Now that the Feast Of The Epiphany is past, the Christmas Competition may be considered closed. (But feel free to email us with any new horror stories, anyway, they’re fun to read.) Peter Brimelow will be writing a post-Christmas roundup shortly. Check out some the Christmas cheer from 2008 below.

WAR AGAINST CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 2008: [blog] [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI][VII][VIII][IX][X][XI][XII]

We recently had a typically learned VDARE.COM discussion about the “Russian Germans”, a distict ethnic group in some Western states. (See here and here).

It inspired me to retrieve and post a column I wrote for the London Times back in 1990, about my experience with Russian Germans in Winnipeg, and about a book, Nina’s Journey: A Memoir of Stalin’s Russia and the Second World War, by Nina Markovna, an ethnic German from the Crimea.

Markovna’s story is interesting for a number of reasons, but I had completely forgotten writing this paragraph:

One point that emerges quickly is the sheer scale and nightmare intensity of Stalin’s purges. One of Markovna’s childhood memories is of inadvertently betraying her mother to a night of NKVD interrogation by remarking to a teacher that sugar was common before the Revolution. Another is of watching her mother and her aunt agreeing instantly to part forever after her uncle’s deportation and death, fearing that further contact would attract informers and doom their children. Her uncle’s crime: dressing a Christmas tree.

Emphasis added.

We’ve noted that this year’s Christophobe tactic is to smear resistance to The War Against Christmas as inspired by extremists, i.e. VDARE.COM. But it is the War Against Christmas itself that has long and disgusting roots.

And that makes War Against Christmas Deniers the spiritual, and sometime biological, descendants of Walter Duranty and the fellow-travelling American Left of the 1930s

If there’s one thing John McCain and the President-select now calling himself “Barack Hussein Obama” agree on, it’s the need to abolish the border and meld with Mexico, even though anyone explicitly stating the idea is hooted down as a “nativist,” “xenophobe,” booger-eater, etc.

As Brenda Walker wrote on Christmas Eve, illegal immigrant Mexicans in America have developed a Christmas celebration, “Las Posadas,” in which they pervert the story of Jesus’ birth, in order to serve invader propaganda.

On the other side of our increasingly virtual border, Mexicans have another sort of Christmas celebration. As preparation for what is to follow, keep in mind that Mexican drug smugglers have their own patron saint and an entire popular culture of song, that is, when the troubadours aren’t being murdered by Mexico’s “Really Tough Music Critics.”

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico — Eight bodies were found stuffed in plastic garbage bags and dumped on a rural road near the Guatemalan border in an area plagued by drug violence, authorities in southern Chiapas state said Tuesday.

The victims have yet to be identified, but police believe they may include Mexicans, Guatemalans or Colombians.

A state Justice Department official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said the bodies were discovered by a farmer. At least one had bruises and marks indicating he may have been tortured.

The bodies were found near the town of Tuxtla Chico, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of another border settlement where Mexican and Guatemalan drug traffickers engaged in a series of gunbattles that killed 17 people last month.

Brutal slayings by drug cartels are on the rise in Mexico, and officials estimate that more than 5,300 people have died in organized crime-related slayings this year.

On Sunday, the decapitated bodies of eight army soldiers were found along an urban boulevard in the southern state of Guerrero.

In a press statement on Tuesday, Mexico’s Defense Department slammed what it called “inappropriate and hurtful” comments on the soldiers’ deaths.

While the department did not specify what had offended it, one Mexican newspaper ran an editorial cartoon Tuesday titled “December Decorations” that showed the hand of a drug trafficker hanging severed heads with military-style haircuts on a Christmas tree as if they were ornaments.

[8 bodies found in plastic bags in southern Mexico, by Manuel de la Cruz, Houston Chronicle/Associated Press, December 24, 2008]

Christmas ornaments.

Excuse me, “December decorations.” (A War Against Christmas sighting below the Rio Grande: You don’t mess with narcoterrorists, but Christmas is a safe target.)

“Obama” and “McCain” both seek to satisfy The Nation Formerly Known as America’s dire need for more such vibrancy, family values, and devout Christianity.

I hope Manuel de la Cruz’ failure to suppress the Bad News of diversity doesn’t land him on the enemies’ list of the SPLC, which could result in his being targeted by its subscribers, country music scholar Max Blumenthal (also here), Herr Keith Olbermann, Alex Altman, et al.

Eight tips ‘o’ the headless hat to Blog of the Gods, and another eight to latté island, where I first came across these sad tidings.

