A couple of weeks ago, my old friend Joey reminded me of a simple truth. If you want to have a reasonable conversation with someone, you shouldn't act like a stark raving lunatic.
I needed to hear this at the time. A lot of people need that reminder. Most of them are in politics.
The circumstances of our conversation aren't important. One minute we were talking about wine distribution, the next I'm ranting about...well, I'm not sure...but I was ranting. Wildly. It was fun for a minute. Until Joey asked why he should listen to a crazy man in his own house. It was a good question. Why indeed?
Well, he shouldn't. You shouldn't. But some people do it anyway.
The Faux News channel declared the War on Christmas had been declared as soon as the first round of Halloween candy had been opened. It's their most sacred holiday tradition. The Crying Ninnie Network counter-programmed with an undercover investigation: "Exposed--What Santa Knows About Malaysia Air Flight 370".
It's hard not to sound like a stark raving lunatic when talking about the War on Christmas. Kind of like when you're talking about the lizard people in the White House. Normal people just don't really sit around talking about these imminent threats to our way of life.
Why? Because they don't exist, silly! So discussing things like the War on Christmas is dicey, at best. But that won't stop me. Joey surely would testify that I can go S.R.L. with the best of them.
Let's start with the basics. For those of you just visiting, Christmas is the Christian religious observance of the birth of Jesus. Various denominations of Christians have various rites and traditions that go with the holiday, most observe the tradition of giving. Christians around the world celebrate December 25 as Christmas Day and honor it as a day of peace and community.
Anything beyond that is not Christmas. It may be part of the Christmas traditions observed by various cultures, but that's all. Santa and the parade and the light covered tree and the Black Friday sales are not Christmas.
Here's another basic fact about Christmas. It isn't the only religious holiday observed in the U.S. in December. By odd coincidence, several religions outside Christianity observe major holidays in this general time period, most notably Judaism's 8 days of Hannukah. Since America (the country you live in) observes religious freedom, this shouldn't be surprising or shocking or offensive to anyone.
Here's my bit of stark raving lunacy, I DO believe there's a War on Christmas. It started long ago when the greedy changed the emphasis from giving to buying. It is escalated every time someone is offended by simple greetings like "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". And the loudest, most destructive shots are made by those stark raving lunatics who would use the birth celebration of the Prince of Peace to divide reasonable Americans against one another.
There's an old adage that every kid knew once upon a time. It goes double to all those Fauxers whining about the "War on Christmas".
He who smelt it, dealt it. See Joey, I CAN be reasonable.