Two years later, Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly is still inveighing against an alleged "War on Christmas" by secularists.
O'Reilly is still hopping mad about the use of the greeting "Happy Holidays" -- and even the long-traditional "Season's Greetings" -- instead of "Merry Christmas" on public buildings and has been on an aggressive public-relations offensive to put a stop to it.
War on Christmas? Bill O'Reilly Is Full of Humbug
Indeed, for the third consecutive year, O'Reilly has won this blogger's Hunter S. Thompson Memorial Gonzo Award for overreactive fear and loathing. He's still spilling his guts out against "secular progressives trying to de-Christianize Christmas."
Two years ago, O'Reilly told his viewers of a "secular progressive agenda ... to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square." This year, he's chosen to pick a fight with the the town selectboard of Great Barrington, Massachussets over its decision to restrict the number of hours that holiday light displays can be kept turned on.
Bear in mind, O'Reilly isn't just angry over the fact that the lights have to be turned off at 10 p.m. each night as an energy-saving measure. He's really ticked off that the town is calling its displays "holiday" lights instead of "Christmas" lights.
What O'Reilly presents is, as Ebenezer Scrooge might say, a load of pure, unadulterated humbug. Never in my life have I seen or heard such a crescendo of ecclesiastical arrogance by a right-wing crybaby who has the audacity to call himself a "Christian," for he's acting anything but Christ-like.
"I mean, how stupid is this? For a few weeks every year, the United States of America gets festive in honoring the birth of a man whose philosophy helped shape this country. That, of course, would be Jesus, not Barry Holiday," O'Reilly fulminated in his nationally-syndicated newspaper column.
"And every year we now have to hear whining from dolts who are offended not only by a baby laying in a manger, but also by images of decorated trees and a jolly old man in a beard. Call me a theocrat, but I have had enough of this politically correct bilge."
Well apparently, the feeling is mutual, for this blogger has had enough of Bill O'Reilly's arrogant, holier-than-thou bilge. And I'm not alone.
O'Reilly 'a Reactionary Blowhard,' Says Local Columnist
Michael Scott Leonard, a columnist at the local newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, fired back at O'Reilly, accusing him of "simply pandering to . . . the phony outrage base of America's right wing."
This phony outrage base, Leonard wrote, "consists of 'pundits,' 'commentators' and other reactionary blowhards and bloviators seeking to distract Americans from the serious issues our country faces by appealing to the worst in people and stirring up irrational, often hateful passions."
O'Reilly "and his ilk don't find and exploit 'wedge issues,' as the conventional wisdom holds. They conjure them out of thin air," Leonard continued.
Hear! Hear!
It's clear to this blogger that O'Reilly is engaging in conduct more befitting of the Pharisees -- who hounded and harassed Jesus at almost every turn during the three years of his public ministry -- than of Christians who genuinely live their lives in accordance with the teachings of the Bethlehem-born carpenter from Nazareth.
I'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.
I look forward to Christmas more and more each year. Why ? Because of Yule (or Jul Tid whereas the word "Tid" is still part of the northern dialect in what is now known as Germany...meaning "time") and the end of long dark days, with each day being brighter and brighter. If you watch for the difference, day by day, year after year, you'll soon notice the gradual changes. Unless you live in an area largely uneffected by this. I'm happy to have stumbled across this article and I hope more people come to rediscover the older traditions which have been bulldozed over and cleverly meshed with Christianity.
by
Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments)
on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 7:57:08 AM
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