Stop pretending there is a war on Christmas

We’re Americans. It’s time to act like it.

It’s that time of year when the usual holiday garbage begins to recirculate on Facebook and other social media platforms – does it ever really stop?

Let’s clear the air and flush the fertilizer that clogs up our social media feeds and fuels anger and frustration instead of providing holiday cheer.

There is no war on Christmas. There never was. You can say Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you feel like. The First Amendment gives you that right. You can also call it X-mas. It’s not hurting anyone and it’s not disrespectful. It’s not taking Christ out of Christmas. It is an abbreviation. The X comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became Christ in English.

It’s OK to play Christmas music all month long (even before Thanksgiving). It’s not against the law (unless it’s “The Christmas Shoes,” “Santa Baby,” “Last Christmas,” or anything by Mariah Carey).

Stop saying certain songs and holiday programs are banned (unless they’re on the aforementioned list). They’re not. News flash: You can listen to any song and watch any TV special you want (unless it’s “Elf” with Will Ferrell – I will judge you!). Trust me, the PC police are not coming.

And if the networks and radio stations don’t play your favorite holiday fare, guess what? This is America. They don’t have to. That doesn’t mean they’re banned or the broadcaster is banning anything. It may be something as simple as they can’t sell advertising for it or its declining ratings are no longer worth airing it. Or maybe it’s so lame that nobody else cares about it.

You can put up a nativity scene on your front lawn. Unless you are in a homeowners’ association that prohibits all lawn decoration, go for it. If your neighbors can put up Santa or the Grinch, then by all means, put Jesus in the manger.

While we’re at it, don’t vilify the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving. They didn’t come here to subjugate or annihilate Native Americans. They came here to find religious liberty and a new start.

A day of giving thanks is not the time to beat the war drums in protest of European settlement of America. What European settlers did to Native Americans is tragic and a point of national shame, but that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

If a day of recognition and mourning for Native Americans is needed, I suggest moving the focus from Thanksgiving to Nov. 29, the day in 1864 when hundreds of peaceful Cheyennes and Arapahos were brutally slaughtered in the Sand Creek Massacre. Or maybe the Dec. 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre. Those events more than anything exemplify the crimes of whites against the native people.

 

Know the real enemy

To borrow from cartoonist Walt Kelly’s 1970 Pogo comic, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Facebook has made that abundantly clear.

It’s disheartening to see how easily people are manipulated into anger and offense by memes, half-truths and lies. I don’t know what is worse, the fact that people would put such garbage out there or that people would be so quick to eat it up and turn on one another.

I continually flirt with the idea of getting off Facebook and most all other social media platforms, but the need to stay connected to family and friends keeps me going. Then someone will post nonsense about politics or the pandemic and everything gets all riled up again.

So here’s the deal. If you really value Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the holidays this time of year, let’s act like we believe in the messages of gratitude, peace, and love.

Stop commenting on the negative. Feed the positive. Flood your feeds with beauty, joy, gratitude and contentment.

Celebrate and have fun. Life is too short to swim in the sewer. That is the American way.

 

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. You can contact him at news@journal-spectator.com.