Friday, December 09, 2005
STIFF-ARMED SALUTES?
Savage Dan over at the Slog berates the religious right's assertion there is a "war on Christmas:"
"Merry Fucking Christmas"
http://www.thestranger.com/blog/archives/2005/12/04-10.php#a002843
Savage Dan brands the idea there is an oppressed christian majority fascism, likening it to the " aggrieved/oppressed majority stuff..." that was used by Hitler to "get World War II started."
He makes a special target out of Bill O'Reilly:
"It’s cute and funny now, and O’Reilly’s a blowhard and a gasbag, but it’s one small step down a road that's lead to gas chambers in the past. But, hey, let’s all salute Christmas—Merry Christmas, Bill! Stiff-armed salutes, of course, are preferred. Next year they may be mandatory."
Hyperbole, of course. But as with any "extravagant exaggeration," it begins with a kernel of truth. There is a minority among the majority who do buy into the "persecuted christian" shtick.
If you don't know any of them, I can introduce you to a few...
But really... gas chambers? It takes ten years in this country to execute axe-murderers... I think Savage Dan underestimates the bottomless depths of American tolerance.
When it serves you, you might call it "checks and balances." When it gets in your way you might call it "gridlock." The fact is America is a vast muddle in the middle that tolerates and at the same time dismisses extremists of all positions, and we have evolved a government that expresses this. It's maddening to people of principle, irrespective of what the principles are, but America does and will continue to accept the right of any looney idealist not wielding a gun or bomb to vent.
Any loon... You, me, Bill O'Reilly, or Savage Dan.
So merry fucking Christmas, Dan, from an Atheist who sings christmas carols...
"Merry Fucking Christmas"
http://www.thestranger.com/blog/archives/2005/12/04-10.php#a002843
Savage Dan brands the idea there is an oppressed christian majority fascism, likening it to the " aggrieved/oppressed majority stuff..." that was used by Hitler to "get World War II started."
He makes a special target out of Bill O'Reilly:
"It’s cute and funny now, and O’Reilly’s a blowhard and a gasbag, but it’s one small step down a road that's lead to gas chambers in the past. But, hey, let’s all salute Christmas—Merry Christmas, Bill! Stiff-armed salutes, of course, are preferred. Next year they may be mandatory."
Hyperbole, of course. But as with any "extravagant exaggeration," it begins with a kernel of truth. There is a minority among the majority who do buy into the "persecuted christian" shtick.
If you don't know any of them, I can introduce you to a few...
But really... gas chambers? It takes ten years in this country to execute axe-murderers... I think Savage Dan underestimates the bottomless depths of American tolerance.
When it serves you, you might call it "checks and balances." When it gets in your way you might call it "gridlock." The fact is America is a vast muddle in the middle that tolerates and at the same time dismisses extremists of all positions, and we have evolved a government that expresses this. It's maddening to people of principle, irrespective of what the principles are, but America does and will continue to accept the right of any looney idealist not wielding a gun or bomb to vent.
Any loon... You, me, Bill O'Reilly, or Savage Dan.
So merry fucking Christmas, Dan, from an Atheist who sings christmas carols...
