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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 12/06/2005 : 07:38:52
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Over at the MediaMatters site, they've got a section devoted to the Right Wing echo chamber's claims about the "war" on Christmas staged by the Left. Over in the New York Times, Adam Cohen penned an op-ed on the topic:quote:
Religious conservatives have a cause this holiday season: the commercialization of Christmas. They're for it.
The American Family Association is leading a boycott of Target for not using the words "Merry Christmas" in its advertising. (Target denies it has an anti-Merry-Christmas policy.) The Catholic League boycotted Wal-Mart in part over the way its Web site treated searches for "Christmas." Bill O'Reilly, the Fox anchor who last year started a "Christmas Under Siege" campaign, has a chart on his Web site of stores that use the phrase "Happy Holidays," along with a poll that asks, "Will you shop at stores that do not say 'Merry Christmas'?"
This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."
Of course, there's no irony lost on the fact that Fox's parent company, News Corp., is sending invites for its "holiday" party. Perhaps O'Reilly should boycott his own company?
In any case, these people are amazing in that they'll pimp anything for ratings. Any person with any business sense will tell you that by sticking with a religious-neutral phrase like "happy holidays," you can manage to be more inclusive and thus-- get this-- generate more business by not alientating certain customer groups. No, no one is going to be too offended if they're told "Merry Christmas" even if that person is Jewish. But it probably helps in the overall image department if you're more inclusive, rather than less.
But that's all changed, as now these extemists want people to boycott companies that don't kowtow to the Christian-- and only Christian-- worldview. December is their month and all other possible holidays must be banished in the name of Jesus. Ant whatnot.
And finally, given that Christmas and New Years are a week apart, can't Happy Holidays just refer to those two events?
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2005 : 07:44:02 [Permalink]
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| I thought Wal-Mart was a christian store ??? |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2005 : 09:05:41 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by pleco
I thought Wal-Mart was a christian store ???
Well they certainly cater to the Christian crowd. However, they aren't stupid, either. Mega-corporations spend many millions working to portray themselves in very positive ways. This ranges from the very obvious to the very subtle. (For instance, notice the recent image shift for British Petrolium-- they call themselves BP (suggesting that it might mean "beyond petrolium" (ha!), and now use the yellow-green "sunburst" to try and angle them as more environmentally friendly. Other examples abound.) When Wal-Mart markets things as "holiday" and not "Christmas" it's because they want as many non-Christians as possible to buy their shit. If, in December, a largely secular family sets up and decorate a tree, are they more likely to buy a Christmas ornament, or a holiday ornament? Perhaps it won't make a difference. But why not play the odds and try and be inclusive? Indeed, as many Christians complained of the marketing of Christmas, this seemed like a bright move-- take out the Christmas and you (presumably) please everyone.
But that's the problem for the Right Wing echo chamber of AM talk radio. They make money by being angry and portraying themselves (and, by extention, their listeners) as victims of the Elite Establishment. It worked in the late 80's and early 90's-- Democrats controlled Congress and the Presidency. By portraying the media as liberal and hostile to Christians, they motivated a huge segment of the population to change things. But now, a decade later, they're in power. They run all branches of American politics and have browbeat the meadia into a shell of its former self. So to keep the money rolling in, the echo chamber types have to fabricate new issues to rally the base. This Christmas bit is just the latest attempt to convince the many millions of Christians whose culture dominates American society that a small band of nameless elites are trying to erase their holiday! |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2005 : 10:28:45 [Permalink]
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This is so bizarre. Christmas is obviously the biggest holiday in America in December. Christmas celebrations are why Jews and Pagans and other non-Christians have jumped on the band wagon by hyping up our own December holidays. The idea that the inclusive "Happy Holidays" is "anti-Christmas" is so fucked up.
On the bright side, I'm pretty sure the majority of Americans see this as a non-issue. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/13/2005 : 18:36:58 [Permalink]
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Bill O'Reilly lies again.
quote:
(TV5) -- A Mid-Michigan Township makes national news but there's a problem, local officials say the whole thing was made up.
Bill O'Reilly is making the claim that Saginaw Township officials banned residents from wearing red and green during the holiday season. Local officials say he's dead wrong.
