I love Jon Stewart. Bill O'Reilly apparently hates Jon Stewart because "The Daily Show", a spoof news program, is more news worthy than his own Fox Network "news" program. Jon Stewart pokes fun at Bill O'Reilly. I laugh and think to myself, "Self, that Bill O'Reilly fella is a jackass."
As of late, Mr. O'Reilly has been discussing and debating the apparent American war on Christmas. He claims that Americans are trying to eliminate Christmas because some people say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas". While discussing this issue on his show, he agreed that it would be silly for individuals to be insulted by the term "Merry Christmas" if said greeting was directed at someone of other-than-Christian faith...someone Jewish or Hindu, perhaps. In the next breath he demanded the phrase "Happy Holidays" was utterly insulting to individuals of Christian faith.
...huh...interesting...Jon Stewart thought it was interesting too.
I think Bill O'Reilly needs to lighten the fuck up and try to find real news to talk about. What he is trying to do is make a non-issue into an issue. He is picking and scratching and clawing at a freckle until it bleeds and then claims it's cancer.
His main support for his argument are major national department stores such as Gap, Walmart and Sears that post "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" in their windows rather than "Merry Christmas". I think it's a cost issue, not a secular issue. This time of year boasts two holidays; Christmas and New Years Eve. Two is plural. Saying "Happy Holidays" is just more time and cost effective than saying "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".
OK. So I am partially joking about the whole cost effective thing. The truth is the "Christ" has been slowly slipping out of "Christmas" for quite some time. Although the holiday still carries His name, many individuals forget, or better yet "disregard" what the day is supposed to represent. Ya know why? Because a large portion of the population don't care. If they cared, the "Christ" would not be slipping out of "Christmas".
For those who do care, no one is stopping you from going to church and honouring the birthday of baby Jesus by killing a tree. By all means, have at it. But I'll let you in on a little secret...December 25 was not Christ's birthday.
(I love Wikipedia and here's why...)
On or around December 25 ancient Romans celebrated the festival of Saturnalia in honour of--you guessed it--Saturn, the God of farming or agriculture. They would cut down evergreens (signifigant because they did not die in the winter) and decorate them to pay homage to Saturn...a sacrafice, as it were.
The festival was mostly a lot of goofing around, something like April Fool's Day, when masters and slaves would switch roles and the like. It was so much fun that the holiday expanded to almost a week long. Always trying to out do themselves as the Romans often did, the festival gradually degraded into utter debauchery. So much so that soon the word "saturnalia" came to mean "orgy" to the Christians.
AWESOME!!!
It is widely believed that in the fourth century, the Christians assigned December 25 as Christ's birthday in a effort to "Christianize" the pagans celebrating Saturnalia. Rather than eliminate an already popular holiday and try to get them to celebrate an entirely new one, they must have thought it was easier to just replace it. How'd they stop the orgies, that's what I wanna know.
By the way, December 25 is also the secular holiday "Newtonmas" in honour of Sir Isaac Newton.
So getting back to Mr. Bill O'Reilly, I have this to say to him this holiday season; (in honour of Christmas) "Seasons Greetings you self righteous moron", (in honour of Newtonmas) "Happy Genius You Will Never Be Day" and (in honour of Saturnalia) "Go fuck yourself." How ever you want to celebrate is entirely up to you, but leave the rest of us alone and find some real news to talk about.
Long live Jon Stewart!