Ilana Mercer has a powerful World Net Daily column, O’Reilly won the battle – but lost the debate (December 19), arguing that while Bill O’Reilly has succeeded in embarrassing Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire for permitting an anti-religous placard alongside the traditional nativity display in the state capitol, he has no effective answer to her claim that the U.S. Supreme Court requires her to give equal time to all beliefs:

Bill might have won the battle, but he lost the debate. Why? Because O’Reilly fiddles with the icing rather than the cake:

He defends the country’s founding faith on the frivolous grounds that it is a federal festival like any other – an “uplifting tradition … where peace and love are the theme of the great day.” The substance of O’Reilly’s claim against those who’d disrespect a Christmas display is: “Be nice, because Christmas is nice.” And because the feds have told you to.

Having defended Christmas as a lawful, public holiday, logical consistency then compels O’Reilly to stick up for every foul federal holiday, including Martin Luther King’s dedicated day. This he duly did, even going so far as to suggest that atheists apply to have their own, federally approved, winter solstice celebration. Until such a day, however, Bill vowed to banish them from the public square.

But, Ilana notes: “This is the country’s founding faith O’Reilly is talking about; not one among many competing holidays.” She concludes that Christmas should be defended

not because the State designated it a holiday, or because it is a harmless and happy day. Christmas ought to be defended on the basis that Christianity is America’s founding faith.

To defend Christian America with reference to un-Christian State law that has all but banished Christianity from the public square is worse than silly.

E.V. Kontorovich made a similar argument in a famous and controversial 1997 column in the New York Post, which I quoted when adjudicating the 2005 War Against Christmas Competition:

Unless society draws a line—the only obvious place to draw it is at Christianity—an unmanageable tumult will ensue: gridlock in the public square.

Kontorovich and Mercer are Jewish. Would anyone else would have the courage to make this argument?

For the record, it was also Ilana who alerted me to the fact that MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, a loud War Against Christmas Denier, recently accused me of anti-semitism for my role in pioneering the issue. (Thanks, Ilana!)

You didn’t think I watch Olbermann, did you?

You can listen to Peter Brimelow on Tom Hartmann here:MP3. The War On Christmas stuff starts at 3:08.

Max Blumenthal objected to the use of the phrase “faux-Christmases” to describe the December celebration of Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, and other such holidays. But it seems to many of us that these holidays are promoted not for their own sake, but as a deliberate antidote to Christmas. Here’s a news release from William Donohue’s Catholic League, which has done some good work in the War For Christmas:

ANTI-CHRISTMAS STRATEGIES EVOLVE

December 10, 2008

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains how the anti-Christmas agenda has changed:

“There was no anti-Christmas agenda until the 1980s, and at that time it was led by the ACLU. The strategy of choice was to ban the display of religious symbols, especially the crèche, on public property. This legal strategy, which worked relatively well, has been superseded by a cultural strategy. The goal now is to dilute the significance of Christmas via contrived competition. To wit: every religious, racial and ethnic heritage—including invented ones like Kwanzaa—is now celebrated in December.

“It is important to note that the agenda is not a positive one; it is not designed to honor world traditions. No, the agenda is negative—it is designed to combat Christmas. [Emphasis added.] Here’s a splendid example.

“Margaret Downey, founder of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, sued Chester County in 2001 because a large Ten Commandments plaque was displayed at the Chester County Courthouse. After winding its way through the courts, Downey lost. Chester County, however, decided that the courthouse lawn should be open to all seasonal displays. The crèche and menorah were quickly displayed and now the lawn is adorned with Downey’s ‘Godless Holiday Tree’; it is decorated with the book covers of atheist tracts.

“True to her multicultural religion, Downey is not against all religions—it’s just Christianity that gets her goat. ‘We’d love to see Kwanzaa candles and a Buddha statue, too,’ she said. Buddha is okay because it represents an Eastern religion (Western religions are taboo).

“It’s not just Downey and her merry band of atheists who ascribe to the contrived competition strategy. Elementary school teachers in New Jersey informed officials at William Paterson University that they would not take their students to a holiday show if it just centered on Christmas. They won. The moral of the story is: Best to throw the Nothought Scrooges a bone if the kids are to see Santa.”

This year, with coverage of direct “War against Christmas” so much more extensive than it was when Peter Brimelow revived the issue here in 1999, I had decided personally to focus on the comments carried on the threads attached to various articles.

It is a gruesome business. Not conducive to respect for one’s fellow men.

But one lead characteristic needs comment: the amazing resort to Scholarship shown in so many of the anti-Christmas sites.

I have noted this previously, but a case in point is Crocodile Morsels

the next time a Christian insists that we put the Christ back in Christmas, tell them that they should also:
• Put the Mass back in Christmas
• Restore Michaelmas
• Restore Candlemas
• Restore Childermas
• Restore the Feast of the Epiphany
• Restore the Advent season
• Restore gift-giving to the real Christmas season, which occurs after Christmas day
• Don’t put up a Christmas tree until Christmas Eve — if at all
• Use Christmas as a day of contemplating Christ, not for engaging in commerce

Interesting, but this must be roundly rejected. NO Non- Christian is entitled to tell a Christian how Christmas, or any other Christian holiday, is to be celebrated.

