Under Review:

Under Review: Soldiers in the War on Christmas

Each year, the volume of “War on Christmas” coverage briefly edges out coverage of real wars. Here’s a look at some of the scuffles from this year.

By Kay Steiger, Cord Jefferson, and Erin Rosa
December 18, 2009

Have yourself a merry little war (Guerrilla Politics)

Over the past several years, America has been mired in three wars whose outcomes will affect the world irrevocably. You know them well: Afghanistan, Iraq, and, of course, Christmas.

That last one is a conflict we find ourselves considering often in these late days of December. Today, Under Review seeks to discover who its generals are, map out its battlefields, and determine if an average candy cane be swung hard enough to inflict any real damage. These are some of the latest and greatest scuffles in the War on Christmas.

Isn’t that shocking?

In late November, consumer electronics giant Best Buy circulated an advertisement promoting their Black Friday deals. Adorned with vivid colors and ultra-stylized snowflakes, it looked like any other cheesy, corporate holiday flyer, save for a small, circled line of text at the bottom: “Happy Eid al-Adha.”

Literally the “Feast of Sacrifice,” Eid al-Adha is the Islamic holiday devoted to remembering Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Tradition says that devotees should slaughter livestock on that day, then give the meat to the poor. Essentially, it’s very similar to many American holidays—for which turkeys are killed wholesale and volunteerism skyrockets at homeless shelters—and it makes sense for Best Buy to acknowledge it the way it would any wintertime celebration. That is, if you’re not a conservative. To right-wingers, Best Buy’s Eid al-Adha wishes were simply the latest salvo in the “War on Christmas.”

The American Family Association—which this year called for a boycott of the Gap after the retailer dared to wish people merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice, rather than just Christmas—has been peeved with Best Buy since 2006, when the chain said it would begin using, “Happy Holidays” in its ads, not “Merry Christmas.” But this newest subtle, respectful recognition of America’s tremendous cultural diversity was simply too much: The AFA immediately updated its “Naughty or Nice?” list, moving Best Buy from the column of companies that merely “marginalize” Christmas to the column reserved for companies that are outright “against Christmas.” Other companies in this column are Dick’s Sporting Goods, Staples, and Victoria’s Secret, naturally.

Egged on by the AFA’s nutty populist ranting, Internet bigots are of course up in arms over Best Buy’s “treachery.” Noted one Free Republic commenter: “BB is a Mpls company. Mpls is overrun with ragheads.” That’s the spirit!

1 out of 10 refusals to accept the remarkable heterogeneity of the United States.

-Cord Jefferson

Sheriff Joe doesn’t seem to get the meaning of Christmas.

If there was a humanist version of Santa Clause, he would no doubt feel obligated to leave heaps of coal for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the top law enforcement official in Phoenix Ariz., long known for his poor and degrading treatment of inmates in the “Tent City” jail he oversees, as well as his knack for his racial profiling.

Despite numerous law suits and an FBI investigation currently underway for civil rights abuses, Arpaio has refused to back down from his annual tradition of forcing detainees to listen to Christmas music for hours on end during the holiday season. Six lawsuits citing “cruel and unusual punishment” and religious discrimination have been filed in the last two years alone against the practice.

The sheriff is continuing the tradition as a means of culture war against what is seen by some Christians as the dissolution of the holiday. “We can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ in the U.S., in the world anymore,” Arpaio told ABC News. “What are we coming to? I am saying it. I am singing it. It’s gonna be in this jail, and that’s the way the ball bounces.” For those who aren’t Christian, the sheriff also claimed he would “mix in the singing Chipmunks.”

Playing music or other noises repeatedly to individuals who are trapped or incarcerated has a long history of being used as psychological warfare. Most recently it was used against prisoners in Guantanamo during interrogations. The United Nations has also said the “sounding of loud music for prolonged periods” violated its Convention Against Torture.

But a holiday that supposedly represents “good will” to all is just another excuse for Arpaio to add insult in injury for the inmates locked behind bars on Christmas.

1 out of 10 “singin’ Chipmunks.”

-Erin Rosa

Holiday spirit at rock-bottom prices!

Frank Sinatra belts out "It’s the most wonderful time of the year" over big band music while black and white children (segregated into different houses) run toward presents and rip them open. Thrilled, they hug their mothers (always corresponding by race), and the commercial cuts to a brown-haired woman smiling while she wanders the aisles of a store with a Wal-Mart cart. The slogan at the end of the commercial reads, "Christmas costs less at Wal-Mart."

There’s no corporation more willing to step into the "War on Christmas" than Wal-Mart. It’s not the first year Wal-Mart has gone with Christmas, rather than generic holiday, branding in their late-November to late-December advertising. The company announced in 2006 that they would be opting for "Christmas" marketing over the more multi-cultural "Happy Holidays" slogans that many other corporations—including Wal-Mart prior to 2006—have adopted in recent years. FOX News pundits like Bill O’Reilly, who proudly decries the "War on Christmas" because it will lead to "euthanasia, abortion at will, [and] gay marriage." Perhaps someone at Wal-Mart has been listening to too much O’Reilly.

Wal-Mart’s bring-the-Christ-back-to-Christmas strategy is also a little strange, given that the country is becoming more diverse every day and that Millennials, the future of our nation and thus also of our retail buying, are the generation that least identifies as religious. Plus I highly doubt it’s only Christians who shop at Wal-Mart, and adopting Christmas marketing isn’t going to make anyone convert. The only thing they risk is offending some customers and losing out on profit. I’d suggest Wal-Mart go with a more direct approach, "This shit is cheap. Buy it."

2 out of 10 claims of "flat footedness" when drafted to fight the "War on Christmas."

-Kay Steiger

Kay Steiger is the editor of Campus Progress. Cord Jefferson and Erin Rosa are associate editors at Campus Progress.

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Comments

1. What we forget in all of this crazy rightwing harrangue over Christmas is that it technically, officially, according to history and tradition does not begin until sundown on Dec. 24th. Everything up till then is Advent, and some churches still do not sing Christmas carols during Advent, waiting until Christmas eve for that. But, holding onto the ancient Christian tradition of celebrating Advent lost out to the commercialization of Christmas many decades ago.

   — Rev. Skip - Jan 1, 12:05 PM - #