the skippy’s are a mixed marriage. skippy comes from a protestant background, mrs. skippy from the jewish heritage.
the result is a strange mixing of traditions this time a year. for instance, every night for 8 nights, they set a christmas tree on fire.
it is with this in mind, that we were taken aback watching the headline news network last night, which was not only christmas, but the also first night of hanukkah (the first time that’s happened since 1997).
more after the jump:
hnn reported on homeland security chief michael chertoff’s participation in the lighting of the national menorah in washington, dc.
we thought that was nice of headline news, to recognize the traditions of jewish americans during this time of year. but we were taken aback by the wording of the story.
the reporter said that the menorah was lit to celebrate a biblical “story” in which one day’s worth of oil “appeared” to last for eight days.
we would have no quarrel with the equivocations, if the top-down media would only do the same for christian traditions as well.
but when was the last time you heard anyone on the news describe christmas as a celebration of the “biblical story” about the birth of a child who “appeared” to be the son of god?
just wondering. pass the candy cane latkes, please.
am i being overly sensitive? (especially considering i’m not even jewish?)
…this issue has always bugged me as well. Of course, over the past couple of decades, the old stand-off approach to much news has changed. You know, in which, to give one example, a reporter says, “U.S. forces today captured an enemy tank” instead of “Our soldiers captured an enemy tank.”
But, ever since I can remember, it’s always been something like, “Pilgrims have gone in record numbers to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born 2000 years ago” instead of “Pilgrims have gone in record numbers to Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born 2000 years ago.”
When it comes to religion on television news, it’s almost always this way. The views of Christianity are presented as factual; of other religions, if presented at all, always qualified as mere belief.
I’m not Jewish and I noticed the same misrepresentations. It bothered me too. I’m Christian but not in the formal sense. I believe each has their own choice that deserves respect and we could all be right or all be wrong.
The most bizarre was Fox who painfully wished a Merry Christmas several times with no mention of Hanukkah(sp). They took the correctness to an incorrect state.
Well I am a (secular) Jew but it doesn’t bother me because if you aren’t a Christian in America, you get used to (at best) benign neglect.
If they did call Hanukkah a ‘biblical story’, that was a much bigger mistake since it does not appear in the bible but is a holiday based on historical events.
i distinctly heard them say it was a “biblical story,” using those two words together. it rankled me, because they never say anything about jesus is a “biblical story.”
as for the legend of hanukkah not being a biblical story, now that you mention it, you’re right! good catch, andi!