Sunday, November 25, 2007

Let your heart be light and make the Yuletide gay?

Christmas season is upon us, and with it, Christmas fatigue. As if Thanksgiving weren't heavy enough, here comes the onslaught of tinsle, muzak, guilt, paper, and pine.

Oh -- and in case you didn't know it -- there's a war on.

5 comments:

Nancy D., Girl Detective said...

I don't really think old Hitch has the temperament/personality to send this message in this forum, do you?

Betty and Bimbo said...

Hmmm...I don't know...those ACLU people tend to come off pretty lame. I don't think the host's quotes from Benjamin Franklin are compelling at all, and they keep interrupting old Hitch. He has to just keep poking in there to make his points against the Christmas guy who looks like he's a tourist from 1982.

That said, I have noticed that every Hitch appearance on TV tends to devolve into him saying "Why did you invite me on your prograrm if you don't want me to talk?," a fair point, but it gets old. Still, what Hitchens says shouldn't be shocking, but it is, because no one on TV ever says these things.

Nancy D., Girl Detective said...

He's so grumpy--and British--and he's railing against Christmas--remind you of anyone?

I guess I also don't think this issue (holiday tree vs. Christmas tree) is all too important--of course it's a Christmas tree! Who are they kidding? I think he would be more compelling if he said the state government should get rid of the tree altogether, not make reference to the Solstice or Druids or whatever.

What is crazy about these conversations is that at this point all the participants--host and interviewees--are talking in internal code that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to the audience. They jump from Ben Franklin to "the deist argument" to intelligent design in illogical leaps that only make sense within the context of this screwy religion and American life argument that the religious right has invented out of whole cloth.

Betty and Bimbo said...

Wouldn't it be great if Hitchens was visited by the ghosts of Xmas past, present, and future, and then suddenly started leaping around in praise of Christmas?

I agree that it is a Christmas tree, but do you really ever think any state or municipal government would de-fund the expenses for these things? I don't see it happeneing. And they LIKE it when people try to argue for this ("Like, hmmm, maybe the money could go to schools or homeless people instead?") because then they get lots of attention and get to talk about "The War on Christmas" as opposed to "The War on Iraqi Civilians and U.S. soliders" abroad.

venus (en el pudridero) said...

dearest, have you thought about the ethics of outing yuletide? i'm sure he does not appreciate it.