On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:33:55 GMT, " torresD" <torresd30@hotmail.com>
wrote:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/121005.html
The Meaning of (the War Over) Christmas
By Robert Parry
December 11, 2005
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/121005.html

You have to hand it to political
operatives who can turn the Christmas
celebration of Jesus's birth into a
nasty wedge issue,

transforming a traditional message of love,
peace and tolerance into one of anger,
conflict and resentment.

The success of the American Right
in extracting a "war on Christmas"
out of a few well-meaning gestures
to non-Christians,

such as using the greeting "Happy Holidays,"
is a testament to the investment conservatives
have made in media over three decades.

With their vertically integrated media apparatus -
from newspapers and magazines, to TV and radio,
to books and the Internet -

the Right now can take a few scattered
anecdotes on almost any topic and heat
them up into a hot-button issue.

This "perception management" capability
is now so powerful that even the most
absurd notions can be made convincing
to millions of Americans,

such as the idea that despite
the ubiquitous Christmas displays
throughout the United States -

from before Thanksgiving
to after Dec. 25 -

Christmas is under assault.

While an outsider arriving in the
United States might see a nation
celebrating Christmas with an unrivaled
intensity and extravagance,

the Right's media has created
another world for its followers -

where Christians are persecuted
for celebrating their faith,
where they are repressed by
cruel non-Christians and evil
secularists.

This perceived persecution exists
even as America's downtowns and
shopping malls are bedecked with
the red-and-green Christmas colors
and Christmas symbols are everywhere,
even in cities like New York with
large populations of Jews and Muslims.

Christmas Carols

Somehow,

listeners to Fox News and right-wing
talk radio are convinced that Christmas
is threatened despite the fact that Christmas
carols are pumped into nearly all public places,

including elevators and grocery stores
where both Christians and non-Christians
must go.
Some radio stations,
like the one played in the Arlington, Virginia,
coffee shop where I often go to write,

have been playing Christmas
carols since before Thanksgiving.

When I bought stamps the other day
from a U.S. Postal Service vending machine,
I had expected to get the usual
"American flag" stamps,

but instead ended up with "Santa Claus" stamps.

The USPS Web site also sells a "Dear Santa" CD,
which includes Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song"
and Vonzell Solomon's "O Come All Ye Faithful,"
with a cross-marketing deal for a Fox "Dear Santa" special.

Still, one of the complaints heard
from conservative Christians is that
the post office didn't offer a new
"Madonna and Child" stamp this season
(though you can still get the version
produced last year).

Another major beef from conservative
Christians is that the federal courts
have restricted displays of the baby
Jesus in the manger on government property
and that public schools have replaced
"Christmas concerts" with "winter concerts"
and the "Christmas vacation" with a
"winter vacation."

Nevertheless, schools are closed for
about two weeks to accommodate Americans
wishing to celebrate Christmas.

Despite the U.S. principle of
separation of church and state,

Christmas remains an official federal holiday,
an exception to the rule that is afforded no
other religious observance.

Jews, for instance, don't expect Christians
to honor Yom Kippur by taking the day off,
nor do Muslims expect the government to
show undue deference to Ramadan.

'Liberal Plot'

Our hypothetical outsider might
see the American reality as one
in which all citizens,

regardless of their religious beliefs,
are expected to join in the celebration
of Christmas.

But that is not the impression one
would get from watching Fox News,
reading conservative blogs or
listening to right-wing talk
radio.

Within the Right's media world,
conservative Americans learn how
the "liberals" and the American Civil
Liberties Union are "anti-Christian"
and out to deny American Christians
their right to observe Christmas as
they see fit.

Fox News anchor John Gibson has
made this case in his hot-selling book,

The War on Christmas:

How the Liberal Plot to Ban the
Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse
Than You Thought.

The "war on Christmas" theme has become
a centerpiece of Bill O'Reilly's rants on Fox,
a message that has resonated throughout the
Right's echo chamber.

Led by the Rev. Jerry Falwell,
some conservative Christians are
boycotting stores that offer their
customers the non-sectarian greeting
of "Happy Holidays" instead of

"Merry Christmas."

In some cases, "Merry Christmas"
is now spit out as fighting words,
much as conservatives emphasize the
words "under God" during the
Pledge of Allegiance.

Falwell has vowed to sue
"everybody who tries to inhibit
the liberties of our children and
our families from worshipping and
honoring the Lord,

as we in America are constitutionally allowed to do."

But there is a larger message in
this war on the "war on Christmas."

It is how the Right's powerful
news media can shape American
perceptions to such a degree
that a dominant group like
American Christians can be
made to see themselves as
powerless victims,

even over trivial grievances
like saying "Happy Holidays."

[For details on the Right's media power,
see Robert Parry's Secrecy & Privilege or
Lost History, great "holiday gifts."]

'Victims'

While conservative commentators often
accuse African-Americans and other minorities
of wallowing in their "victimhood,"

the Right's media has learned the
political power that comes from
letting white men, for instance,
take on the mantle of "victim."

In the 1990s,
a powerful conservative theme was
the complaint against "political
correctness,"

which often came down to
universities and other institutions
applying clumsy restrictions against
young white men shouting the n-word
at African-Americans or using
other offensive language.

Though American white men are arguably
the most privileged group on earth,
the "political correctness" theme
allowed them to bathe in the
self-pity of their "victimhood."

It allowed them to get righteous
and angry against their supposed
persecutors.

There is, of course,
a danger whenever a powerful
group begins to view itself
as the victim,

because their real power allows
these ersatz oppressed to inflict
far greater harm on their enemies
than could a group without power.

Historically,
the world has seen this phenomenon many times,
for instance, when Christians in Europe convinced
themselves that they were at the mercy of cunning
Jews.

Many of the continent's anti-Jewish
pogroms were conducted by Christians
convinced that they were simply
defending their way of life,
that they were the real victims.

Now, the United States is witnessing
a similar exploitation of Christian
fears and the fanning of Christian anger.

The "war on Christmas" theme is one
manifestation of this growing chip
on the shoulder.

The Right has learned well how it
can deploy its powerful media to
make even the most ludicrous
notion seem real -

both frightening and infuriating -
to millions of Americans.


------------------------------------------------
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra
stories in the 1980s for the Associated
Press and Newsweek.

His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege:
Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq,
can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com.

It's also available at Amazon.com,
as is his 1999 book, Lost History:
Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'

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