It’s That Time of Year
The snows will be falling soon. The bells are ringing at the stores. The stores are full of products adorned with holiday season decorations and colors. Music stations are playing Christmas music. Then, there’s the new expectation. The expectation of the culture war.
Already this year we’ve begun with a Santa Claus hanging on a cross. In the theaters this Christmas there will be a horror movie that has the slogan “survive the holidays.” It’s a horror movie, which has started to become a tradition of Hollywood for those who dissent from the happy, feel-good nature of a sticky-sweet Christmas.
Let’s leave aside the thoughts of a mind-set that enjoys horror as opposed to a feel-good, do-right story. Instead, let’s consider the simple fact that Christmas is being attacked. If you deny the idea of a culture war, even if this is a few isolated individuals who are using the system against itself, we see people attacking Christmas. Why?
Why would you possibly want to assault what is accepted as that time of year when we’re supposed to be at peace with each other. This is supposed to be the time of year when giving is the theme. Christmas traditions are about hearth and home. They’re about spending time with the family. Perhaps, therein lies the rub.
What does family mean anymore? What does hearth mean anymore? The very idea that these things have no specific meaning anymore is something that most people don’t want to face. I warrant that there will be those who read this and think that I’m being overly dramatic, or dour. Yet, I can’t help but thinking that there is a basic, intrinsic shift in attitudes. It’s not that old, but it’s very far progressed. I can’t help but think that this rug under our feet has something tugging at it.
I’ve stated before that a conspiracy is really nothing more than two people getting together to accomplish a common goal. Normally conspiracy accompanies a sense of the surreptitious. It intones a sense of hidden danger. The truth of the hidden danger is that those who conspire know that what they are about is not going to be liked, or accepted by the public at large. Perhaps what they do is illegal, or perhaps it’s immoral, or perhaps it’s simply just in bad taste. All it really takes is a few people who have the same attitude, and for the rest of the people to stand by and let them go.
Here’s the difference this year. The Santa Claus on the cross was ripped down. An unknown citizen tore down the display. The sheriff says no charges are being pressed. The city council is now in jeopardy of losing it’s membership from recalls and special elections over the matter. There was no violence against the person who put up the display, although that person did meet with sharp disdain from members of the community. The display, a “work of art,” was the only casualty in this culture battle.
Perhaps, just perhaps, people are starting to get tired of being told that anything goes. Perhaps people are starting to realize that some expressions are not “free speech” but are rather offensive actions. Perhaps some are beginning to realize that the best defense is a good offense.
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