The attempts to de-Christianize Christmas are as absurd as they are relentless. The United States today is the most tolerant and diverse society in history. It celebrates all faiths with an open heart and open-mindedness that, compared to even the most advanced countries in Europe, are unique.
Yet more than 80 percent of Americans are Christian, and probably 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Christmas Day is an official federal holiday, the only day of the entire year when, for example, the Smithsonian museums are closed. Are we to pretend that Christmas is nothing but an orgy of commerce in celebration of . . . what? The winter solstice?
I personally like Christmas because, since it is a day that for me is otherwise ordinary, I get to do nice things, such as covering for as many gentile colleagues as I could when I was a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital. I will admit that my generosity had its rewards: I collected enough chits on Christmas Day to get reciprocal coverage not just for Yom Kippur but for both days of Rosh Hashana and my other major holiday, Opening Day at Fenway.
10 thoughts on “Exactly”
Comments are closed.
With all due respect to Krauthammer I call bullshit on his assertion that, “The United States today is the most tolerant and diverse society in history. It celebrates all faiths with an open heart and open-mindedness that, compared to even the most advanced countries in Europe, are unique.”
Where did he research that? Has he researched every country in the history of the world? Has he forgotten Japanese internment camps and Guatanamo Bay? How about restricted country clubs? Racial profiling? How about a push for a constitutional amendment that denies basic rights to only a small segment of the population because most people feel it’s “the Christian way?”
Ever get the email that circulates from time to time calling for the right to have public prayers at high school football games? In the email it stipulates that they have to be Christian prayers, because we are a Christian nation.
A recent nationwide poll has shown 44% of Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans.
See here for story:
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-12/18/article03.shtml
I see this country moving the wrong way regarding issues of tolerance and respect to different cultures.
If they wouldn’t have attacked us, things might
be different.
They?
Thanks for making Lee’s point, JP.
I did not realize all American Islamic worshipers attacked us.
Perhaps, the attack in which you referred would not have happened if our government stopped: assassinating, economic strong-arming, rigging elections, physically attacking, staging coups suppressing democracy, exploiting resources, causing environmental degradation, and generally assuming all others should do as we say and not as we do.
Regardless of the right/wrongs our government
has done, we did NOT deserve what happened, so
quit justifying the attacks.
Why do you think that 44% of Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans? What do you think that percentage was before 9/11?
There is an American fear of Islam, and can you
blame us for that fear? It would be nice if we could all get
along and respect each others cultures, but in
this time, I don’t have much hope.
Honestly, would you feel a little uncomfortable
around a crowd of Muslims, especially in an
airplane? Honestly. I’d bet you’d be a little
apprehensive.
Dear anonymous:
Thanks for further making Lee?s point.
How would you know if you are in a crowd of Muslims? There are approximately 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, what do they look like? Can you tell a Filipino Catholic from a Filipino Muslim, or an Iraqi Christian from an Iraqi Muslim?
I never tried to justify the attack the illegitimate Bush Administration allowed to happen. On the contrary, I was merely referencing the Bible. Paul stated it well in Galatians 6:7: “Be not deceived. God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” That means governments, too.
It’s not that hard to tell when you’re around
Muslims/Arabs. You didn’t answer my question. How would you feel?
Just because governments make bad decisions, doesn’t
mean that the people of that government should
suffer as a result. This goes for all countries,
and unfortunately all governments are corrupt to
some degree.
Really JP, can you tell the difference between an Italian Muslim and an Italian Catholic? Alternatively, you are able to distinguish an Indian Sikh from an Afghani, or a Hindu from a Muslim in Bali? Likewise, can you determine that a Persian speaking Iranian is, somehow, different in appearance from an Israeli Jew, or a Lebanese Christian? Moreover, you are able to make a distinction between an Azerbaijani and an Iraqi as well as a Palestinian, from a Turk? How is this possible?
I did answer your question, JP, read between the lines. Furthermore, I would be more uncomfortable on a flight with a bunch of paranoid overreacting uninformed WASPs who fear everything they do not understand.