Syndicated controversial talk show host Bill O’Reilly said on his radio show:
“In Saginaw , Michigan , the township opposes red and green clothing…on Anyone, In Saginaw Township they basically said anybody, we don’t want you wearing red or green. I would dress up from head to toe in red to green if I were in Saginaw Michigan .”
-- Bill O’Reilly
This whole thing is so asinine that it is not suprising that a mendicatious clown like O'Reilly would jump on and tnto the bandwagon.
If his mouth were any bigger, he'd fall in it.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 12/13/2005 : 18:48:34 [Permalink]
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Fresh in from the Onion....
Activist Judge Cancels Christmas
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43438 |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2005 : 02:48:03 [Permalink]
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John Stewart did a blurb on this particulat moron on his show Tuesday...
Basically it has Orielly going on for a bit about how no non-christian is going to be offended by 2 simple words, that no reasonable person is offended by those tow simple words... "merry christmas".
Then he procedes to claim he is offended by two other simple words... "happy holidays".
Bill Oreilly is an anal wort of the sphincter of US media(FOX). Sadly, even those jackasses wouldn't keep him on the air if no one listened/watched him. Its a statement about us as much as it is a statement about Bill himself, that he is still on the air.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2005 : 05:02:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
John Stewart did a blurb on this particulat moron on his show Tuesday...
Basically it has Orielly going on for a bit about how no non-christian is going to be offended by 2 simple words, that no reasonable person is offended by those tow simple words... "merry christmas".
Then he procedes to claim he is offended by two other simple words... "happy holidays".
Bill Oreilly is an anal wort of the sphincter of US media(FOX). Sadly, even those jackasses wouldn't keep him on the air if no one listened/watched him. Its a statement about us as much as it is a statement about Bill himself, that he is still on the air.
Too true, too true. Even I keep track of him and other's of the ilk, albeit for the purpose of scandalizing their names, rather than gleaning any reliable information -- which would not be forthcoming in any event.
Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Savage (a nom d'blither for one Michael Weiner), et al., are in no way to be considered journalists. They are mere entertainers; punchinellos behind a facade of false respectability.
The reason they keep their gigs is a simple one: they get reactions. It matters not at all whether the reaction is composed of righteous indignation or furious condemnation, it sells papers and TV ads, and that is all that counts.
Kind'a sad, ain't it, that these whores that have turned us into their regular johns?
Edit: Star, I check in with the excellent MediaMatters regularly and have seen most (but missed a couple) of those articles. Thanks for posting them!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 12/14/2005 05:09:23 |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2005 : 05:47:49 [Permalink]
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| Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" is completely accurate. Provided that you agree completely with Bill O'Reilly's spin. I think Bill is delusional and needs help. |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 01:49:30 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by moakley
Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" is completely accurate. Provided that you agree completely with Bill O'Reilly's spin. I think Bill is delusional and needs help.
I believe the correct diagnosis is pathological liar. There is a delusion component but lying is more of the dominant feature than psychosis. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 03:10:30 [Permalink]
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Something I stumbled across last night while looking for something else.... From Media Matters:
quote:
Results: Tagged with War on Christmas
Sort by: Latest Items Video Clips Audio Clips
O'Reilly's Midwestern Yuletide smear tour rolls on to "Madison, Wisconsin, where you expect those people to be communing with Satan"
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 2:55PM
O'Reilly's false claim about bans on holiday clothing makes him Olbermann's "Worst Person"
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 1:51PM
Daily Show featured Media Matters coverage of Fox News' hypocrisy in "war" on Christmas
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 1:36PM
O'Reilly's claim about Michigan town's opposition to Christmas colors is "flat-out not true"
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 4:42PM
O'Reilly falsely claimed a Texas school district banned red and green clothing, called move "fascism"
These are all links to various quotes by various imbeciles and there are no less than 2 pages of them.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 12:26:45 [Permalink]
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| Of note, heard today, "Happy Holy Day" you imbeciles. What is so anti Christian about that? The fact we've shortened it to holiday? |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 12/16/2005 12:27:14 |
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