The modern war on christmas began in the early 2000's when fox news commentator Bill O'Reilly began railing against businesses that were asking their employees to say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry christmas." Fox news and other right wing media ran with the idea that this was a direct attack on white, christian america and prompted the sale of thousands of t-shirts and bumper stickers proclaiming, "jesus is the reason for the season." Sarah Palin wrote a book on it; Pat Buchanan even went so far as to say that curbs on traditional christmas themes and greetings were "hate crimes against christianity." This was post-9/11 and fox news had surpassed CNN as the most watched news channel. Yikes.
The right (mostly fox news) added ammunition to the battle by posting which stores were not mentioning the holiday directly by name online and on news broadcasts. About this time the liberal left began protesting the inclusion of nativity scenes in public places and, as of late, have been condemning children's holiday specials like "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "A Christmas Story," and a Cleveland radio station made headlines when it banned the song, "Baby It's Cold Outside" due to "date-rapey" overtones. They condemn "Rudolph" because of the bullying and exclusionary tones and "A Christmas Story" because it displays a greedy commercialism "unrivaled in the history of Xmas."
(Regarding "Baby, It's Cold Outside:" That song, plain and simply, fucking sucks and it is not even remotely associated with Xmas. It was a piece of shit before the #mettoo movement had their say.)
It's all too much. Everyone is ruining this time of year with their beliefs, their stances, their opinions.* If you are like me and love the Xmas holiday here is what you can do to make the season bright: Make your own decisions on what you want to listen to, celebrate the holidays as you see fit, spend all your money on gifts or better yet don't. Feel nostalgic but don't let nostalgia rule the day; the holidays weren't really any better or easier when we were kids. Call an old friend, donate to a cause you believe in, most importantly spend time with family and friends. Do not read internet articles about how terrible a holiday special is or watch fox news; "war" and "christmas" should never be in the same sentence.
Merry christmas, happy holidays, good yule, happy kwanzaa, Merry Xmas, and all the best for a safe and successful 2019.
*You may notice how I have written certain words with lower case letters and others with capital letters. It shouldn't ruin you day that I will verbally wish you a "merry christmas" but I will type "Xmas" since I believe in the traditional celebrations of the holiday (Yule, winter solstice, etc.) and not the religious hijacking that took place hundreds of years ago. Opinions!
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