Unfortunately, the citizens of corrupt, bullying governments do, and have always suffered. Read some history. Citizens allow these things to happen by: ignorance, cooperation, or indifference, mostly in the name of nationalism. Have the American people been uninformed, cooperative, and complacent, yes. Are we Americans amongst the most generous of societies, absolutely. Is it appropriate to punish the innocent? I am sure you agree, absolutely not. Yet as many as 100 thousand Iraqi people, many of which are innocent women and children, have been slaughtered when the facts categorically show Iraq is not responsible for the September, 11 attacks.
Moreover, has the United States been the biggest terrorist threat to the world? unequivocally, yes. Perhaps, some of these countries ring a bell: Bangladesh, San Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iran, Palestine, and Panam?, amongst others. The death toll upon the innocent we Americans have inflicted, either directly or indirectly, totals into the millions.
Whenever, and wherever democracy takes place you can bet Uncle Sam will be there to put a stop to it. In fact, democracy was determined to be the greatest threat to US security, based on historical evidence. How could this be? Because democracy, my friend, is bad for business, especially the oil business. What will prove true, however, is that the current biggest threat to US Security is the continuation of the aggressive, imperialistic policies of the Bush Administration. Albeit these policies have been handed-down from previous administrations, Mr. Bush has taken them to a new level.
I don’t want to clutter up NewMexiken’s blog
with our debate…so I will finish up my .02
I think you’re full of crap about being
more nervous about being on a plane with
“overreacting uninformed WASPs”. I don’t
think you’re really being honest with yourself.
It comes down to this…most Muslims wouldn’t
hesitate to nuke us. I’m not afraid to say I do
not like them, and don’t give a rats if they
have their civil liberties taken away.
That’s the Christmas Spirit!
Please do not try to tell me that I am not being honest with myself. Furthermore, to say I am full of crap is not only childish; it is ill-mannered, inappropriate, and boorish.
When it comes down to it the majority of the 1.3 billion Muslims most do not want to nuke us, they want peace and for us to mind our own business and politics. A few might want to nuke you.
Perhaps you do not give a “rats ass” if your civil liberties are taken away.
Narrow-mindedness and hatred are not Christian values. You must not be a good Christian because Jesus Christ preached love, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.
Peace and Merry Christmas
Well JP, whoever you are, as John has said, you did an excellent job of proving my original premise.
Listen I have traveled to several predominately Muslim countries, including a few in the Middle East. I have flown in planes in which I was probably the only person who wasn’t a Muslim. I have rode on busses and trains in which that were also true. I’ve walked the streets, at night, in places that were almost 100% Muslim and never felt the least bit threatened. I do feel threatened when I walk the streets at night in downtown Anywhere, USA, don’t you?
Everywhere I have ever gone in the world, and that is about 50 countries, I have been treated very well and I have never tried to hide the fact that I am an American. Why was I treated well? Because I have always treated everyone else well. The vast majority of people I have met around the world have nothing against American people. It is the American government that is despised and rightly so.
While I’ve traveled the world trying my best to be an ambassador of good will the majority of Americans are crawling deeper under their rocks with a “nuke them all and let my White Anglo-American Republican God sort them out” mentality.
No nation in history has interfered more with the business of other countries. No other government has sponsored so much terrorism. Why do you think we always vote against stopping land mines? Because we build them and sell them. Why do you think giant American corporations are currently being sued for using slave labor in several countries. Who trained the guerillas in Mozambique who blew up commercial truck convoys on a regular basis. Who trained the Nicaraguan Contras that kidnapped and raped nuns, including Americans?
Everyone else in the world is acutely aware of this. They are also acutely aware that more than half of voting Americans refuse to see this. But when you talk about that within our red white and blue shores it’s treason.
Listen, the truth shall set you free. When Buddhist Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor we went to war with Japan, not Tibet. When Christian Germans went on a rampage in Europe we didn?t go to war with the Vatican. The men who blew up the world trade center and tried to do the same at the Pentagon were almost all from Saudi Arabia. So why did we go to war with Iraq? Because they have the second largest oil reserve in the world.
As long as we as a nation refuse to aknowledge this sorry state of affairs and continue pushing around the rest of the world we can expect retaliation from a few misguided souls who no more represent the values and interests of their cultures than George Dubya Bush and the CIA represent mine.