for a \"Merry Christmas\", with the more inclusive \"Happy Holidays.\" He has gone so far as to call for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39881,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/39881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}