Pro-Christmas = Anti-Semitic?

According to this writer, anyone who is upset by the disappearance of the word "Christmas" from public discourse is really attacking the jews.

I suppose there are individual Jews (or Muslims, or others) who prefer to be wished “happy holidays,” but that is simply neither here nor there. As for the secular liberal groups making war on the term, they don’t exist either. The whole issue was invented by the far right to divide Americans from one another, at Christmastime no less. As the Christmas warriors probably know, the reason businesses have adopted the term “the holidays” in place of Christmas is that Christmas is one day, December 25th. “The holidays” suggests a period that runs from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, more time for shopping and exchanging. Anti-Christmas animus is a myth.

[...]t may also be why, when asked who the power was behind the “war on Christmas”, he answered, “Now the reason this is happening is because of the ACLU and George Soros, Peter Lewis. Just a reminder: George Soros and Peter Lewis are the far-left, secular progressive billionaires who have funded -- they pour money into the ACLU, they pour money into the smear websites, you know, they buy up a lot of the media time. And they basically want to change the country from a Christian-based philosophical country to a secular progressive country like they have in Western Europe.” Soros is a Holocaust survivor, in addition to being a billionaire who backs liberal causes. Lewis, also a billionaire, is a major donor to progressive and Jewish causes.

This week O’Reilly really went to town. After showing a clip from John Stewart’s late night show which extolled separation of church and state, O’Reilly said. “There you go, Jon Stewart….We know what he’s doing over there [on Comedy Central]. And it’s not just Stewart. You know, 90 percent of quote unquote entertainers are secular progressives…And a Merry Christmas to you John Stewart. As I said in my newspaper column this week, three wise men showed up to honor the baby Jesus way back when. And if corporate executives are not wise enough to emulate that, well, those of us who respect Christmas might look elsewhere.”

Presumably, O’Reilly knows that Stewart is Jewish. And that may be why a few days later he brought on Jewish comedian Jackie Mason, who endorsed everything O’Reilly said about the anti-Christmas war and added that he was founding a new organization called “Jews Against the Defamation of Christmas.” Mason, who recently refused to perform in a show because an Arab-American was on the bill and who makes little effort to disguise his racism (he once called Mayor Dinkins of New York a “fancy shvartze with a moustache”) said he was horrified that “if you want to say something good, talk about love and brotherhood by recognizing Christ as the savior…all this is not allowed.” He also joined O’Reilly in his denunciation of George Soros and others like him as “sick people” whose goal is to “destroy Christmas.”

Several points here. First, I know that at least one chain gave the excuse about "Holidays" representing Thanksgiving through New Years but there is only one holiday in that spread that 95% of the population commemorates by giving gifts. Starting the weekend after Halloween, stores are decorated in a way associated exclusively with Christmas especially the infamous holiday tree.

Second, the ACLU is disproportionatly jewish and is the vanguard against public celebration of Christmas. I don't believe in jewish conspiraces but I do see a lot of liberal jews involved in the fight.

Yes, Jon Stewart is jewish. He also made fun of the pro-Christmas people. He injected himself into the debate.

I'm not sure why they ring Jackie Mason's name up. They recite hs credentials as an intolerant jew. If the anti-Christmas thing bothers him then it must really be over the top.

Over at the Huffington Post, this writer thinks that the whole issue was manufactured by evangelicals. I'm not sure where the Catholic League fits into this theory.

Evangelicals keep coming up whenever someone defends the "holidays". Granted Jerry Falwell is involved but there is a big antipathy between liberals and the religious. It comes up over and over. For example, here is another entry in today's Huffington Post.

[...] one thing I've written a lot about is the religious right. You went to great lengths in Cruel and Unusual to expose what you called the Christo-fascist movement in America and how it extends to the highest levels of our government. How much of this movement is truly about Jesus and Christianity and how much of the movement is simply about consolidation of power under the guise of biblical morality?

If you Google "christ0-fascist" you find that it is a popular term on the left. Over at the Daily Kos last week, someone posted an account of an anti-creationist professor being beaten up (there has since been some question about what actually happened). The comments quickly started alternating between attacks on religion and calls for armed rebellion (the site is down for maintenance right now so I can't post any examples).

It comes down to this:

1. There really is an informal movement in this country to remove all public references to Christmas.
2. There really are people on the left who are rabidly against Christians.

Personally I think that Falwell and crew have gone overboard. President Bush's holiday card is an example. At the same time, there is some truth to their charges.