The White Nationalist Behind Bill O'Reilly's War on Christmas

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



The White Nationalist Behind Bill O'Reilly's War on Christmas

By Max Blumenthal, The Daily Beast. Posted December 9, 2008.

How a racist created the conservative movement's favorite holiday season outrage -- and has O'Reilly dreaming of a pure, white Christmas.




What would Christmas be without warnings of the secular crusade to destroy it? Thanks to the fulminations of cable news cranks and evangelical moralists, the War on Christmas has become an annual outrage. The story typically goes as follows: secular elements have intimidated stores into replacing the phrase “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays;” nativity scenes have been removed from public spaces under threat of ACLU lawsuits; a decadent culture is moving ever closer to eradicating Christian morality; and America slouches towards Gomorrah.

Judging from the panicked tone of movement conservatives, this year’s War on Christmas campaign threatens the country’s moral fiber more than ever. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger, the secular Grinch has claimed the economy as its latest casualty. “A nation whose people can't say 'Merry Christmas' is a nation capable of ruining its own economy,” he fumed on November 20. Having laid off 20 percent of its staff the day after Election Day, Christian right mega-ministry Focus on the Family declared “Merry Tossmas” imploring its supporters to toss out holiday season product catalogs that wish shoppers “Happy Holidays.” (The 201 freshly unemployed staffers might have more practical reasons to trash their catalogs.)

“If you can get religion out,” Bill O’Reilly warned, “then you can pass secular progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage.”

On December 2, Utah Republican state senator Chris Buttars sponsored an urgent resolution demanding that stores greet shoppers with the phrase, “Merry Christmas.” “I'm sick of the Christmas wars,” Buttars proclaimed. “We're a Christian nation and ought to use the word.”

The Christmas kulturkampf is a growth industry in a shrinking economy, providing an effective boost for conservative fundraising and a ratings bonanza for right-wing media. So who was the genius that created it? To find the answer, a visit with the ghost of conservatism’s past is in order. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/111465/the_white_nationalist_behind_bill_o%27reilly%27s_war_on_christmas/

[Heidi]

1. "If you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs

like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage.”

Hell, Bill, if we could achieve those things it would really _be_ Christmas.