Announcing VDARE.COM's War Against Christmas 2004 Competition!

WAR                           AGAINST CHRISTMAS 2004 COMPETITION
[II]                            [III]   [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII] [IX] [X]   [XI] [XII]   [XIII]   [XIV]   [XV]   [XVI]   [XVII] [XVIII] [XIX] [XX]  - See also: War                            Against Christmas   2003,   2002,   2001,   2000

VDARE.COM's annual War Against                          Christmas Competition, in which we offer a prize for the                          most outrageous attempt to abolish Christmas, is one of                          our most popular features. Entries now come in                          spontaneously throughout the year. They have already                          reached flood proportions. Our four previous                          competitions (see above) constitute an important record                          of an extraordinary Kulturkampf against the American majority, which                          future historians will analyze with the same                          incomprehension with which they now                         pore over Prohibition.

As usual, we make three points                          about the War Against Christmas:

• It is integrally related to the                           war against the nation-state—against any                            collective expression of the historic American                            nation's identity, or indeed the collective identity                            of every Western nation. The War Against Christmas                            rages                           just as fiercely in countries where there actually                            is an established religion, i.e. no spurious rationale                            in the form of a Church-state separation dogma.

• It is "insulting and Christophobic"—as Tom Fleming put it in a                            classic                           essay in Chronicles. It implies that the                            religion that founded America is unfit to be                            mentioned in polite company. In other words, get mad!

• It is unstable.                           The                            celebration of Christmas has                           evolved over the years.                            It was suppressed in Cromwell's England, but                           returned. This New                            Prohibition, too, will pass.

Two distinct, and opposed, themes                          were apparent in                         last year's competition.

• Gathering resistance to the                            Khristmaskampf.

At a grass roots level,                          enterprising readers                         complained to companies that had suppressed                          Christmas in their advertising and sent us the results.                          At a public level, we were sent several examples of                          public officials who resisted what they often called "political correctness gone mad."

Additionally,                         several mainstream journalists took up the cause                          last year. (One who has always been alert to the issue,                          the redoubtable Don Feder, has already                         weighed in this Christmas.)

In a particularly amusing                          development, Jay Nordlinger at National Review unveiled his own contest, albeit                         half-heartedly. National Review was where I                         started the War Against Christmas Competition in the                          1990s; it was dropped after the firing of John                          O'Sullivan, along with                         the cause of immigration reform, as part of Bill                          Buckley's quest for establishment respectability in his                          old age. On the Khristmaskampf, as on immigration                          reform, NR is conceding that VDARE.COM was right                          all along…without admitting it, of course. (Ask Jay if he dares do it again.)

The second theme:

• Hysteria from the Christophobes in                          response to gathering resistance.

One case in point: in January of                          2004, the city of Palm Beach                         decided to abolish all "holiday                          decoration" in response to a suit from two heroic                          ladies who wanted to place a Nativity scene alongside a                          Christmas tree and a menorah.

And this pales before the City of                          New York, which actually seriously                         argued, in response to a suit from the                         Thomas More Law Center, that it could permit                          menorahs and Stars and Crescents in public schools while                          banning Nativity scenes—because the birth of Jesus                          was not an historical event. (TMLC is pursuing the                          case and has launched a                         similar one against the Florida town of Bay Harbor                          Islands.)

This is obviously also happening at                          a personal level. One 2004 entrant reports:

"A                          friend of mine at work sends his son to an exclusive                          private school…His son got into trouble for referring to                          the decorated tree in the classroom as a 'Christmas                          tree' rather than a 'holiday tree' and was even accused                          of 'anti-Semitism' by some of his classmates as a                          result. (I am happy to report that this kid had read                          some of Tom Piatak's                         Christmas essays and was emboldened by them.) "

Other                          entries in this year's competition include this from                         Brenda Walker:

• "The                          holidays are almost upon us. As a second-grade teacher                          in a public school, that means I start my tightrope walk                          in about one week. My dilemma is how to teach the                          concepts of Thanksgiving without offending someone. I                          don't dare actually write the word 'Christmas.' I might                          offend someone."— Teachers walk thin tightrope during holidays, by                          Catherine Cranston, Pioneer Press, November 14, 2004

This is a free country?

The point of our War Against                          Christmas Competition, of course, is that not mentioning Christmas offends more people.

And from several readers, a                          Christian float banned from a "Festival Of Lights" parade in Denver (note gathering resistance!):

• Pastor Offered Aid if Parade Suit Pursued: Former U/S.                            Attorney Cites First Amendment in Float-Barring Flap,                            by Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News,                            December 2, 2004.

Also from several readers:

• Boscov's, a Pennsylvania-based department store has                         banned Christmas cards that mention, well, Christmas.  (Contact Boscov's.)

And                          from Roger Chaillet, a pleasing example of the                          University of Texas trying to have it both ways:

• "A Child's Christmas Holiday Concert to be                          presented at UTD on December 5."

Roger, one of our most able correspondents, won our 2003 War                          Against Christmas Competition (alas,                          I was too                         distracted to announce                          this on time) with a number of acerbic entries                          including this:

"Just                          thought all of you should know what the Bush White House                          is up to.

"I sent                          the following                         link to the webmaster of                           American Patrol on                          Thursday, January 1, 2004.

"When I                          checked the White House's website today, Friday, January                          2, 2004, I found this                         link as well.

"The                          first link does not mention the birth of Jesus Christ at all.                           The second link mentions God and Jesus!

"Funny,                          but when I first looked at the White House site on                          Thursday, I did not see mention of his Christmas message on the                          main page!  I saw only his radio address.  I might be                          wrong, but I smell revision at work."

Resistance works!

Roger gets either champagne or                          signed copies of Alien Nation and Unity Review, as will our 2004 winner.

A blessed and Merry Christmas to                          all our readers!

P.S. Save                          Christmas - email this out!

P.P.S.                          Don't forget, if sending Christmas gifts via Amazon this                          year, begin by going in through any book link on                          VDARE.COM, for example   here - thus directing a commission to us, at no expense to                          you! And thanks to the many readers who have been doing                          this.

Share Jeff Bezos' wealth!

Peter Brimelow, editor of   VDARE.COM and author of the much-denounced   Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration                          Disaster (Random House -                          1995) and   The Worm in the Apple (HarperCollins - 2003)