Supplying historical data to the effect that Christian traditions are derived from Pagan Festivals–true and interesting or not-is an insult.

So I propose that those who love Christmas reject out of hand any effort to engage in historical minutiae. We believe what we believe. Those who challenge us are enemies.

And to the deluge of idiotic comments denying that there has been a War on Christmas, all that needs to be said is: look at the VDARE.com Christmas Competition Archives

Hat Tip, Scared Monkeys for a classic War Against Christmas atrocity. In a beautifully constructed blog (with excellent links to videos of the great Carols) [Addendum:But not the first three links, alas] attention is drawn to:

School choir forced to pull out of Christmas concert as carols were ‘too religious’ , By Andrew Levy, MailOnline Dec 12 2008

A school choir was forced to withdraw from a Christmas event because organisers branded its carols ‘too religious’.

Around 60 children aged between seven and 11 had spent six weeks practising favourites including Once In Royal David’s City and Silent Night for the Corringham Winter Festival

Nicola Hales, 36, whose nine-year-old daughter Rhiannon goes to Arthur Bugler County Junior School in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, said: ‘They must have been practising for about six weeks.
‘It’s ridiculous that you can’t sing religious songs. It’s Christmas - when can you sing them?’

This actually happened in the UK (although Scared Monkeys appears to be American).

An interesting and frequent occurrence with these kinds of events in Britain:

The non-religious event was planned by Corringham Town Festival Partnership, even though the area is in Thurrock, where 75 per cent of the population described themselves as Christian in the 2001 census.

The next biggest religious group was Muslims, who make up one per cent of the population, followed by Sikhs, who account for barely half of one per cent of residents.

A spokesman for Thurrock Islamic Education and Cultural Association said: ‘I don’t think any Muslims would be offended by carols.’ (VDARE.com emphasis.)

Traffic and email experience indicates our readers generally are not very interested in European stories–even though VDARE.com thinks they are highly relevant and instructive.

In this case, though, any American of Christian sympathy should realise that this is happening because of American influence. In the United Kingdom there is an Established Church. State Schools give religious instruction (from which all who choose to can withdraw). There is no Constitutional language capable of being distorted into banning Government tolerance of religious expression (because there is no Constitution!). Yet this is happening.

It is happening because of the the enormous cultural influence of the United Stares. We are responsible!

The Scared Monkeys story has another beauty: Politically correct Christmas carols censor ‘king’, ’son’ and ‘virgin’ By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk December 12,  2008

Churchgoers at one carol service will not be allowed to sing the words “all in white” during Once in Royal David’s City in case they appear racist, while another cleric has removed the word “virgin” from God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.

This of course emanates from the established Anglican (Episcopal) Church, which is completely mad (speaking as a member).

Some might suggest that our referring to UK examples suggests this is not happening in America. There are two refuting facts. (1) The American MSM does not want to report these stories. (2) News is about change. Alas, many of these atrocities have already occurred in this country.

On a pleasanter note, Google has supplied another elegant and charming essay on the Christmas season by a Jew: A Jew’s View of Christmas

I grew up in the 1950s in New Bedford, Mass…Even if you were a Jewish kid and you knew this day was not designed for you, you couldn’t help but share in the excitement. My parents, who were born in Europe at a time when it was unfortunate to be both European and Jewish, were unable to conceal their own ambivalence. Our small family would drive to Christian neighborhoods admiring decorations. We once ventured all the way to Boston–in those days a two-hour drive– where we saw live reindeer fenced in on Boston Commons beside a large illuminated plastic nativity scene.

As a Jewish kid, we had Hanukkah. But the Festival of Lights, as it is called, seemed pale in the shadow of all that Christmas glitter of tinsel and bright blinking bulbs. Christmas was everywhere in the windows of homes and stores, on lawns in parks and even on rooftops. Yes, it was in the schools and no one even thought of objecting at that time. I still wouldn’t.

While he was still alive, my grandfather, a white-haired kindly old man gave me Hanukkah “gelt,” in the form of a silver dollar. A dollar was big-time money back then, but how could my grandfather ever compete with the other white-haired guy, the one in the red suit with the elves, the flying sleigh and all his well-disguised doubles in department stores? ……then there were the miracles. Theirs was the birth of God’s son on a night when animals talked. Ours was that a temple light burned for a long time. Big deal. Our most popular Hanukkah song was, “Dreydle, Dreydle, Dreydle,” which has the same melodic merit as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Not quite on par with “Silent Night,” “First Noel” or even, for that matter, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

I started remembering all this yesterday… as I sat at a traffic light… I saw a sign that reminded me about what I envied most about Christmas. It hung in huge, slightly lopsided, letters across University Avenue.

