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I've spent a couple days trying to sort through this and come to some understanding, as the behavior of some of the right-wing Christians in the christmas flack has been so shocking and (seemingly) out-of-character with christian principles.
I agree with you, I think Christ would fall down and weep his eyes out at the behavior some of his followers are exhibiting in his name. It's disgraceful and it is harmful to other individuals, to society and ultimately, I believe to themselves. (I mean, what good do they do themselves when they coerce, force and manipulate other people to say "merry christmas" to them instead of "happy holidays'?? That type of controlling behavior is an abuse of power and ultimately erodes the spirit of the coercer).
In trying to gain some perspective on the matter, I am reminded that there is a group of conservatives who have been talking about the culture war for years now, and we (the left, or at least me) have pretty much discounted that kind of talk. It's not something we've recognized or given any validity to, yet the talk has continue.
Well, today I think that they've been serious about this culture war business. I think they believe they have been the victims of some forces engaged in changing the culture in ways they are not comfortable with and don't like (I am not going to speak about whether there is any truth to their charges or not, but only to give validity to their BELIEF that they have been victimized).
It occurred to me yesterday that they have been engaged in this culture war for years now, and we have not. We have just been going about doing whatever, living our lives, expressing ourselves and our creativity, doing our jobs, raising our kids, trying to make the world a better place. While in the meantime, another group of Americans (however large or small I do not know), has been recruited into a war against us.
Now, "they" have become emboldened by the election results. from their perspective, it was "our" election that was won, "we" are so proud that GWB "is one of us," "we" won this election for GWB and now IT'S PAYBACK TIME BABY!
As I see it, the christmas flack was a head-on attack of the culture war. After years of suffering the onslaught of the left eroding their culture, "that group" (whoever they are) now has power and they are going to use it to fight back.
I think we need to wake up to the idea that they are taking this seriously and are seriously intent upon causing us pain and inflicting injury. They are organized, they are motivated, and they have a communications system in place to call out their troops. (As an aside, yesterday the question of the hour on C-Span's Washington Journal was "has christmas become part of the battle?" On the right's phone line, caller after caller recited their talking points: our founders founded this nation as a christian nation, christmas is a christian holiday, it should be celebrated as a christian holiday), they all had the points down in a row. Someone must be sending out an email list telling them what to say when they call into c-span.)
I think we need to take a look at this and figure out if and how we should respond, these attacks are likely going to continue.
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