Friday, November 11, 2005

O'Reilly unpacks dead horse from his holiday nick-nacks; begins 2005 flogging

O'Reilly opens new front in "war" on Christmas ... [Media Matters]

O'Reilly is ridiculous and a hypocrite. He is trying to create a controversy where one does not exist and then beat that dead horse senseless. And his issue? "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" used by businesses around this time of year "absolutely does [offend Christians]. And I know that for a fact."

Here's how he is a hypocrite (one of many ways). It's okay for him to be offended when the Christian aspect is _not_ specifically mentioned, but non-Christians do not get this same right. But this is okay because O'Reilly says, "I don't believe most people who aren't Christian are offended by the words "Merry Christmas." Nevermind this is a baseless position to take. And the possibility that non-Christians could be just as incensed as he is is not only discounted, but he resorts to ad-hominim attacks against those non-Christians, "I think those people are nuts. I think you're crazy if you're offended by the words "Merry Christmas."

To summarize:

Christians: Have a right to be offended when Christian-specific language is _not_ used at the holidays and can be offended when inclusive language is used, such as "Happy Holidays".

non-Christians: If they are offended by exclusive language such as "Merry Christmas", they are "nuts" or "nutty customers". Further, businesses should ask, "why do you want them [as customers] anyway?" Not only should exclusive _language_ be used, but business should actually think hard about _actually excluding_ them from the customer base.

He wants to see businesses only address the Christian aspect of the holiday season specifically.

But he then contradicts himself when he says, "the smart way to do it is "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Season's Greetings, Happy Kwanzaa." So it's okay to say "Season's Greetings" now or isn't it? Clear as mud, but what do you expect?

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