Thanks, MAGI (Mad and Grumpy Idiots). Thanks, wingnuts for defending Christmas against the imaginary attacks on it.
Today I got my morning cup of coffee in the cafeteria and put the sleeve on it. Still half asleep, it took me a second to notice that the sleeve was a different color. Decorative, in fact. Red background with white snowflakes and stars. So what was my very next thought? Yep, “Holidays” or “Christmas?”
I smiled when I saw, “Holiday Greetings.” I smiled at the idea that I was even thinking about the topic. I smiled at the futility of the attack on the attack on Christmas. And, as everyone knows, the least little rib tickle is often enough to get one’s day headed in the right direction.
It did, and it was. Though I did not yet know that I was headed towards writing what’s below.
My now awakened mind ran next to thoughts of how much I have learned in the past few weeks thanks to the MAGI.
I learned that the New York Times editorialists can debunk shrill but false claims of grave and gathering dangers.
And they can do so while teaching me some interesting history.
America has a complicated history with Christmas, going back to the Puritans, who despised it. -snip-
Throughout the 1800’s, many religious leaders were still trying to hold the line. As late as 1855, New York newspapers reported that Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were closed on Dec. 25 because “they do not accept the day as a Holy One.” On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states. -snip-
They are also rewriting Christmas history on another key point: non-Christians’ objection to having the holiday forced on them.
The campaign’s leaders insist this is a new phenomenon – a “liberal plot,” in Mr. Gibson’s words. But as early as 1906, the Committee on Elementary Schools in New York City urged that Christmas hymns be banned from the classroom, after a boycott by more than 20,000 Jewish students.
And I learned about the repugnant history of Jew baiting in response to these children and what they represent from Hunter.
The MAGI inspired me to learn still more reasons to shun them, it seems.
Best of all, I learned something about myself: sometimes I can just smile and have a pure chuckle at the MAGI. Resentment and hate didn’t push their way into my thoughts. For once, I wasn’t frustrated by their insistent stupidity, or, as Hunter once put it, wanton dumbassitude. I didn’t need to stoke the fires of my righteous indignation (although in preparing this diary I did pause to marvel once again at Hunter’s rantfastic take on the subject).
Today, I could just smile and laugh, not so much at the MAGI nor with them, and just be grateful for all I had learned.
You see, O’Reilly has accomplished part of his mission . He has raised the level of my sensitivity.
I’ve been sensitized all right, but just the funny bone part. I find myself on a higher plane of understanding the meaning of “ticklish subject.”
Now, every time I see “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” I smile with a bit of the same warm shiver ZuZu Bailey must have felt every time she heard a bell ring.
The bells are ringing indeed. Having had my coffee and my chuckle, my morning routine continued with my usual glance at the morning’s news. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? Millions more gifts of holiday cheer.
Thanks, MAGI.
