The war on Christmas

Christmas drives me insane. Nothing to do with shopping or the crowds, just the cheesy tunes you hear for more than a month. The soundbites this year got nonsensical with Mr. O'Reilly singing his carol. If you have been living in a hole in the frozen ground, good ol' Bill wants to put the Christ back in Christmas and has declared war on the PC crowd who wish Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas (why isn't it Merry Diwali or Ramzan, I shall never know. But that is not the point here). Nicholas Kristof (columnist, NY Times) started this new round by saying that maybe the commentrators should focus on saving Christians dying in Darfur (Kristof is deeply invovled journalistically and emotionally to Darfur). Bill O'Reilly responded with some crap calling him a leftwing idiot or something to that effect. Kristof responded in this article. He has upped the ante by titling the article "Challenge to O'Reilly".

Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly - demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I always tell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up to blustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my own advice.

So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated - and to the government-armed thugs who do these things.

You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine conservative Christians - aid workers who live the Gospel instead of sputtering about it - and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause.

So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.


This insane state of affairs makes me wish for a Silent Night...pun fully intended.