Saturday, November 24, 2012

The War on the "War on Christmas" - A Case of Utterly Misplaced Priorities


Every holiday season the boyfriend - a/k/a "Martha Stewart" or "Mein Fuhrer" when he gets really bossy - decorates our house like, well Martha Stewart.  And when he's in serious decorating mode like he is today he puts on a radio station that plays nonstop holiday music which he sends throughout the house on the stereo system.  Some of the music is beautiful, some awful, and some thought provoking.  In the later category is a piece that has played several times so far today:  "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.  Among the lyrics are the following:

It's Christmastime, there's no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime

But say a prayer, Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear

 Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

The lyrics then launch onto the refrain "feed the world."  If you watched the video above, most of the performers hardly meet the standards of the American Christofascists.  Indeed, the Tony Perkins and James Dobsons, and Pat Robertsons of the Christian Right likely view them as godless atheists or worse.  Yet the performers got the message that escapes the professional Christian crowd.

The contrast is damning.  What do we see from the Christianists and the professional Christian set?  Money being spent to fight the fabricated "war on Christmas" by retailers who merely have the decency to use the phrase "Happy Holidays" out of respect for their Jewish and non-Christian customers.  Worse yet, we have seen the Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and the National Organization for Marriage and similar groups expend millions and millions of dollars over the last few years to deprive LGBT citizens of full CIVIL law rights.  Oh, and let's not forget their dissemination of anti-gay hatred frighteningly similar to the model found in the Nazi propaganda against those of the Jewish faith in Europe.  Millions of dollars that could have and should have been expended feeding and caring for the starving populations across the globe or even the needy here in America.

It would seem that the lyrics "Do they know it's Christmastime at all?" better applies to those in the Christianist and Republican Party ranks who make a mockery of the Gospel message of Christ than it does to those still starving in Africa.   Christianity is becoming increasingly ugly and it is the "godly Christian" set who are turning it into something nothing short of evil. 

P.S. In a final irony, the 2011 Glee episode "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" featured a cover of the song performed by members of the show's cast - all net proceeds from the single have been donated to the Band Aid Trust.  Yet the Christianists describe Glee as "demonic."  Can we talk Christianist hypocrisy?

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