It said: “Peace on Earth.”

What a Gentleman. Thank Shel Israel.

Falling obediently into line behind the flag raised by Max Blumenthal, MSNBC’s resident thug Keith Olbermann had a rant tonight on his Countdown show on Thursday night naming Peter Brimelow as the originator of the War on Christmas. He gives poor Bill O’Reilly a “Worst Person in the World” award for adopting an idea from the evil VDARE.com site.

(This happens towards the end of #42 War on Christmas has anti-Semitic origins. )

O’Reilly and his people have never been in touch with VDARE.com or shown the slightest sign of knowing the site exists. That is what happens when you are at the top of the Food Chain.

I have never watched Olbermann before. It was astonishing how inaccurate his recounting of Blumenthal’s essay (itself inaccurate enough) was. It must be true these Television types can’t read. For instance, Alien Nation did not, I believe,  have any reference to the Christmas issue and Kevin MacDonald definitely does not think Jews are inferior–rather the reverse.

There was a pattern, though, in these errors: polemical convenience.

In a broader sense, though, it is correct that Peter Brimelow pioneered opposition to Christmas repression in the media–with the War against Christmas competitions in the National Review starting in the mid 90s. It is also true, as Tom Piatak notes tonight, that without popular outrage, the effort would have gone nowhere.

For the Christophobes to pull out the Trump card in American discourse – anti Semitism - is a measure of how desperate they are–or how determined to repress Christmas. It seems to be this year’s strategy. Ordering Americans of Christian heritage to choose between deferring to the supposed wishes of the Jewish community and appropriately celebrating their most cherished Festival does not seem wise.

Now we find out if Bill O’Reilly is as tough as he represents!

Caleb Howe, at Political Machine on the AOL news website, has been posting a series of fine essays on the War against Christmas.
‘War on Christmas’ Controversies Spread , [December 7th 2008,] which began the series, was particularly incisive:

A few years ago, I also thought the phrase “War on Christmas” was over the top, and I said as much in a blog entry about Bill O’Reilly. I’ve come to see, however, that the term is increasingly accurate, despite being sensational…

For a large and still growing portion of the American left, there is only one form of evil: western culture. In universities and Moveon.org meetings, the only oppressor, the only representative of evil, is western culture. It’s a culture which celebrates Christmas as well as Christianity, and it’s a culture with traditions and observances like any other…. In short, the war on Christmas is just a symptom of the greater culture war…

What is the war on Christmas? It’s a symptom of a war on American values by hateful left-wing activists who despise this country and all that it is, has been, and will ever be. It’s not about inclusion, it’s about excision. The removal of Christianity and anything associate with Christianity from these shores. It’s time to choose your side

War On Christmas: Pelosi Mugged?,  Political Machine December 9, 2008
dealt well with the extraordinary remark by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she was “mugged” for insisting that the US Capitol Hill Christmas Tree be called a Christmas Tree:

…she repeated “No, you ought to know, I really got mugged for that.” His impression, from her demeanor and expression, was that someone had really gotten to her in a way that she really didn’t see coming. Her expression conveyed “consternation” and “frustration”… it sounds clear that the Speaker endured some type of hardship. For what? Perhaps for insisting on calling the ceremony a Christmas ceremony rather than a holiday ceremony… That someone like Speaker Pelosi can be victim of what appears to be a callous ambush over something like the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree lighting should tell you much.

War on Christmas: I Saw Someone Killing Santa Claus , Political Machine, December 11,  2008 cites further incidents and concludes

Organized groups are taking on Christmas, as they do every year. The fact that they aren’t winning isn’t germane. The question is, why is such an assault on our American culture and traditions so readily accepted by the left in the name of some phantom fairness that was never transgressed against in the first place? This Christian and secular holiday is indeed called Christmas, and it is indeed predicated on the historic recognition of the birth of Jesus Christ. It takes a special and sick mind to be offended by such a mere statement of fact, to feel wronged by the mere act of a nation and culture engaging in a long-standing religious and cultural tradition…. There is a war on Christmas. It exists. It is a war being conducted by groups who have a visceral hatred of religion, who routinely, on talk shows and in op-ed columns, blame religion for all the world’s woes. What we have learned this year is that some states are going to allow them to use the flimsy excuse of equal display space to get away with blatant attacks which would never be tolerated from other groups… That is the war on Christmas, and the media just keeps helping it along.

The comment threads attached to these essays look like being a gold mine. But I have to break away from this first-class work to deal with the oafish Keith  Olbermann.