Season's Greetings, or Whatever

There are a lot of really stupid things going around nowadays, but one of the stupidest has to be the concept of the imaginary "War on Christmas." Along with all his other less-than-presidential acts, Donald Trump has claimed victory in this so-called war, shamelessly braying that under his magnificent and steadfast leadership we're allowed to say "Merry Christmas" again.

Now, I don't know about you, but I never stopped saying "Merry Christmas," never felt I wasn't able to say "Merry Christmas," and never knew anyone else who felt pressured not to say "Merry Christmas." The plain fact is that there never was a "War on Christmas." If you believe in that ludicrous fiction, I'm sorry, but you're just a few eggs short of an omelet.

But real or not, there has been one unfortunate effect of the so-called "War on Christmas" - it's turned simple expressions of seasonal goodwill into unwanted and unintended political statements. This year, for the first time in my life, every time I wished someone "Merry Christmas," in the back of my mind was the nagging question of whether that simple, heartfelt wish would be interpreted as an in-your-face political statement sneering that my holiday was better than someone else's.

That's the real tragedy of what the alleged "War on Christmas" has done to us. I'm adding it to the long list of things that Donald Trump and his followers and enablers will have to answer for.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - for a more lighthearted look at this imaginary war, read Angel's clever blog post. I wish I'd had her idea first.

B.