December 12, 2007

WAR AGAINST CHRISTMAS 2007 COMPETITION
[blog] [ I ] [ III ] [ IV ] [ V ] [ VI ] See also: War Against Christmas 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999

War Against Christmas 2007 Competition [II]: Diversity Is Strength! It’s Also…More War Against Christmas

Email War Against Christmas competition entries to us at christmas@vdare.com.

By Brenda Walker 

There's more ailing Christmas in 2007 America than ACLU attacks on crèches and the dispiriting disappearance of traditional well-wishing. The whole Diversity Industrial Complex has been brought to bear in order to transform Christmas into another celebration of multiculturalism and immigration. America’s unwelcome demographic transformation in combination with leftist politics has been used as a tautological excuse: diversity is already happening, so we citizens should get with the program of welcoming our cultural destruction.

Back in the old days of American America, “Happy Holiday" cards were handy in case you didn't get your Christmas cards mailed in time. But these days, "the Holidays" may include (but are not limited to) Diwali, Kwanzaa, Santa Lucia Day, Hmong New Year, Winter Solstice, Ramadan, Boxing Day, and Las Posadas.

Some defenders of Christmas blame secularization. That’s certainly involved. But we shouldn't forget the part that immigration diversity has played. It has simply become more difficult for public institutions to manage ritual demands for “holiday” inclusiveness. The jellyfish in charge simply find it easier (and less lawsuit-engendering) to celebrate the generic season. Happy Winter, everybody!

The controversy about decorations at the Sea-Tac airport in Washington State is illustrative of the forces at work. In 2006, a local rabbi wanted a menorah to be erected near the airport's seasonal Christmas trees. The bureaucrats reacted by removing religious symbols entirely. According to the Seattle PI, "The port defended its decision by saying its lawyers believed that putting up a menorah would have invited other religious groups to clamor for their own symbols' inclusion." [Airport will celebrate winter, but not Christmas, October 19, 2007]

The Port of Seattle has a whole webpage explaining the "Winter Displays at Sea-Tac" in perfect diversity-speak:

“Advisory Committee Recommendations:

"The Committee recommends that decorations should reflect the Pacific Northwest environment and our diverse community, and convey universal values, such a peace and harmony. These values have roots in many religious faiths and cultures. Our goal is to create an inclusive and warm environment at the airport."

The display's official name is "Seasonal Migration"—honest! (Watch a video here.) The installation is a "monument to winter," according to the designer.

Typically, human societies endure the hardships of winter and celebrate the arrival of spring's renewed life and promise with genuine relief and joy. The diversity agenda seeks to overturn this normal psychological reaction to the physical world into a lifeless political belief.

Another problem that has come with welcoming all cultures willy-nilly is the lack of discrimination, including the inability to tell friend from foe. One of the worst examples in recent memory was the decision of the Empire State Building to be lit up green in October to honor the Islamic holiday Eid-al-Fitr.

It was the first time for the Muslim religion to be so acknowledged, and was not accepted by many who remembered the 9/11 terror attacks just six years before. Investor's Business Daily called the ill-considered recognition "Sharia by the Inch" [October 12, 2007] and derided it as a new low in politically correct appeasement of an avowed enemy.

Jihadists have declared war on the West. Giving this sort of homage to Islam disrespects all things western, in particular Christianity.

Even the actual celebration of Christmas by some nationalities can have a troubling anti-American aspect.

Consider the act of a posada procession in San Francisco: the parade was as much about establishing a Mexican presence as it was remembering Joseph and Mary looking for a room.

“On the nights leading up to Christmas, hundreds of Latin American immigrants tromped through the rain-slick Tenderloin streets enacting a traditional Mexican posada. The parishioners carried statues depicting Mary and Joseph on the road to Bethlehem and ritually knocked on doors, singing ‘In the name of God, I ask you for shelter. My wife is so tired, can we get a place to pass the night?’

“After being repeatedly turned away and told ‘there's no room at the inn,’ the procession arrived at the Golden Gate Avenue church, where all were welcomed with hot drinks, tamales and a piñata for the children.

“‘They sing so loudly,’ Sister Ruiz said. ‘They really identify themselves with José and Maria, the idea of being immigrants in a land that's not your own. [Tenderloin turning into new Latino neighborhood, By Tyche Hendricks, San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2006]

Lest you think that the San Francisco posada is an unimportant blip, consider another example of how cultural-religious activities reflect the political. The Virgin of Guadalupe is omnipresent in Mexican religious life, particularly around Christmas. But more than that, the figure is a symbol of Mexican identity, period. You can't go to a reconquista rally without seeing many people carrying the image along with their Che Guevara flags.

So when Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony wears a cassock embroidered with the Virgin of Guadalupe, he is declaring his support for amnesty and open borders for his Mexican flock.

The celebration of Christmas is family- and culture-oriented. America is about freedom, and whatever people want to do in their homes is their own business. But when foreigners demand the public square be given over to their ethnic expressions against America, a line has been crossed.

Open-borders extremists are happy to use Christmas in order to propagate their multicultural agenda. In Britain, the Christmas story beloved by millions is being used as a cheap plot device for a pro-immigrant guilt extravaganza, complete with Beatles songs and other popular music. (Lady Madonna is a great pop tune, but does not relate to Christmas.) The BBC will broadcast a "modern" Nativity play called Liverpool Nativity in which Joseph and Mary are transformed into asylum seekers sent to a Liverpool passport office.

To emphasize the central political message, the evil Herod figure cracks down on immigration to hold on to power. Subtle, eh?

Nothing is sacred when diversity cultists are writing the script. It's all about the indoctrination.

Britain has been at the forefront of the anti-Christmas jihad for some time. In 1998, the Birmingham City Council came up with a new celebration called "Winterval" to create a more multicultural atmosphere.

As Tom Piatak has reported, more recent attempts on the island to remove Christmas include a report from top Labor think tank proposing to "expunge" the festival from the national calendar and "downgrade" Christian celebrations generally were part of a larger scheme of diversity utopianism. British parents would be urged to participate in "birth ceremonies" to pledge a partnership with the state to raise the kiddies in a properly diversified manner. The traditional countryside would be opened up to more minorities so there would be no escape from the new multicultural Britain. [Christmas should be 'downgraded' to help race relations says Labour think tank, Daily Mail, November 1, 2007.]

But America is not much better. The Mainstream Media try every day to beguile us with the new secular religion of diversity über alles: all human problems will melt away magically in the new, improved non-melting pot, they suggest. But as we have seen in the perfect petri dish of Mexifornia, reality is quite different.

Diversity the ideology is doomed to failure because it ignores human nature. Every tribe on earth, including the American tribe, wants to inhabit a community with others who share their values, speak their language and understand their jokes. It's a hard-wired part of human nature.

Christmas is a vital part of the West's cultural heritage and an important battle in the larger war. We must defend it.